Tomes of Spellcasting

Welcome to the land of mystery, where the impossible is possible, and the improbable the reality. Join me as I investigate worlds filled with magic and meet the souls that wield this wondrous powers.

W A R N I N G !

This review does not represent the opinions of the general public. It reflects my personal thoughts and opinions on the book.

That said, on to the review!

Title: The Rivan Codex
Author: David & Leigh Eddings
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Format: Paperback
Copyright Date: 1998

Have you ever wondered what goes into the creation of a whole new fantasy world or universe? Have you ever thought about some of the minor details that are so important in making that world "real" to you and other readers? Have you ever considered how much time and effort an author goes through to plan out what he or she is writing before he or she even begins the writing of the first draft? Well, David Eddings, has collected the information he prepared and utilized in the writing of his Belgariad and Malloreon series and the two companion novels Belgarath the Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress and offered them up to his fans as a separate text which provides information into the world of these books which--without this original documentation--we might otherwise never have received and/or understood the final product.

The Rivan Codex is less a novel than it is a collection of purportedly real documents that flesh out our understanding of Belgarion's world. These documents include and extend beyond those texts that formed the prologues of each novel, such as The Book of Alorn, The Book of Torak, and even The Book of UL. It also includes summaries of each nation's history, albeit told mostly from a Tolnedran point of view. Oh, didn't I mention that the Tolnedrans were responsible for chronicling the histories of the nations?

Although the author warns that some parts--the Histories, I believe--might be boring or tedious, I found them to be rather interesting. They provided interesting insights into the cultures of each people, as well as anecdotes that somehow didn't make it into either Belgarath's or Polgara's narrative. It was interesting, really, to read as we get a purportedly objective lesson in history from the malleable perspective of a Tolnedran scholar, who is actually the frontispiece for the author's omniscient voice locked behind the constraints of the Tolnedran's personal, political, and economic motivations. Ah, convolution!

More than anything else, The Rivan Codex draws to a close the world that Belgarion stormed across in his search for the Orb of Aldur and his son. It's a terrific body of narratives and expositions that fills in the few remaining gaps in Garion's story, even going so far as to present The Mallorean Gospels that Senji discovered actually differed from copy to copy. How's that for tying up a loose end?

Rating: Thumbs up! See how much hard work goes into planning a new world, and see how the author created his!

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