[Fantastic Worlds] Belgarath Chronicles: An Old School Epic Fantasy Pentalogy

I launch the Fantastic Worlds section, dedicated to book reviews and collections of fantastic literature, withBelgarath Chronicles, a saga composed of five books:The path of prophecy,The queen of sorcery,The light of the Orb,The castle of magicandThe city of darkness. It was written byDavid Eddingsfrom 1982 to 1984 and once again shows us the classic initiation journey of a protagonist who reaches maturity in his adventures throughout fantasy realms.

History (actually, every book) begins with a legend. The different towns were under the protection of their respective protective god. Curiously, it was preciselyAldur, a god without a people, the one who created the Orb, a heart-sized stone with supernatural powers.Torak, the arrogant and beautiful god of the Angarak people, it did not take him long to covet his power, but he remainedhorribly mutilatedwhen the Orb reacted negatively to his touch bytake hold of it.

Finally,Belgarath, sorcerer and disciple of Aldur, infiltrated the fortress of Torak andrecovered the stone. Since then,Riva Iron Fist, son of King Cherek, would be the one to guard it and, after him, his descendants. He was the only one with enough purity of heart to be able toHold it without fear of harm. It depended on his lineage that Torak would not again obtain an object of such fearsome power.

From there, the action will focus onGarion, a boy who lives on the Faldor estate under the care of hisAunt Pol. I won't go into spoilers, but the name “Pol” looks suspiciously like Polgara, the daughter of the mythical sorcerer Belgarath (aside from having her white locks on her jet black hair). Therefore, it will not be difficult for us to intuit the little one's connections with the heroes of the legend.

His style may not please a part of the current public. TOcan sometimes get slow, with an entire book basically introductory, in which the essentials of the plot will remain a secret for both the protagonist and the reader. Furthermore, theromance is reduced to a few strokes(and, in the first books, not even that), and there is none of that stuff called “spicy.” In any case, his narrative style is simple and direct without being crude. Sometimes it even has parts that are almost funny.

What I like most is how the author has built a world in whichthe different towns and kingdoms are perfectly distinguishable from one another, something you achieve with a few words and phrases. I don't detract from detailed descriptions (I tend to do that a lot), but doing it that way without falling into vagueness seems like an art to me. Besides,the creatures that populate it are essentially of his invention, which provides no little freshness.

There are many characters in this adventure, which makes it difficult to develop everyone enough. Despite that,each and everyone is given the opportunity to show the essence of their personality. Aunt Pol, Old Wolf and Silk stand out above the rest and seem superbly written to me, although I have a predilection for Durnik as a representative of the simple man (he is a blacksmith, the only one who is not of the nobility). Garion is an idiot for much of the saga, but that's what it's like to be a teenager.

Belgarath Chronicles follows adesarrollo linealhasta el final del libro cuatro. Es decir, que durante ese largo tramo no se ramificará como se ve enThe Lord of the Rings, y ni qué decir deCanción de hielo y fuego. A partir del punto que comento, veremos que el foco se pone en otros personajes que no voy a mencionar. En todo caso, me pareció una grata sorpresa.

En resumidas cuentas,Belgarath Chronicleses una saga de fantasía épica de la vieja escuela en cuya esencia es el viaje iniciático del protagonista (aunque no sólo de éste). Este tópico se repite en las leyendas y cantares épicos desde antiguo, pero sigue funcionando muy bien. Es también muy del estiloThe Lord of the Ringsen la pugna dicotómica entre el bien y el mal, sin demasiados dilemas morales ni escalas de grises. Ahora bien, aunque me parecen mucho más estimulantes ese tipo de tramas, de vez en cuando agradezco leer enfoques más clásicos y con menos complicaciones.

Se han publicado varias ediciones en español deBelgarath Chronicles. Las que yo conozco son la deTimun Mas(tapa dura y blanda), la de la colección deLiteratura Fantástica de Planeta DeAgostini(la que tengo yo; tapa dura) y la deCírculo de Lectores(tapa dura con sobrecubierta). Cabe destacar que esta última junta los cuatro primeros libros en sólo dos, haciendo una trilogía. En todo caso,todos ellos están descatalogados, de modo que al que le interese sólo le quedará comprarlo desegunda mano(aunque hace pocos años se lanzó en inglés una edición de lujo).