Yes, Eddings wrote pretty much the ultimate in generic fantasy product, and it can't have been other than deliberately. Fortunately, the man can actually write, and especially he can write dialog, which is snappy (quite frequently, good-sitcom snappy), although with a bit too much avoiding of the word "said"; characters 'retort', 'mumble', etc. etc. and that writing habit will tick certain readers.
I also think that experienced fantasy readers can read it in the knowledge that it's the collision of every fantasy stereotype on earth and still enjoy it.
The Malloreon (the follow-up series) suffers from sequel decay, though it's still readable - just 'more of the same'. I haven't read any of his unconnected series.
A brighter future for a darker age.
One of the things that I really appreciated when I first read the Belgariad, and have since come to appreciate even more, is the care Eddings put into his one-appearance-never-to-be-seen-again characters; the old gold miner, the talkative farmer, the old man with the 'peg' in the tavern, the various corrupt officials and minor military men. He does pretty well by the minor female characters as well, although there are fewer of them.
But the crowning jewel is the dialogue. Always, I come back for the dialogue.
...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.
I agree with all of the above. The Belgariad is an amazingly well-written story that you can come back to again and again and still enjoy — even find new things to laugh at. You can recognize every trope and cliché that Eddings uses and still not feel cheated by them.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
The Belgariad was my first introduction into fantasy lit (and my first "grown-up" books as well - hey, I was 11 at the time, gimme a break) and it's still one of my favorites. I agree with the above commenter about the dialogue - the snark, the banter, the brilliant one-liners. The plot may be basic, the world may be formulaic, but the characters and their interactions are more than worth it.
Nobody writes generic fantasy as well as Eddings. He even wrote a book on "How to write fantasy" which basically is how to mix and match various cliches and tropes.
His other series (The Diamond Throne) is also quite good, with elements of fantasy The Knights Templar and his Hero is basically the heavyweight champion of the world.
Maligning Eddings for using cliches and tropes is always the first mistake.
The reason these things are bad is because usually the author intends them in a lazy sort of fashion, uncaring and heartless and inevitably talentless. Eddings is precisely the opposite.
He uses the cliches because he knows they are cliches. He takes all the Serious Business and slaps it around a bit. He writes well and heartily and it shines through every page, making even the weakest parts strong.
I question the magic being generic. A lack of complication doesn't necessarily mean generic, because simple may often be the best solution, and even with that simplicity it has a lot of variation and interesting consequences. There's also a lot of hints of other forms of magic, but he keeps them, generally, mysterious and off to the side.
Still, you can't miss this series. Anyone who loves fantasy should read the Belgariad, and love it.
I've always liked the magic system. Simple premise, important drawback to prevent it being overpowered, and you're done. It's particularly interesting when you realize that there's actually like half a dozen, all just as simple and mostly following the same format.
This series really is the posterboy for Troperiffic.
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Generic but Awesome fantasy.
You know how on this series' page, it states that if you've never picked up a book, played a game of D&D, blah blah blah you're probably itching to get your hands on this series? I hadn't done much serious fantasy reading when I first started reading these books. That made them awesome. I hadn't been exposed to the fact that the books were packed with cliches and formulaic storytelling. So I thought they were the best things since sliced bread. And you know what? I still think they're awesome.
David Eddings knew that he wasn't going to become the next Tolkien when he sat down to write this story. He did it with the intent of publishing it and making a lot of money. Hence the tone of the book, which so delights and abounds in snarky language and clever banter that it quite frequently lampshades its own use of wit. He mined real-world cultures and stereotypes to populate his fantasy world, and added a generic magic system and a dash of assorted D&D monsters. Not a great deal of effort, I imagine. However, what he did put a lot of effort into was the characters, particularly Garion, Belgarath, and Polgara, and the dialogue as I mentioned before.
To sum up, this series contains a generic plot, completely formulaic worldbuilding, and is cliched in just about every way you can imagine except where it counts. The dialouge is wonderfully witty and fun to read time and again, and the characters are awesome. They range in scale from stuckup princess to the honest blacksmith to pure Bad Ass, but they're all individuals and complex. So go read these books, and buy them for your kids so that they can get all the cliches packed into condensed format before they realize that they're cliches.