Book three of the Belgariad.

1983.
446 pages, Random House/Corgi paperback.

In Magician’s Gambit, the hunt for the Orb of Aldur finally came to an end. The characters pretty much remain the same — there’s some awkward attempts at developing Mandorallen, if that is indeed what it is, by making him suddenly experiencing fear; but it doesn’t take long to become more than an entertaining idiosyncrasy. I think I’ve started to notice some fatigue, too, as Silk’s constant witticisms seems to be falling short more often than in Queen of Sorcery (there is of course exceptions to this, such as the brilliant end of Brill, which Loki recounted to me via MSN a few years back), and the general level of the character interaction seems to have dropped a bit. It’s still fun, but not as fun as it used to be.

I meant to mention this in my last review, when I touched on the general subject of descriptions, but I forgot, so I’ll have to do it here: I am positively surprised by the relative brutality of Eddings’ violence. Sure, it’s hardly Erikson level, but when he has to, Eddings doesn’t seem to shied away from fairly graphic depictions of gory violence, which is a good thing (in my book, at least) as it adds a bit of realism and gravitas to the feel of a story, if used correctly.

Overall, Magician’s Gambit was slightly better than Pawn, but slightly less good than Queen, so I’ll toss it a strong 6.0/10.

(And yeah, I know I’m probably too kind to these things, but I can’t help it; they’re just so cute. :P )