David Eddings - The Belgariad

Read this over a period of a few weeks, a few weeks ago. (Don't think I've read it before, though pretty sure I did the Malloreon some, ooh, 15 or so years ago.) I'd call it workmanlike rather than inspired, although I like some of the subtle reworking of classic high fantasy archetypes that Eddings engages in over its course...still, there was enough in it that I read all the way through to the end, of course.