
Heralds of Valdemar
fantasy
Series · epic fantasy
The Malloreon series by David Eddings has 5 known books (5 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with Guardians of the West (1987).
Start here: Guardians of the West (1987) — then read straight through in publication order.
The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.
Guardians of the West opens David Eddings' epic fantasy series The Malloreon, published in 1987 at 432 pages. It's the first of five books, followed by King of the Murgos.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Guardians of the WestKing of the Murgos is the second book in David Eddings' Malloreon series, published in 1988 at 443 pages. It follows Guardians of the West and precedes Demon Lord of Karanda.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of King of the MurgosDemon Lord of Karanda is the third entry in David Eddings' Malloreon series, published in 1988 at 404 pages. It follows King of the Murgos and precedes Sorceress of Darshiva.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Demon Lord of KarandaSorceress of Darshiva is the fourth book in David Eddings' Malloreon series, published in 1989 at 406 pages. It follows Demon Lord of Karanda and precedes the series' closing volume, The Seeress of Kell.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Sorceress of DarshivaThe Seeress of Kell closes David Eddings' five-book Malloreon series, published in 1991 at 443 pages. It follows Sorceress of Darshiva as the final entry in a series that ran from 1987.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Seeress of KellThe Malloreon picks up several years after the Belgariad's ending, when Garion -- now the Rivan King -- learns that the infant son stolen from him and his wife Ce'Nedra has been taken east across the sea to Mallorea, the vast Angarak empire the earlier books only glimpsed from a distance. The prophecy isn't finished after all: a second, opposing prophecy has been quietly gathering its own champion, and Garion's party reassembles -- Belgarath, Polgara, Silk, Durnik, and the rest -- for a much longer journey across cultures the Belgariad never had time to visit, from the slave markets of Mallorea to the ruins of a vanished seventh nation. New figures complicate the old certainties: Zakath, the seemingly ruthless Mallorean emperor who turns out to be more interesting than his reputation, and Cyradis, a blindfolded seeress-judge who represents a choice more genuinely difficult than good-versus-evil. Where the Belgariad built its quest around a straightforward retrieval, the Malloreon widens the lens into something closer to a tour of Eddings' whole invented world, using the returning cast's established chemistry as a stable center while the politics and geography around them grow more complicated. It ends by resolving the two-prophecy structure the entire saga has been building since Pawn of Prophecy, making it best understood as the second and concluding half of one long story rather than a fully separate series.
Yes, essential -- the Malloreon is a direct continuation that assumes complete knowledge of the Belgariad's ending and characters.
Publication order: Guardians of the West, King of the Murgos, Demon Lord of Karanda, Sorceress of Darshiva, The Seeress of Kell.
It's best thought of as the second half of one long saga -- it resolves a second prophecy set up but not finished in the Belgariad, using the same cast.
Five, published between 1987 and 1991.
After -- both prequels are written for readers who already know how the full Belgariad/Malloreon story ends.
Reading order last verified .