A novel by fantasy author David Eddings, which acts as a prequel to The Belgaiad and Malloreon series, outlining the history leading up to the stories, and retelling some of the key events in them.
The novel is a first person narrative from the perspective of Belgarath, and as such, is not always consistent with the events portrayed in the other Belgariad/Malloreon novels
Given that Belgarath is supposed to be a master storyteller, I found the book disappointing, though not as much so as Polgara the Sorceress. Eddings seemed to miss the opportunity to fill in the back story of the series in any detail, and Belgarath's asides to the reader were, I felt, incredibly irritating.
Perhaps ten books telling the same story was excessive, certainly expanding it to twelve (or thirteen if The Rivan Codex is included) was milking what was a fairly simple plot just that little bit too much.