Polgara the Sorceress, By David and Leigh Eddings

Polgara the Sorceress is what can be termed the companion novel to Belgarath the Socerer, and belongs in the same universe as the Belgariad and the Mallorean. Belgarath the Sorcerer told the story of Belgarath’s life up until Garion’s birth. Written from Belgarath’s pov, it focuses on some parts of the story more than others, and some parts of the millennia it leaves out entirely. This is because Belgarath could not be everywhere at once, and sometimes even he did not know the whole story. So this is Polgara’s version of what happened oh so long ago, and many countries away.

Polgara was basically nagged until she wrote her perspective on what happened, and it shows in the beginning of the book. She was a very reluctant author…until she read her father’s version and the blatant gaps convinced her that something had to be done. So she started writing her version, filled with many snipes at her father for things he had done wrong/mistakenly. Ah, daughterly love. In my opinion Pol’s story is almost more fascinating than Belgarath’s, because throughout the Belgariad and Mallorean we hear a lot of the story from his point of view already. All we know about Pol is that she agreed to shepard the Rivan line until the appointed time. So most of this is new news.

Surprisingly, Poledra plays a bigger role in history than we thought. She never really left, as is shown by her frequent chats with Pol. We get to see a bit more of Beldaran, Pol’s sister, but sadly not too much more. She’s really not a very interesting character, aside from being idiotically in love with Riva. Now that’s a funny scene. But she never does anything interesting, and the real tragedy would have been to force her to participate in the rest of the story. Aside from that, we see life from Pol’s point of view. The many years keeping Arendia from flying apart, the formation of the modern nation of Sendaria, the keeping of the Rivan line, and a very interesting visit to Yar Nadrak. So much fun. And it’s pretty much all new stuff, because she’s never told her story before. Even Belgarath never touched on it too much.

Thankfully Polgara the Sorceress is very different from most of Eddings’ books. I mean, it’s all about the same time period, but it’s all new. We’re not repeating everything again in the same way that we have been for 11 books. Not that there aren’t small inconsistencies in the story, but…it’s a good read despite them. I give high marks for Polgara the Sorceress, and label it one of his better reads.