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David Eddings - The Belgariad and Malloreon

M

Migey

New Member
hey,does anyone else enjoy the belgariad like i do?

also i need someone who has read the malloreon,i know a bit about what happens but at the end is Geran alright?and Errand?(i love errand,hes my fav XD)ive read the first of the malloreon but i cant find the others..

i heard that geran gets chosen for the child of the dark?is that true?
 
RAFO.

The Mallorean is almost the exact same plotline as the Belgariad. They even say so in the book. Eddings has very little creativity as an author and all of his books follow a very strict outline that he very rarely deviates from. He even wrote this himself in the Riven Codex.

The guy even wrote the same damn book twice (Belgarad the Sorcerer, Polgara the Sorceress) and managed to publish it. From a money standpoint, he's a genius, but from a storyteller standpoint, all his stuff is the same.

At least his writing itself is usually pretty good, although the guy is extremely arrogant and made a comment basically putting down fantasy fans by saying that he wished he could have written his books in "high style" but his fans wouldn't have bought it, basically saying they weren't sophisticated enough to enjoy it.

It's ironic that you enjoy his books after bashing Rowling for "stealing" plots for her Harry Potter books. Eddings steals from his own damn stories for crying out loud.

I read his Sparhawks books and they follow the same exact outline, both series. I also started reading his "Elder Gods" series, and that one appears to do the same, although I quit reading them after the first one, because I could see where it was all going.

Mathius
 
You know, its funny, he seems to be one of those you really love it or you really hate it type writers. Or both.

Now I agree, the plot lines were simple but thats not what I enjoyed, I enjoyed the characters. The interactions, the personal quirks, the banter between Polgara and her father were all enjoyable to me. And yet I recently heard his dialog flamed as annoying. I guess its all in what you view as humor, I found the dialog in his books amusing as heck.

By the same token I tried to read the Elder Gods and I hated them. Seemed to me that he lost his balance somewhere. Instead of being amusing I found the dialog to be juvenile in extreme. But then I'm a lot older now too.

Maybe its just all in what your focus is. For me its all about the characters, give me characters I can love (or hate) and story can be weak or repetitive and I won't care. For others its all about the story and the characters are secondary, and yes, in that regard I can definitely see what you mean.
 
Mulluane said:
Now I agree, the plot lines were simple but thats not what I enjoyed, I enjoyed the characters. The interactions, the personal quirks, the banter between Polgara and her father were all enjoyable to me. And yet I recently heard his dialog flamed as annoying. I guess its all in what you view as humor, I found the dialog in his books amusing as heck.
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I guess that's sortof what I was trying to say. The writing is good, but the plots are repetitive to a fault. The characters become repetitive after a while as well. There are subtle differences but after a while, you sortof see that he's just taking bits of each character and shifting them around. The banter gets to be less amusing after you realize its more or less doesn't change much either.

Mathius
 
Mathius said:
RAFO.

The Mallorean is almost the exact same plotline as the Belgariad. They even say so in the book. Eddings has very little creativity as an author and all of his books follow a very strict outline that he very rarely deviates from. He even wrote this himself in the Riven Codex.

The guy even wrote the same damn book twice (Belgarad the Sorcerer, Polgara the Sorceress) and managed to publish it. From a money standpoint, he's a genius, but from a storyteller standpoint, all his stuff is the same.

At least his writing itself is usually pretty good, although the guy is extremely arrogant and made a comment basically putting down fantasy fans by saying that he wished he could have written his books in "high style" but his fans wouldn't have bought it, basically saying they weren't sophisticated enough to enjoy it.

It's ironic that you enjoy his books after bashing Rowling for "stealing" plots for her Harry Potter books. Eddings steals from his own damn stories for crying out loud.

I read his Sparhawks books and they follow the same exact outline, both series. I also started reading his "Elder Gods" series, and that one appears to do the same, although I quit reading them after the first one, because I could see where it was all going.

Mathius
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well can u plz tell me what i asked about the malloreon?

and eddings isnt doing anytinhg wrong by using his plotline twice,or more then tiwce ^^,but JKR just takes from OTHER peoples plotlines,announces it as her own work,and refuses to admit she had inspiration from the other books(published before HP)that had VERY similar storylines

and his work is still different,mabye the outline is the same but its still a different read

and how is the malloreon thr same as the belgariad?the chars are the same,what else?
 
Migey said:
well can u plz tell me what i asked about the malloreon?
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No, don't you know what RAFO means? Read And Find Out. If you just want the Cliff Notes version I'm sure there's some web site out there to answer your questions. I'm not going to give them to you. If you want to ask me a general question like how did I like it or something, that's one thing, but asking for the story because you don't want to take the time to read it? This is a reading discussion site for crying out loud.

and eddings isnt doing anytinhg wrong by using his plotline twice,or more then tiwce ^^,but JKR just takes from OTHER peoples plotlines,announces it as her own work,and refuses to admit she had inspiration from the other books(published before HP)that had VERY similar storylines

and his work is still different,mabye the outline is the same but its still a different read
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I didn't really expect you to say anything different. :rolleyes:

and how is the malloreon thr same as the belgariad?the chars are the same,what else?
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The plot is the same, they follow the same sequence of events pretty much. The story even says in it, that they keep repeating the same steps. He worked it into the plot, which sounds alright, until you read his Sparhawk books, and find him writing the same damn thing AGAIN.

Mathius
 
from what ive heard the plotlines are not the same

Belgariad plotline

1.orb of aldur is stolen,group of people go to find it

2.the orb of aldur is found,they bring it back and belgarion becomes rivan king

3.belgarion,belgarath,and silk set off to fight the child of the dark

4.ce'nedra starts a war

5.the child of the dark dies

Malloreon plotline(what i know of it)

1.Belgarion has a son

2.Belgarions son in kidnapped

3.Belgarion and a group of people set after his kidnapper

4.they meet a few people,eneter a war or two,blah blah blah,quite different from belgariad

5.Errand fights Geran(i think thats right isnt it)

6.Child of the dark dies(this time its another one)


similar BASIC outline-something important is stolen,they go to find it,child of the dark dies

but everything else is different
 
Migey said:
from what ive heard the plotlines are not the same

Belgariad plotline

1.orb of aldur is stolen,group of people go to find it

2.the orb of aldur is found,they bring it back and belgarion becomes rivan king

3.belgarion,belgarath,and silk set off to fight the child of the dark

4.ce'nedra starts a war

5.the child of the dark dies

Malloreon plotline(what i know of it)

1.Belgarion has a son

2.Belgarions son in kidnapped

3.Belgarion and a group of people set after his kidnapper

4.they meet a few people,eneter a war or two,blah blah blah,quite different from belgariad

5.Errand fights Geran(i think thats right isnt it)

6.Child of the dark dies(this time its another one)


similar BASIC outline-something important is stolen,they go to find it,child of the dark dies

but everything else is different
Click to expand...

If you can't be bothered to read the book, what gives you the idea that you are able to tell the differences based simply on what you were told? I'll say it one more time: The story itself even points out the similarities between the two.

I don't really think I want to debate anything more with you. You sound like someone who just bases everything on hearsay without bothering to research the real facts yourself.

Have you really read any Harry Potter, or did you just go based on what you've heard? Never mind, I don't care.

I've been watching some of the things you've said in threads, and you seem to justify your arguments by just generalizing everything (sortof like you did above with your summary of the two series).

That makes me think you probably haven't read half of what you feel educated enough to talk about on here.

I don't really think there's anything else I can discuss with you based on these perceptions.

Mathius
 
the belgariad and the malorean

i will agree, both are sort of the same. yes, they have the same plot, but that is sort of the point. it's ok that he used the same story line becasue they are the same books. he didn't steal from anyone but himself and thats ok because that isn't really stealing. they're his ideas and he can do whatever he wants with them. all of the books that have to do with garion and cenendra and the rest of the group are all amazing and i would recommend reading them.
 
thier not the same plotline,the EVENTS that happen are sort of similar,the plotline is still different

and i just finished the 4th book..

btw do u want me to tell u the in-depth plots of the HP books?
 
u know

thats so amazingly true .. i just never thought about it ..and my sister who is like uber bright and has read these series as much as i have..we never discussed the similar plot lines man
interesting
thats a real bummer now that its the same
its also a bummer that he seems to be a prick when it comes to his book and other books

still though
even if you havent read any other sci fi fantasy book he could be a genius ;)
 
I like The Belgariad and The Mallorean books too! As far as arguing over plot structure...whatever. I thought the characters in the books fun, and as one of the series that introduced me to fantasy, it made me excited to read books in the genre.

As far as JKR and plot lines stolen...Harry Potter obviously runs through similar plot lines as every other orphaned boy hero fantasy book that exists. They're ALL similar. And she obviously plays with myths and legends throughout the books. Isn't that part of the fun?

Fantasy, for me, are stories I can get lost in. I read it for the characters and setting, and expect plots to move along enough to interest me. Getting worked up over the similarities in plot lines throughout Eddings books seems a bit strange.
 
I only read the first few comments and I have to say I am completely shocked. I absolutely love all of David Eddings series, and the Belgariad is probably my all-time favorite fantasy series ever. If you don't like it because you enjoy "real" literature, fine, I enjoy reading Emerson and Fitzgerald and Bronte and Shakespeare and the classics a lot, but thats no reason to call Eddings work bad or simple.

As seems to have been stated, Eddings biggest strength is his characters, and those characters really are some of the warmest, most tangible characters I have ever met, in any form of media. Every single one of them has individual personalities, and although all of them are tinged with Eddings great storytelling and dry banter, they still are distinctly different from one another. I read these as a middle school-er and loved them so much that I read them over and over throughout middle school and high school. I really just do not understand how anyone could think that these books are not fantastic.
 
I adore The Belgariad myself, and to a lesser extent The Malloreon. Maybe the love it/hate it debate stems from what age you first read them? I read them as a little girl, with my brother, and we read them until the books fell apart. We did the same with The Prydain Chronicles (I used to get Eilonwy and Ce'Nedra mixed up, seriously, they're basically the same girl). I tried reading some of Eddings' other works as an adult and didn't get into them, but The Belgariad, oh man I love them.
 
I'm going to try the ABC reading I saw on Kboards. I have an "A" book in mind and maybe I will read "The Belgariad." Try fantasy, along with the new game. Sounds intersting and I need a change.
 
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