Pawn of Prophecy begins with some of the worst fantasy cliches I have ever read. Just to list a few of them: In the prologue, we read about an Evil Dark Lord who steals an Artifact of Great Power, only to have a Group of Great Heroes come and wrest the Artifact of Great Power from him. In the first chapter, we encounter a peaceful rustic setting, black riders, a woman who is Not What She Seems, an old man (dressed in gray) who enjoys amusing children in the village but who has a Greater Purpose, and a young man with a Mysterious Past. Let me put it this way: by the end of the first chapter, I already knew who was who, what they were looking for, why they were looking for it, and what Garion would eventually do.

The book also does not hesitate to use whatever mechanisms are at Eddings's hands to advance the plot. Garion, for instance, gets all sorts of weird hunches that turn out to be very important--for instance, at one point he suddenly decides to start lying, even though he has never lied before. And a "dry voice" within Garion makes him do all sorts of things that any ordinary person wouldn't think of doing. Of course, it is possible that this "dry voice" is part of Garion's Mysterious Past (I'll have to read the rest of the series to find out), but it still feels jarring to encounter it guiding the plot.

But, strangely enough, despite all these problems, I grew to enjoy this book a great deal. Halfway through I reminded myself that almost every major fantasy series post-Tolkien begins with the same cliches. But there's a reason why they're overused: they work. And sure enough, they do their magic here too. More importantly, Eddings does a pretty good job portraying the different characters. Although they're hardly subtle, he makes them seem so friendly, good-hearted, and earnest that I couldn't help but start liking them. And, most importantly, this series is funny. Aunt Pol pretending to be the Duchess of Erat, the banquet scene with King Fulchra, and even the scene where everything that I had already predicted was revealed--these scenes all left me in stitches.

I think it's best not to approach this series as the greatest fantasy series ever. Instead, think of it as a juvenile fantasy series, with much the same appeal as Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles (which I should reread some day). With that mindset, Pawn of Prophecy becomes a fun, easy read. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

Copyright © 2001 Steven Wu