Queen of Sorcery is book two of The Belgariad series written by David Eddings. You can click on the link to read my review of book one, the Pawn of Prophecy. The second book picks up shortly after the first one ended, with Garion using his innate sleuthing skills to foil the plans of yet another group of enemy spies.
As Garion and his companions continue on their quest to find the stolen orb of power, the young boy begins to discover more about his powers of sorcery, and, his destiny. The more he learns, the greater his desire to go home to the farm where he grew up and live a normal life. However, fate has different plans for him, plans more dangerous and earthshaking than he could ever imagine.
My Thoughts:
Queen of Sorcery introduces interesting new characters, including Princess Ce'Nadra, who is also a wood nymph. There are lots of hints suggesting that she'll end up marrying Garion in the future, their seeming incompatibility aside. The book also reveals more about beloved characters like the sorcerer Belgarath (Mister Wolf) and his daughter, the sorceress Polgara (Aunt Pol), who are also Garion's relatives.
I especially liked how Mandorallen, initially portrayed as the bravest, purest, noblest knight in history, began doubting himself after his encounter with the sand snakes. Despite all the fighting and killing he had done in the past, he had never felt true fear before, in contrast with other characters (and, I'd assume, with most people in real life), who live with fear from day to day.
Lelldorin, another noble character, was also very interesting. He's an excellent marksman (I find bow-wielding and dual-blade-wielding characters ultra cool), who's close to Garion's age. The two seemed to get a long better than Garion with Ce'Nadra. I was sad when Lelldorin was physically injured during battle, and left behind by the group, though I'm sure I'll be reading about him again in one of the later books in the series.
Every land Garion travels to in The Belgariad is culturally rich. I hope to discover more about them as I continue reading the fantasy series. Garion's being captured by Salmissra, the Queeon of Nyissia, the land of the snake people, was a part of the book I really enjoyed. I was really interested in their culture and traditions as a people. The whirlpool Garion and his companions had to slingshot around, to reach Nysissia was too awesome! Another setting I liked was the woods where the nymphs lived. Fairies are among my favorite mythological creatures.
I'm gaining an appreciation of the individual novels of The Belgariad as individual chapters of one long story. Pawn of Prophecy flows directly into Queen of Sorcery, and so it continues. It may be good for me to review the series as a whole, once I'm done reading it. That way, I'll know what I like and don't like more definitively. In the meantime, I've got nothing bad to say about this novel. It's a quick, fun, and deceptively simple read, just like the first one.
My Rating:
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