Shrimp of Destiny

Well, for my Wizards class we had to finish Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings. There was half a test on it on Wednesday (which Marky Mark probably warned us about but I obviously wasn't paying attention) which I probably got a .007 on. Which is still kind of cool because, I mean, I got a James Bond on a test. Haha, you might even say I James bombed that test! HAHAHAHAHAHA oh God, I'm too much. Really, I am. Seriously. Anyway, the second part of the test, the essay, is tomorrow, so I figured that maybe doing my little blog post about it would help.


Well, let's see. This is your basic main character is a child of prophecy to stop something evil and it turns out his caretaker knows and stuff and can use magic and then they go on a quest. Also, the kid is actually a young David Bowie. http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515R415NG1L.jpg Actually, to sum up the whole story--you've seen the movie Labyrinth starring David Bowie, right? Well, this is kind of a prequel. You see, David Bowie--Jareth--is set to destroy the original goblin king, Torak, but it's revealed--at the end of the series, of course--that to kill him you automatically take his spot. You kind of... inherit his mantle, if you will. So, unwillingly he takes his throne, and the epilogue is x years later, and an introduction to the cult movie.

Guys. Guys. Did you believe all that? I'm kidding. Did I actually fool you? It's more convincing when I do it in person. I've mastered Jedi mind control, you know? This isn't the blog you're looking for. No, no! Just kidding! This is the blog you're looking for! And the one you recommend to all your friends, because it is so freaking awesome.

What it's actually about--well, all that stuff before I said Garion is a young David Bowie is pretty much true. But you have to admit, he's a dead ringer for Bowie, no? There's a brief introduction about the gods, namely the 'evil' god, Torak. At the beginning of time (or some time close to that) he stole and abused the Orb of power, and it melted down half his face. Like Two-Face. Anyway, he wants his glory and power and stuff back, so he's going to try and reclaim it at some point after this first book (I wasn't lying about it being a series, either). And... there are certain people who can use the globe without their faces getting boiled and they have a special birthmark which--surprise surprise!--Garion has.


First of all, this dedication is very sweet. "For Theone, who told me stories but could not stay for mine" (I).

"'Who's to say what's only a story and what's truth disguised as a story?'" (33).

"'That's impossible,' Garion said. 'Is it? How old are you?' 'Nine--next Erastide.' 'And in nine years you've learned everything that's both possible and impossible? You're a remarkable boy, Garion'" (33). How Jane Austen of you, David Eddings! Haha.

Oh, and I just want to throw a spoiler in here. The person who admonished Garion in the last quote is Mister Wolf. Garion is taken care of by his 'aunt', Pol. Now, midway through the book it is revealed that Mister Wolf is Aunt Pol's father--a fact that sent me reeling completely. There's definitely tension between her and Wolf, but it's sexual tension. Seriously, you do not get the feeling they're father and daughter at all. Just thought I'd bring that up.

"Zubrette, of course, did not grow so tall, but she developed in other ways which the boys began to find very interesting" (48). HAHAHA. Eddings has little hilarious asides all the time, and they're almost always this kind of humor. Humor is quite rare in fantasy books, apparently, as the creator usually takes their made-up world rather seriously, but Eddings seems to be a little looser with it. I'm sure he takes his made-up world seriously, just not to the point of letting it be stiff. Though, Marky Mark has said after a while the humor of the Pawn of Prophecy's series gets tiresome, because it's that same basic type. Well, I only read the first book so whatever.

"Barak pulled off his tunic. His torso was enormous and covered with thick red hair. 'You look like a rug,' Silk observed. 'I can't help that,' Barak said. 'Winters are cold in Cherek, and the hair helps me stay warm'... 'Are you absolutely sure your grandmother didn't dally with a bear during one of those long winters?'" (84). Again, I literally burst out laughing.

"'They have a stern and demanding God,' Wolf replied. 'Which God is that?' Garion asked. 'Money,' Wolf said. 'Money's a worse God than Torak himself'" (90). This reminds me of Neil Gaiman's book American Gods. Certainly there was a god dedicated to money in the book, but I don't remember s/he or it clearly. However, this makes me think of when Shadow is talking to the god/dess of television. S/he says that people make sacrifices to him/her all the time, though they're not traditional sacrifices, and Shadow asks what they are. She responds with "'Their time, mostly... sometimes each other'" (American Gods, 175).

"'I didn't go to all the trouble of raising you to have you end up dead in a gutter'" (125). Wow, Aunt Pol, that's a little... well, it's no wonder you haven't gotten married or had kids of you're own. You're a little blunt, aren't you?

On page 176 of this edition of the book (which I assume is the most recent edition of the book; in any case it is the one with the cover I provided the link to) there is a map of Cherek. Now, who here has played the first Final Fantasy? Well, in it you have to blow up a land mass to get out of a landlocked sea. The thing you blow up is near the arrow pointing to the Lifespring Grotto--though in this the piece you must destroy is already gone. Rest assured, the maps are ridiculously similar (though the almost landlocked sea that borders Cherek's innards is much smaller).


Well.... Yeah. I guess I don't have a lot of insight on this, which is why I'm going to fail the test on it tomorrow. Hooray, I love having to take finals! It's a pretty good book. I'm thinking I'd like it more if I was ten or eleven, but then again, I wouldn't understand Eddings's fourteen-year-old boy humor if I had read it then... Anyway, I would be interested in reading the rest of the series, but I won't actively pursue it. If it came into my possession by chance, or if I happened to find it on sale or something, I'd get it, but I'm not going to go crazy over trying to find it.



Let's see, yesterday I happened to be weeding through lots of crappy fantasy and sci-fi books. One that I looked over (though I now regret, because on reflection, I seriously want to know what the hell it was about) had on the cover a huge spaceship with a bit of a grassy hill in the foreground. There was a man on the hill, too. It was a Roman hoplite yelling as if he was about to attack and similarly poised as if about to do so. I wonder what that book was about. I really do.


PS. On one of the pages I took notes for the book on, I accidentally referred to the book as 'Prawn of Prophecy'. Hence, the blog title.