Alana's review
Eragon (Inheritance) - Eragon Book 1
by Christopher Paolini
I enjoyed your review; kudos to you!
I do have a comment on the age factor here, though. Yes, he wrote Eragon when he was 15 or what have you, so I believe a little bit of leeway is allowed to him (although his publishers and editors are truly to blame). However, he is now 24 years old and writes exactly how he used to 9 years ago. It's inexcusable really, and a shame that someone who I think did have at least a shred of talent hasn't grown at all. I thought that his second installment, Eldest, was even more difficult to swallow than Eragon. He's obviously doing something wrong, and there's no reason why his writing growth should be this stunted. Even looking at a sneak peek at book three, the writing hasn't seemed to have improved one bit.
That's really unfortunate. I definitely agree that there was some talent there - if only he had found his own story and taken some time to grow as a writer. His publishers and editors (weren't they his PARENTS? at least originally?) are truly to blame. It's a shame that they didn't give him some encouragement and send him home to work some more...
But at this point he should definitely have grown as a writer. Especially since he's had practice at this point. I think it's a case of too much adoration going to his head rather than a good dose of constructive criticism. I'm tempted to read the next in the series - much like a train wreck. But this time I think I'm going to watch the Star Wars movies first... :-)
It is really unfortunate and I almost feel sorry for the guy. Almost.
Good luck with Eldest. I am only 80 pages (this is my second attempt) in over a two month period because I just can't wade through the purple prose without my gag reflexes kicking in.
Alana's review
Eragon (Inheritance) - Eragon Book 1 by Christopher Paolini
Alana's review
rating:
bookshelves:
awful,
fantasy,
to-read,
youngadult
Eragon is the story of a provincial farm boy, much given to asking blatantly obvious redundant questions to give the other characters a chance to pontificate, who through some odd coincidence turns up a dragon's egg while he is out hunting. Despite having heard stories of dragons and dragon riders his entire life, he does not recognize the egg, or when it hatches the dragon as such, which goes to demonstrate his approximate intelligence for most of the novel. Seriously, if you happened across a stone that sounds hollow and SQUEAKS, it wouldn't really be that much of a stretch, would it?
The story itself is an odd mish-mash of Star Wars and Tolkien. We have the Uncle murdered by evil minions of the Bad Guy. So Eragon sets off to follow them to avenge his uncle - completely ignoring the fact that these evil minions sole purpose is to find him and then either kill or recruit him (neither of which fall into the desired outcome category). Along the way we're treated to the obligatory bro...more
The story itself is an odd mish-mash of Star Wars and Tolkien. We have the Uncle murdered by evil minions of the Bad Guy. So Eragon sets off to follow them to avenge his uncle - completely ignoring the fact that these evil minions sole purpose is to find him and then either kill or recruit him (neither of which fall into the desired outcome category). Along the way we're treated to the obligatory bro...more
I enjoyed your review; kudos to you!
I do have a comment on the age factor here, though. Yes, he wrote Eragon when he was 15 or what have you, so I believe a little bit of leeway is allowed to him (although his publishers and editors are truly to blame). However, he is now 24 years old and writes exactly how he used to 9 years ago. It's inexcusable really, and a shame that someone who I think did have at least a shred of talent hasn't grown at all. I thought that his second installment, Eldest, was even more difficult to swallow than Eragon. He's obviously doing something wrong, and there's no reason why his writing growth should be this stunted. Even looking at a sneak peek at book three, the writing hasn't seemed to have improved one bit.
That's really unfortunate. I definitely agree that there was some talent there - if only he had found his own story and taken some time to grow as a writer. His publishers and editors (weren't they his PARENTS? at least originally?) are truly to blame. It's a shame that they didn't give him some encouragement and send him home to work some more...
But at this point he should definitely have grown as a writer. Especially since he's had practice at this point. I think it's a case of too much adoration going to his head rather than a good dose of constructive criticism. I'm tempted to read the next in the series - much like a train wreck. But this time I think I'm going to watch the Star Wars movies first... :-)
It is really unfortunate and I almost feel sorry for the guy. Almost.Good luck with Eldest. I am only 80 pages (this is my second attempt) in over a two month period because I just can't wade through the purple prose without my gag reflexes kicking in.