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.

Agree on the narrator

Dina Pearlman has a great voice and she works as Polgara, but as so many Steves have already pointed out, her pronunciations are maddening. MaloREEuh and CHEWtick put my teeth on edge. I downoaded the Conan stories and that narrator pronounced it SimmuhREEuh. Almost ruins it for me. And it's why I didn't get Belgarath the Sorcerer. I was hoping it would be Cameron Bierle on that and it wasn't and the guy's pronunciations were worse than Dina Pearlman's.

Other than that, though, if the pronunciation doesn't bother you, it's a great story with a narrator with a great voice and worth the listen.

Good story but narrator change from previous books causes issues

For anyone who has listened to the other books in the series read by Cameron Beierle, the pronunciation of various names and locations can take away from the immersion into the story.

I love David Eddings!

One of my favorite authors. Definitely in my top five books! The Belgariad Mallorean and Belgarath the Sorcerer are amazing!

didn't like the narrator.

I would have preferred it if the the narrator that worked on the rest of the series had done this book too.

Polgara wonderful read

a good solid story a must read for polgara fans I intend on reading again

Good, entertaining fun.

Would you listen to Polgara the Sorceress again? Why?

Probably. Dina Pearlman has a very nice voice, but her narration for male characters seems a little odd to me.

What about Dina Pearlman’s performance did you like?

She has a VERY nice voice. Not quite exactly what I wanted for Polgara, but pretty close. She seemed to to get into character nicely.

Any additional comments?

It's a little hard shifting gears from the previous books all read by Cameron Beierle to this narrator. Beierle had his faults, but his narrations are the best so far. But all in all, the reading and character voices were well done. She kept it fun, the way it should be.

However, I seriously wish the narrators would put in the time to get the name pronunciations right. I really don't understand how they can mangle some of them so badly. Here's something "straight from the horse's mouth" I found after a 15 second Google search.

Good read

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes because it is a different type of book and keeps you interested.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Polgara the Sorceress?

When she was put into a position where she had to learn how to dance.

What about Dina Pearlman’s performance did you like?

I thought her voice matched the type of story.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Not sure.

Any additional comments?

I thought the narrator's voice matched the story just fine.

Excellent performance of an excellent novel

Where does Polgara the Sorceress rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's one of my favorites.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Polgara the Sorceress?

The fall of Vo Wacune: it made my cry when I first read the book years ago, and hearing it again I still teared up. It's heartbreaking.

What about Dina Pearlman’s performance did you like?

Pearlman's acting is just right, it draws you in and it utilizes a consistent set of voices within an impressive range for the different characters. She can pull of a low, raspy brogue as well as a lilting soprano. The characters had diverse voices that kept it easy to follow who was speaking.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I certainly never got bored. It was something like 30 hours long though, and eventually you do feel the need to do something else.

Any additional comments?

I listen to audiobooks at work, and I've found it's important for them to be performed well for me to be able to follow when a small portion of my attention has to actually be on whatever boring task I'm doing. Pearlman's acting was superb, and I was never forced to jump back 30 seconds to figure out who was speaking or what was being said. It was very well performed.

Polgara comes to full life!

Narrator captured the full nature of Polgara with all of her nuances and facets! A most enjoyable performance! The story rounded out and completed the Belgariad and Mallorean epics most satisfactorily. Added a lot of depth to already well loved characters and filled in the story with rich detail.

A good read a bad listen.

I've read every David Eddings book 10 times over and this is one of the weaker ones. I suspect Leigh Eddings had more to do with this book than the others in the series, not a bad thing on its face but this book has a different tone than the others. Polgara is a Mary Sue which is fine when the voice I use when I read the book sounds more patient, understanding and benevolent. The narrator of this book makes Polgara come off as arrogant, haughty, belligerent and just insufferable. The narrator, as other reviewers have pointed out, did not listen to any of the other books in the series and because of that miss pronounces damn near every name in the book. The names are pretty bad but the narrator pronounced other words in just odd ways that takes me right out of the story. An example is how the narrator pronounces things really oddly is archipelago. She pronounced it Arch a Peel Go. I had stop the book and rewind to make sure I heard that correctly.

Over all the book is a 3 out of 5, this audible version is a 1 out of 5. I don't think I'll ever get the sounds of Chew-tick out of my head now thanks to this narrator.