Something clever I'll change later

As seen on Stumptown Books.

I was in the mood for some simple farmboy-to-prophesied-savior fantasy. Usually I save this sort of thing for the winter, when I want comfort food, but, well, the reader's heart wants what it wants. So I picked up the first book of what is generally considered one of the pulpiest fantasy series ever made, Pawn of Prophecy, book one of The Belgariad.

With the knowledge of exactly what I was getting into, it fulfilled exactly what I wanted. Maybe someday if I read the entire series, I'll look back and think it was a great series, but right now, it's just derivative fantasy. There's just no way around that. The story is full of cliches, from a mysterious "ring wraith" black shrouded character, to everyone in the adventuring party magically being either royalty or on par with royalty, to Garion, the main character, being a orphan living on a farm. There are no surprises here, this has all been done before.

I would only recommend this if you are looking at it the same exact way I was. It's not ground breaking or even particularly good fantasy, but it does fulfill a particular niche. If you can find it in you to somehow like R.A. Salvatore novels, you'll probably like this. Sometimes I just want to read some brainless fantasy that I'm not going to get upset at the characters dying, and here it is! I might even read the next one next time I want some chicken soup/comfort food book.