Polgara the Sorceress

By: Leigh Eddings, David Eddings

Narrated by: Dina Pearlman

Length: 30 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

Polgara is the epic culmination of a magnificent saga, and a fitting farewell to a world which, once experienced, will never be forgotten.

She soars above a world of warriors, kings, and priests. The daughter of Belgarath and the shape-shifter Poledra, she has fought wars, plotted palace coups, and worked her powerful magic for three thousand years. Now, Polgara looks back at her magnificent life, in this fitting crown jewel to the saga that is the Eddings' Belgariad and Mallorean cycles.

Her hair streaked white by her father's first touch, her mind guided by a mother she will not see again for centuries, Polgara begins life in her Uncle Beldin's tower, and in the prehistorical, magical Tree that stands in the middle of the Vale. There, she first learns the reaches of her powers. There she assumes the bird shapes that will serve her on her adventures. And there she starts on the path toward her destiny as Duchess of Erat, shepherdess of the cause of good, adversary of Torak the One-Eyed Dragon God, and guardian of the world's last, best hope: the heir to the Rivan throne.

Here is the legendary life story of a woman of wit, passion, and complex emotions, a woman born of two majestic parents who could not have been more unlike one another. Ordained to make peace and make war, to gain love and lose love, Polgara lives out her family's rich prophecy in the ceaseless struggle between the Light and the Dark.

Fantasy fan? Listen to titles in the Malloreon series, which is a sequel to David Eddings' Belgariad series.

©1996 David Eddings and Leigh Eddings (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Love this book

I Love this book. Of course, you have to have gone through the previous books before you start on this one, but this book both fills inn some questions and give answers to Things you didn't know you were wondering about, and to top it of you get a facinating and exiting story as well. You may know how the story ends, but the Eddings know how to keep you interested despite that. Enjoy!

I agree narrator is BAD

The story is long and really only interesting as background to the Belgariad and Mallorean. So for me the book was a must have. However, this narrator must have read from a misprinted copy as well as never having listened to any of the previous books. Cameron bierle was awesome and this woman was yuck I

She mispronounces nearly every name and city and voices the characters in really awful voices (when she bothers to give them voices different at all). I agree with all the other critics and probably my worst example is that of c’nedra. Did she even know she was a dryad who would appear young and girlish for hundreds of years? She voiced her like some over the hill shrew. It was cringe worthy at best and truly ruined the story for me.

I hope the Eddings estate or audible hires bierle to re record this one and make it great

Great Story but awful Narration!

Well I guess I'm not going to say anything that has not already be stated. Its sad when the original narrator does a better female version of Polgara than Dina Pearlman. It is extremely distracting the way this is read. Not sure why they changed it. I'm about half way through it and i just had to see if anyone else had the same issues. So i checked other reviews and everything that is mentioned in the other posts is accurate in regards to the narration. Polgara's mother sounds like a rich snob and not the extremely intelligent and wise woman that she is supposed to be. The story is very good. but maybe better to just read it on your own.

Narration - A Problematic Change

From the outset I will state that I loved this audiobook entirely (maybe not at first, but I love it) - I have had the pleasure to read the Belgariad as a child, I found them one summer with a broken leg in the attic and was transported to a world far more entertaining than our own. When I discovered the wonder of audiobooks I quickly reintroduced myself to the series and then to the stories of Belgarath the sorcerer, and now Polgara's tale. I have even in just the last year been introduced to the Mallorean, no idea as to how I missed a whole series!

I first listened to this book three years ago and was disappointed in the performance, but was enthralled in the story so I continued it. A part of me kept nagging at myself to re-listen to this book and so I did. Cameron Beierle was an excellent narrator and created the sounds and voices of the first two series and even Belgarath's tale, we grew to know his voice as the voice of the series. Cameron however had a benefit to his ability to influence the way we expect the series to be performed that Dina did not. David Eddings was still alive when Cameron started performing these books, Dina did not have the ability to work with David to learn the way Cameron did, she likely listened to excerpts of Cameron's performances and took what she could to perform the job she was given. It is a little hard to expect her to listen to each and every book that Cameron performed and then mimic the pronunciation for words that are used only a handful of times. She I am sure loves the stories she is given to perform, but it is still a job and spending weeks listening to Cameron perform is just a little irrational of a demand when she has other responsibilities to tend to as any other human does as well.

I will also note that in the original series Cameron did struggle with keeping voices for characters consistent that Dina did not, neither performer was flawless, let's not expect that of others when we can not match either of their levels.

If we base our opinion of this book on how we loved Cameron's ability to perform we will of course fall short when comparing Dina to him because he set the stage, but if like myself you love the stories for the stories and can re-listen to this book without thinking of Cameron you will notice that Dina performed with the embodiment of Pol's spirit she wasn't a one-sided person, but a complex sorceress with multiple dimensions that Dina did encapsulate. This story is magnificent and filled with a love I have strove to bring in my own home while tending to my own chores and kin, appreciate what is given and you can't possibly walk away for this audiobook without learning something of note.

Great story, reviews are right. BAD narrator.

Have read a couple of times, wish the narrator had...or at least once! Pretty obvious whoever released the audio did not listen to it beforehand. After she mispronounced "Archipelago" as "Arch-i-p-lago" and "midwifery" as "mid-WHIFF-ery"i just shook my head and laughed (along with the numerous pronouncements of Malloria). Finally decided I couldn't take it anymore and returned it.

Hate the narrator

I can’t even finish it because the narrator is so different. Made me very disappointed

Love this book but...

I’ve read and listened to all of David Eddings books. I’m so confused on what happened here...I just went thru 11 books of the Belgariad, the Mallorean, and Belgarath the Sorcerer and this reader pronounced the words completely different of the last 11....did she not listen to any of them? Did David Eddings not consult her on language...I had a hard time making it thru it...if I had to hear her say Mallorea the wrong way one more time I would’ve asked for a refund.

Wish Narrator had listened to previous books

I've read this book lots of times. I also listened to all the previous Eddings books in the series narrated by Cameron Brierly. Dina obviously did not listen to any of them. it was difficult to follow at times as so many character and place names were mispronounced. Came close to stopping several times mid book, but persevered to the end.

don't get me wrong

Dina is a great narrator. but when you've read every book in this series with one voice actor and suddenly it changes its pretty jarring.

wonderful story terrible narrator

polgara was my favorite character in this series after reading the physical book but to hear her done such injustice with this narration it's just disrespectful to the series overall.