Gariad Starter

[basmith]

Hi,

I've recently bought Belgarath the Sorcerer from my work and was wondering if it would be ok if I read this book before reading the Gariad series as it's said to be prequel. My work doesnt actually stock any other books from the gariad but they wouldn't be too hard to track down. We mainly only stock most of The Dreamers.

Regards,
Ben

[YuYus dumber Brother]

You can read it first. The belgariad starts of where Garion is a little boy. and thne the 10 books of bvelgariad and malorean follows.

Belgarath the Sorcerer actually starts of where the last book ends and garion ask belgarath to tell where he came from.
That is where the pre-qual part starts off. During the telling of the prequal part Belgarath will talk to the current people. You might miss who is who there but nothing serious.

[devilsgrin]

i would recommend NOT reading Belgarath before reading the Belgariad or the Malloreon... There are many places in Belgarath where references are made to the adventures which take place in the Belgariad and Malloreon - basically spoilers.

[Sahnny]

Indeed, do not read Belgarath before the Belgariad OR the Mallorean. There are references to both series there.

[SpaceShip]

Hi basmith - welcome to the Chronicles.

Oh - and welcome to Sahnny too.

[The Ace]

Yes, "Belgarath is full of spoilers," but then again, my UK edition of "Castle of Wizardry," Had an advert on the inside back page for, "Guardians of the West."

[devilsgrin]

As did mine have adverts for all of the elenium, and most of the rest of the belgariad series. my Diamond Throne actually had an ad for The Shining Ones. At least by Castle of Wizardry you know that Garion is someone important and the gist of whats happening and going to happen to him - thank you David for all those give the plot away prologues - The back of a novel blurb/advert hardly constitutes much of a spoiler when compared to the things that Belgarath and Polgara reference in their books...

[Curugon]

Oddly enough, I challenged a friend to start the Mallorean before reading the Belgariad. He did, and found no stumbling blocks at all - there was enough hint of backstory to follow along. In fact, he said it was more engaging that way, and when he went back to read the Bel, he got two books in before tossing it away.

[devilsgrin]

looks like reading the later books before the earlier ones is a bad idea... personally i like the Belgariad a lot more than the Malloreon.