I was given the Belgariad series as a leaving gift when I finished after school work at a bookstore, and went off to University. I swore a great swear that I would 'make them last'. Yeah right - I began reading on Friday night and didn't stop til I'd finished all 5. Only the first couple of the Mallorean had been published then, and I haunted bookstores waiting for each new one to come out.
At first I was put off by the high style writing of the prologues, but once I began the story proper I was hooked. Eddings has such a wonderful sense of humour, and you really get to know the people and places they inhabit. I love the characterisation in the stories, although I agree that the women are quite polarised. I really think I could meet Silk or Belgarath in the street and know what they would say!
To be honest, I read the Tamuli series and just could not get into them. I read them the once, having gotten them from the library, but I have never been inspired to get them out again, nor buy them. If I remember correctly, it was a silly reason that put me off. Is Sparrowhawk (I think that was the name) quite a lot older than Ariel? That is something that always irks me - a big age difference.
Yes, yes, I know that Polgara is a couple of thousand years older than Durnik, but that is different - she is older for a reason. (I'm inconsistent, I know
) With Sparrowhawk and Ariel it is generational, rather than eons of living for a set purpose, and then a bride/husband at the end for a happy-ever-after ending. (Silk and Velvet irk for a simlar reason)
Allie
There is no spoon.