[Winters_Sorrow]

Well I think he'd decided he'd done all he could with that world. You could argue that the entire Mallorean was superfluous as at the end of the Belgariad he'd; defeated the evil god, restored the throne of Riva and secured the future of the orb. Job done, happy ever after etc.

The Mallorean sounded like an example where an author is asked by his publishers or fans to 'continue' a finished story. People just want more because they liked the original and this can sometimes lead to ill thought out sequels. I think the Mallorean was actually quite well done but it did play fast and loose with a few elements from the Belgariad (especially with the idea that these 'prophecies' made gods into their pawns) and it wasn't that necessary to exist in my opinion. Perhaps it even started him on the slippery slope of author laziness which made his other novels (Elenium & Tamuli) carbon copies of his original success. The Mallorean was essentially the same as the Belgariad with a few new names thrown in.