www.freewebs.com/hlgstrider When I review Eragon I wrestle with bitter envy. I'm a home schooled fantasy lover who has been writing since a young age. I've been trying to get published for years and here comes this upstart, Paolini, and gets himself published, following that up with a movie deal . . . all before his 20th birthday. I'm 23. When will my ship come in? So on one hand, I admire Paolini for doing what I cannot. On the other I search tirelessly for reasons why I am the better writer. However, even avoiding comparisons to myself, there are still some weaknesses in Paolini's first two novels: Eragon and Eldest. A friend of mine once called Eragon "derivative fiction." She should copyright that phrase because it is an apt description of the series. It is a mash up of Star Wars, Wheel of Time, and Lord of the Rings. Partially because of this, a lot of it is predictable. Think Luke Skywalker: raised by a gruff uncle and taken in by an older tutor who are also the first major fatalities of the series. Read Paolini's first book and guess who dies. The second book introduces a Yoda like teacher and a cross-racial (Aragorn and Arwen) love interest for the hero. The strange cloaked creatures that chase our hero are definitely Nazgul in disguise . . . but if Rowling can rip off Nazguls I guess they are fair game . . . but it is still obvious. Plus, come on! I saw that surprise ending in Eldest a mile away . . . three miles away. Maybe four and a half. I could guess who would die, who would fall in love with who, who would betray the good guys . . . maybe I've just been reading fantasy too much. That said, with the exception of using two dollar words where five cent ones would fit better (and what kind of villain has maroon eyes?) the writing is good and the story line fulfills a lot of wishful thinking. It is a typical zero to hero story with dragons and demons and damsels, oh my! This is why we read the genre, and Paolini pulls out all the stops. Can we blame him for success at our own game? Nope. But we can still attempt to do better.
The "eldest" story in the book Mix together equal parts "Star Wars" and J.R.R. Tolkien, then add a generous helping of Anne McCaffrey's dragon-riders and a few random shreds of Garth Nix.
Obviously originality is not Christopher Paolini's strong suit, since the dual-pack of "Eragon" and "Eldest" is brimming over with fantasy cliches. But the biggest weakness of Paolini's two books is not his stilted dialogue or numerous cliches, or even the slow-moving pompous slog of "Eldest's" endless elf training -- it's his cardboard cutout of a self-insert hero, Eragon.
The titular character is lucky enough to stumble across a strange blue stone while hunting. After failing to sell it, Eragon finds that it's actually a dragon egg, and the baby blue dragon inside selects him -- yes, him -- to hatch for and remain with forever. All the Dragon Riders were killed off by Evil King Galbatorix long ago, but for the weird old recluse Brom, who becomes Eragon's mentor. And Luke, I am your father... wait, wrong story.
When Galbatorix's men destroy Eragon's home and family, Brom and Eragon flee to find the mysterious rebels known as the Varden, and rescue the beautiful elf Arya who is haunting Eragon's dreams. But while Eragon and his dragon Saphira learn many things -- and make new allies -- the journey to the Varden brings them a terrible (and totally predictable) loss, and leads them to Eragon's first battle.
"Eldest" picks up immediately afterwards, with Eragon badly wounded and the leader of the Varden murdered. But despite the rebels' turmoil, Eragon is told that he has to accompany Arya back to her home city of the elves, to train as a proper Dragon-rider. But when he arrives, Eragon finds that his new master is an ancient, crippled elf named Oromis, who has a lot to teach him before he inevitably expires.
Unbeknownst to Eragon, his hometown of Carvahall is being ruined by a band of Galbatorix's soldiers, and his newly-engaged cousin Roran may be their only hope. And our hero's truncated training leads to strange new changes in his body and mind, as he prepares for a devastating new battle against Galbatorix -- and a horrifying new discovery. Yes, you can probably see it coming.
Lofty elves, kings-in-waiting, humble farm boys, ghastly goblinesque creatures, mystical women, special swords, evil tyrants who are evil because they just are, wise mentors, and telepathic dragons in a variety of colors. Christopher Paolini never met a fantasy cliche that he didn't like. And as a result, both "Eragon" and "Eldest" are dripping with Tolkien and Lucas-style trappings, right down to the hero's suspiciously Tolkienian name.
Paolini paints these typical sword-and-sorcery stories with rather stilted but promising prose, at least at first. "Eragon" has some raw rookie potential, and you can detect Paolini's enthusiasm as he explores his invented fantasy land, much the way many other teenagers have done after reading high fantasy and yearning to explore their own made-up worlds. There's just not much that is new or unique about this story.
But things go way downhill with "Eldest" -- Paolini's prose becomes bloated, sluggish and painfully smug, with dialogue that becomes more painfully wretched with each chapter ("I walk between the candle and the dark"). The story is wrenched out into three different storylines, two of which deal with the Varden's lace-making and Roran's engagement woes. Neither is terribly interesting, and the battle at the finale feels as though Paolini slapped it on to give it a suitably slam-bang ending.
Worst of all, the book's bulk is devoted mostly to Eragon's uneventful dragon-riding training with Oromis, which consists mostly doing yoga and watching insects, and occasionally whapping each other with swords. Yes, it's every bit as boring as it sounds. And the hilariously homoerotic moments with Eragon and Oromis only liven it up a little.
The biggest problem with Paolini's writing is that Eragon is portrayed as a noble, brave, compassionate soul with a brilliant destiny ahead of him. Well, frankly he shows no nobility, bravery or compassion, and the many characters who gasp in admiration of him does not make him any more impressive. He's a glaring self-insert, with all the dimension of a cardboard standee.
The supporting characters are not much better -- Brom is too brief a character to make much of an impact, and while Oromis has a certain fascination, we hear too little of his past. And the love interest Arya is glorified only for her looks -- which is all she has, since her personality is chilly at best, snotty and autocratic at worst.
Christopher Paolini's not-terribly original fantasy series starts off with the flawed but readable "Eragon," before sliding down into the painfully bloated carcass of "Eldest." Lightweight fantasy at best, but a painful salad of cliched preaching at worst.
Amazing !! I really enjoyed reading these two books and I would recommend it for anyone who wants to discover a new sci-fi fantasy author. Well done Paolini !!
I have just discovered that the 3rd book is coming up on September the 20th and I can hardly wait until then.
I also watched the film of the first book (Eragon).In my opinion the film is not as good as the book and this is probably because in the book there's much more adventure and action that in the film. Still, I think that children will greatly enjoy it.
A decent start with no heart Technically speaking, Eragon was an excellent book but I could only go roughly one hundred pages in before I gave up. Characters died and I couldn't care less. Paolini wrote with his head, not with his heart. As cheesy as that might sound, that's how I felt.
The ideas were not wholly original, and I was reminded of Tolkien, McCaffrey and a mess of other authors and it detracted from the book as a whole. The characters weren't believable and while it was easy to see exactly what was happening (with the images, anyway) it was far too predictable.
Good for children, but a more mature audience might be daunted.
Old gal These delightful books are not just for kids unless you consider 71 a kid. I could hardly put them down, just loved both of them and the strength of their characters. I can hardly wait for the 3rd book to arrive. This young man is surely talented.
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