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Title: An outstanding effort at filling in the gaps.
Review: If you're not interested in the history of Belgarath's world, and can't handle repetition, you've not only missed one of the key points of the Belgariad and Mallorean, you shouldn't buy this book. If you think Belgarath's a god, and can't handle the tarnishment of his character, you obviously missed what Polgara's been hinting at with a sledgehammer all these years. This is a book for people who love Belgarath's world for what it is: a rich tapestry of the ages, interwoven with true family values, and incredible character development and interaction. The Eddings' Belgarath succeeds where Tolkein's Silmarilion failed: it fills in the wonderful backdrop of the earlier books without becoming a dull academic paper. And as the end makes obvious , one man can't tell the whole story, even if he's 7000 years old. There's Polgara's story as well, and (we hope) the stories of Poledra the Wolf, and that wonderfully cantankerous Beldin the Hunchback.
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