Enchanters' End Game (The Belgariad, Book 5) (utgåvan 1986)

Meh. Ce'Nedra throws some fits, does some stupid stuff. Garion does some stupid stuff, pretends he doesn't realize what being Overlord of the West means. The bad people die, the good people get married, Ce'Nedra bosses Garion around for the rest of their lives. ( )

I never "believed" in the love relationship between Belgarion and Tsenedra and do so even less after reading this book. Garion was never believable as the King--too young, too inexperienced. It never made sense to me that two powerful sorcerors such as Belgarath and Polgara never seemed to make more than an offhand attempt at teaching him, much less give him chances to grow up. He would have been much more believable had he undergone some rigorous initiation for a few years and grown into a man with knowledge of himself and his powers. Here, he seems more like a puppy expected to perform as a guard dog. I kept thinking something would happen to transform him and that he would fall in love with Tsenedra (also too young IMHO), but I was left with the feeling that they were just left to their fates and I can't imagine their really being happy.

Oh, thank goodness the good side of the prophesy came about, sloppy though it was. ( )

Listened to audio narrated by Cameron Beierle.

The final chapter in the Belgariad series, with big battles, wizard battles and the final confrontation between Garion and the evil god Torak. There is loss and hints that only one part of the prophecy has been fulfilled and that there more to come.

I'm not sure if it was the narration or just the book itself but it just sort of seemed to amble along. Then there were the battles being fought in different areas which seemed to revive the story a little until the main characters are swept away for the final confrontation. In the previous book it seemed Ce'Nedra and Garion had matured and were growing but it seemed they slid back into younger behavior in this book, to the point where I wondered how is Garion going to defeat Torak and how can these two possible claim to love each other, there was no real connection at all in this book between them. It often came across as siblings squabbling.

I remembered loving this book when I read this in school but re-reading this now, I struggled with pacing, with characterizations and believability. While younger readers may enjoy this series, I'm not sure more mature readers will appreciate it the same way.

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A nice conclusion to a fun series. The author(s) took the step of twitting the mighty sorceress over equality in a funny and harmless way. These are fun books, particularly for a younger reader. ( )

Finally. I’m done with “The Belgariad”. For life. And I’m so happy about it.


This epic fantasy adventure started out well with “[b:Pawn of Prophecy|44659|Pawn of Prophecy (The Belgariad, #1)|David Eddings|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1391346857l/44659._SX50_.jpg|2558293]”, went slightly downhill in “[b:Queen of Sorcery|587582|Queen of Sorcery (The Belgariad, #2)|David Eddings|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1428943169l/587582._SY75_.jpg|44016]” due to all the travelling, went straight into a wall when “[b:Magician's Gambit|44688|Magician's Gambit (The Belgariad, #3)|David Eddings|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1315276590l/44688._SY75_.jpg|938086]” turned out to be a lame duck, recovered somewhat during “[b:Castle of Wizardry|645023|Castle of Wizardry (The Belgariad, #4)|David Eddings|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1421711682l/645023._SY75_.jpg|1808841]” and, eventually, went down the drain with this last instalment – “[b:Enchanters' End Game|44687|Enchanters' End Game (The Belgariad, #5)|David Eddings|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1217735909l/44687._SY75_.jpg|938064]”.

In this final book of the Belgariad, we accompany Ce’Nedra’s army into the land of the Murgos, fighting against them and the Malloreans. Wait a second, though – Ce'Nedra’s army? No, in fact it’s been taken from her by the men around her whom Eddings obviously felt much more competent to handle matters of war:

“Once she was comfortably quartered in the Stronghold, Princess Ce'Nedra found herself even more removed from the day-to-day command of her troops.”

Sadly, Ce’Nedra herself seems quite content to fall back into her cliched role as her Garion’s mindless “tiny princess”. Whenever she actually does something, she gets put firmly back into place and is scolded by whatever man is around. She never gets a real chance to learn and grow beyond what she is.

As for the others, they travel a bit, they fight a bit, some sidekicks die; forgotten as soon as they draw their last breath. Honestly, all the travelling and the pretty much non-existent hurdles were seriously boring me by now. Reading this book mostly was a chore for me.

Even the titular endgame is boring and beyond redemption. Ultimately, Garion puts it best:

“"Then everything worked out for the best, didn't it?"
- "Yes, Garion. It's as if it had all been fated to happen. Everything feels so right, somehow."
"It's possible that it was fated," Garion mused. "I sometimes think we have very little control over our own lives - I know I don't."”

After the second book at the latest, it’s crystal clear nobody of importance is going to die or even sacrifice anything. Yes, as mentioned before, an unimportant sidekick or two die (I’ve just finished this book and already forgotten who...) but at the end of the day, there’s no way things are going to go really wrong – and this makes this entire epic fantasy saga stale and bland for me.

There’s absolutely nothing I take away with me from these books. I’ve learned nothing new, I’ve felt nothing new, I’ve not noticed any new or original idea. Not even a single quote-worthy sentence is to be found in this seemingly unending bleak desert of words whereas I thirst for something that nourishes me.


If you’re young (10 to 15 maybe?) and haven’t read much fantasy before, the Belgariad may be to your liking. It does have its moments.

If you’ve read these books when you were younger and loved them, stay clear; you will be disappointed because even if these books were what you remember them to be – you are not who you were anymore.

Anyone else, stay clear as well: A seasoned reader will pretty much know the entire story very early on and there’s nothing in these books to surprise you or keep your interest for tens of thousands of words. And this in books that are about “the Word and the Will...


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