Queen of Sorcery by David Eddings

It’s been months since Garion left the quiet farmstead in Sendaria to start a quest with the storyteller Mister Wolf and his Aunt Pol, who in truth are actually the ancient Sorcerer Belgarath and his daughter Polgara the arch-Sorceress. It has become apparent to Garion that his role in the quest has become more important; however Aunt Pol still won’t tell him why.

Leaving the relative safety of Cherek, Belgarath and the party make their way toward the Empire of Tolhendra to seek an audience with the elderly Emperor. Once there however, Belgarath and Aunt Pol are unable to convince the man that they really are the many thousands years old sorcerers of legend. Without the promise of having the Tolhendra army available should war break out, they leave, making for the Woods of the Dyrads. But they have a stowaway of sorts. The Imperial Princess Ce’Nedra has invited herself along and seeing as she sneaked out the palace, Garion and the others are likely to be labeled as kidnappers.

At the Woods of the Dryads, Belgarath decides to split the party for a short time. Belgarath and Silk will head off to do a little reconnaissance while Aunt Pol will take the rest into the country of Nyissa to wait for Belgarath and perhaps hunt up some information while they’re at it. But while there, Garion is kidnapped by the tyrannical and mad priestess-queen Essia and while there Garion will come face to face with the magic he barely believes in within himself.

Into the second volume of the Belgariad and finally the pace and action begin to pick up. In this book, Garion is faced with a serious decision to make. He must finally decide whether or not he believes in the powers the rule both the lives of Belgarath and Polgara. But first, Garion is going to have to decide if he’s going to follow the advice of the dry and ancient voice only he seems to hear. Exciting and often funny, Eddings’ series makes for different style of high fantasy and definitely worth trying.