Don't read the Rivan Codex!!!!!! I got it out of the library, and it's a how-to-write-fantasy handbook, and shattered a lot of my illusions about the series. I wouldn't reccommend it.
Belgarath is one of the better ones, IMO, as the characters are fully developed, Mr Eddings has been working with the material for, what? 20 years? And knows the world inside out.
It's funny, moving, frustratiing, sometimes mawkish and over-the-top. It's also a really good and enjoyable read.
Hello from me, too.