I had rated this one star, but that is unfair, as I never actually finished it... I may have another go some day. Basically, I read the first page in the store and thought it was wonderful! I bought it and took it home to read. And after the first chapter, things went downhill. I was a big Eddings fan prior to picking up this book. I read my brother's copies of The Elenium and Tamuli, and I bought my own editions of The Belgariad and The Malloreon, and The Rivan Codex, and all the supporting books... I LOVED those characters. But, when I started to read Althalus, his cat companion (sorry, it's been a while and I can't be bothered digging up the book to check her name) reminded me all too much of Polgara and, I'm afraid, that just didn't work for me. I already knew Polgara. And I had been on many adventures with her, and would gladly go on more... but not in the guise of a "different" character. It kind of reminds me of my old Furby. I played with it for a while and it was cute. Then, when I was over that, I took the batteries out. When I restarted it a few months later, it loaded a different character (but in the same body... just too weird!). I never touched the thing again... OK, so this is a reverse situation, but the point is, I couldn't deal with "Polgara" being played by some cat. Maybe, with a little more distance between me and my beloved characters, I wil be able to have a go at this one again, and give a fair rating.