Belgariad (5) - Enchanters' Endgame by David Eddings
And last but definitely not least: Enchaters' Endgame (in German Duell der Zauberer, in French La Fin de partie de l'Enchanteur) with 372 pages! Originally published 1984.
Garion fled to fight the evil god, Torak. While Polgara has locked herself in her room to kill everything in sight, Ce'Nedra begins to raise an army. The show-down of the prophecies is to finally take place – but how can Garion kill a god? And, when – if! – he manages, how can he afterwards survive his wedding? Far away from the front, the queens of the kingdoms are left to rule their people... a situation the Bear Cult wants to use.
… This is just hilarious. Especially Layla. You really shouldn't make the mistake of underestimating this round and motherly woman! I nearly literally lay rolling on the floor after she was finished! She's just so damn good! Fulrach's really has something with her. He himself is also a force to be reckoned with. A typical Sendar – and the actual campaigner, since he manages all these little details like food and toilets. I really learned a lot about how to run a campaign in the middle ages. It's quite interesting – just, unfortunately, not very useful in daily life.
The campaign itself was so well done! Ce'Nedra, her speeches, and how she keeps the people around her, how she knows exactly what to say to whom... how she played her father! O! My! God! And how she has to fight her conscience to do this. So very well executed! She really has grown – even though she is prone to some typical Ce'Nedra moments, like the one in which Adara got hurt. Her good-bye speech was gorgeous, by the way.
To get back to the other queens: Porenn's a political genius, in a totally different way from Layla (no one's like her!) I love how she manages the spy business – and how that's weaved into the society as well.
Islena's not as competent – but fortunately, Merel is. I love how she bullies the queen into doing what she should! And how Islena finally manages to get that bastard down. So. Damn. Well. Described!
To the actual final: I love how this played out, how Torak was stopped in the end.
Spoiler:
And I'm so glad Durnik didn't stay dead in the end.
He's such a good person! As to the way Garion has grown: This is nicely done as well.
But the best thing is the ending.
Spoiler:
First of all, I love that Relg finally managed to set his prejudices aside and is with Taiba. The description of how they can't be without another? Very romantic, not sappy. You have to manage that.
The weddings of both Pol and Durnik as well as Garion and Ce'Nedra are well done – especially Durnik's gift. This was so beautiful! Even though I wished that we could have seen that Pol looked at Durnik in a, well, let's call it “marrying” way before he died. It's clear that she didn't marry him out of pity, but it would have been better, if she just... I don't know, showed her feelings before his death.
In brief:
I give it five stars, one for each characters, the female way of politics (hö hö), style, content and ideas – And of course, the SoGH.
Prequel: