content: I loved the Belgariad and Mallorean so naturally this book is one worth reading. This lays the groundwork for everything set in motion during the two noted series. There are some cyclical ideas in the story telling, but I find this to enjoyable since most of life is cyclical. Since this book is essentially a historical account in the series, it makes sense that it has some repetitions, after all human history is repetitive. The best thing about this book was the foundation Eddings orchestrated for the premise of the Belgariad. It was very exciting and pleasurable to read about the beginning of the spiritual mythos that Eddings created in this realm. Learning about the gods involvements with human prior to the cracking of the world was very fun and worth reading. Also, the development of the Belgarath and Polgara characters lends itself to further enjoyment of the Belgariad and Malloeran series'.