I am the smartest person in the world.

It turns out I never really posted some of my blog assignments, but just saved them as drafts. All the awards go to me, I guess.


Huehuehue.

The Belgariad 2

So far I am enjoying the Belgariad, it seems to have a nice pace to it, without too much information being tossed at you. The characters have good enough descriptions to give me a mental image for when they are brought in, and dont have too many attributes that make them seem too ridiculous. Some of my only problems with the book are the way the main character is written, because he seems to be too unreal for his age, because he does not in a way a young teen or child would act. Something I'm noticing is a theme of discovery and searching past first appearances, because Garion seems to see things as average, but searches and realizes that things are more supernatural than they actually are.

The main conflict seems to be man vs. man, with Garion, Pol, and their companions against the Grolim.
The Grolim appear to be magical coercers. Their gold seems to almost possess those who own it, and the Grolim can read minds of weaker willed individuals. The Grolim seem to be focused on Garion and Wolf almost directly, who need to constantly be alert, as to not fall prey to the Grolim. Another conflict seems to be man vs. supernatural, because there is a lot mentioned about deities at war with another, or bringing ailments to the average people. Some of the gods are more prominent, while some have "died off" when their people they were chosen to guide died off.

The Belgariad 3

Going back to what I said in my previous post, Garion does do some things that are close to being human. For a great while, the book describes Garion as playing with his childhood friends, and experiencing different emotions and thoughts, which are some of what I vaguely remember. One of the things that he does, is try to reenact different stories he has heard, and playing them out with his friends, having adventure and sword fights with pot, pans, sticks, and other household items. Garion goes through different emotions, such as anger and love. When Garion is hit by his friend when they are playing, Garion becomes upset and starts to hit back irrationally. He also experiences love and romance with a girl named Zubrette, who leads the other boys on for her own benefit, and when Garion realizes this, he is crushed, which I see all the time at school when people break up, which is a very common occurrence.

With the topic of characters being real, I think Pol is another example of how someone could act in real life. Pol is the stereotypical "mother, but not really your mother" character, who wants to protect and raise Garion, but not really act as if he was her child, because he isn't. She seems to always be doing something productive, or act resourcefully, like having the children do things for her around the farm, or help her cook. Cooking is something that is associated with Pol early in the book, and it is her "greatest talent", which is almost sort of foreshadowing for later in the book when the whole magical, supernatural theme is introduced, because her food is considered the best around. While Pol isn't the most nurturing at all times, she still knows when to help Garion when he is in emotional crisis, such as his interactions with Zubrette and his disappointment, and doesn't make him learn everything on his own.

Just because a book is fantasy, doesn't mean the character should be written as an over the top, crazy powerful genius with magical unicorn allies and dragons and hellfire and such, right? Sometimes I find it easier to read a book that you can relate the characters to people you know in real life. 

The Belgariad - 2

So far I am still enjoying the book I chose, mostly because it's fantasy, and because I really am tired of reading about people and their problems that could be real. It seems to be somewhat slow-paced, with some parts that involve action. The majority of it seems to be more dramatic and focused on critically thinking about multiple things and how they can affect each other, such as the multiple "countries" of people, diverse faiths, inquisitions by foreign peoples, and how major events can influence, change, or reveal more of ones character if they are taken out of their daily norm.

I personally think some of the aspects of certain characters can be dry, like with Polgara and her consistent dominion over Garion, because he chooses to go against what she tells him to do.