Eragon

I don't absolutely hate his stuff, but I don't think its unreadable. Awkward and clunky is how I find it, verging on pretentious in many places. There are lots of phrases and sentences that would flow smoothly if rearranged slightly, and I figure that Paolini didn't reread the books in their entirety after finishing them because of how long they were. So a lot of it gets passed off as this medieval style when its not. That doesn't necessarily make it better.

I do really like reading the books because its at that level where you can make your own corrections in your head and What Could Have Been goes wild.

Also, I feel like the series could become either undeniably awesome or completely average in the last book, depending on whether or not the view of Surda and the resistance being the good guys is maintained. I felt like Paolini was setting up Nasuada to be evil in the third book, so I can only hope.

edited 24th Jun '10 10:25:40 AM by illegalcheese

I just realized something. The Inheritance Cycle is the fantasy action version of Twilight. They're both poorly written and yet have a large fanbase.

Would that make Avatar the sci-fi version of both?

^ for adults yes :P But at least Avatar gives you some great visuals.

edited 3rd Jul '10 3:35:52 PM by SleepyPillow

Avatar isn't poorly written, it's just that it's not written enough. Its plot is barely there. Contrast to Twilight and Eragon whose plots ARE there but are terrible.

Why is Avatar in the fray at all?

Besides, it was excellent. /opinion

Here it goes. Brace yourselves: I liked the series, flawed as it may be. *takes cover*

^ Don't sweat it.

I come for the dragons and stayed for Murtagh

fdfdsgksfjaklf

I wish someone would write the series from Murty's POV. I really think it would be more interesting than the actual series.

^^^ Even though I don't think much of the books, I have no real problem with someone else enjoying them. I don't really mind most fans of the series, even if I don't agree with them. It's just the ones who go to extreme lengths to defend the books from criticism that annoy me. Doubly so when they mention the author's age or claim "You're Just Jealous" like it's an actual valid argument.

For those like the above poster wondering why everyone thinks the Inheritance Cycle rips off Star Wars, tell me - is the following a synopsis (from Anti-Shurtugal) of ANH and TESB, or Eragon and Eldest?

A boy of foggy origins lives with his uncle in a remote, backwater region of a vast empire headed by an evil Emperor and his right hand man, who was once prominent in an ancient order of guardians with mystical powers. An object of vital importance to the rebellion against the Empire is transported from a princess under attack to the remote region of the Empire, where an old man lives who once belonged to the ancient order of guardians, and was part of the rebellion. The farmboy comes across the object through sheer luck. The boy seeks out the old man to learn about the ancient order, but eventually has to return to his uncle’s farm. The boy finds that it has been destroyed by fire by the Empire’s agents, and his uncle killed. The boy sets off with the old hermit, who gives him a weapon unique to the ancient order of guardians, a weapon that is also, coincidentally, the boy’s father’s. As they travel, they train. The old hermit has the boy focus more on swordsmanship, but also teaches him a little bit about the ways of the mystical order of guardians. The boy meets up with a rogue who is full of surprises, but turns out to be fiercely loyal, for all his proclaimed selfishness. The boy also begins having visions of a beautiful woman imprisoned and in need of help–the same princess who sent him the object of importance. The boy decides that he needs to rescue her, even though he doesn’t know her; further, he thinks of her only as beautiful. The old hermit dies as a sacrifice so that the boy can escape from danger; the damsel is rescued, and they must set off to the rebellion. The Empire tracks them, and shortly after reaching the rebellion, they are attacked. A massive battle happens, one whose outcome will either save the rebellion or destroy them completely. The boy proves his worth with heroics during the battle, but his crowning achievement is his destruction of one of the Empire’s most prized weapons. The boy is aided in this by one of his friends, who arrives at precisely the right moment. The boy is lauded a hero. The boy has a hallucination of a powerful master who can teach him more of the ancient order. The boy travels to the powerful master to learn the ways of the ancient order’s mystical power. While there, he grows very powerful. While he is away, the Rebellion regroups in a new area. Just when the boy is on a roll with his training, and has grown very powerful, he has a vision of his friends in great danger. He decides he must go to help them. His master warns him not to go. The boy promises that he will return. He leaves. He finds his friends just in time and is able to distract the enemy so that his friends will remain safe. He engages in one-on-one combat with a foe who is revealed to be family–he finds out that his father was the right-hand man of the Emperor–his father was the one who betrayed the ancient order and helped kill them. The boy is shocked and ultimately defeated, but not killed. He loses his weapon and finds out that someone dear to him has been taken by a minor villain, and promises to find this person.

...Yeah.

I wouldn't call Avatar outright bad (or accuse it of "ripping off" a half dozen kids' movies and insult everyone who disagrees—yes, I've seen it happen), but its plot was trite and formulaic.

However, the topic at hand is Eragon, or possibly the Inheritance Cycle as a whole. Not only is its plot trite and formulaic (and cluttered with unnecessary digressions), but its prose is overly florid. And not only does Paolini crib shamelessly, but he doesn't even have the decency to admit that he was so much as inspired by others. He'd have us believe that it all flows out of his own skull.

Plus, Eragon is a creepy Jerk Sam.

edited 30th Oct '10 11:26:12 PM by FarseerLolotea

Everyones been inspired by others. He just strung it all together well. The setting is uniqe enogh that i enjoy it. Good storyline, all that stuff.

And on Avatar, i liked that too. Minus copyrighting the word avatar and making all future seris of Avatar after angg sound retarted.

I'm reading the series translated in my own language, so all the purple prose and questionable words are distilled into a more natural flowing typical storytelling vocabulary.

The real problem, though, is the pacing. There are too many consecutive chapters of mere exposition without anything interesting happening. Either that, or too much sugar and nice stuff happening, making it tedious at times.

I think a big problem of Books 2 and 3 (at least halfway thru) was the lack of a character like Durza. I really liked that guy, he was like a squicky nightmare dispenser and was the only good think about the movie adaptation too. After his death, we get a second book with no active villain whatsoever. Too much focus is put on the protagonists and most villains encountered tend to be simple mooks. I believe that Durza would be compared with Vader because of his sad past, but I personally find him more murderous and less noble-demon.

Sounds like there wasn't much lost in translation.

Some of my problems with it were how blatant the plot armor was for Roran in the last book. He literally has a wall, a giant CITY wall fall on him, and he comes out killing someone and ready to charge further into battle killing many more.

another problem was how boring the third book was, hmm...Eragon goes to help the dwarves with politics...two hundred pages later more dwarvin politics...two hundred more pages later well what do you know more dwarvin politics... some action might happen, inhales breath... finaly he got a real sword... small battle, book ends.

My final one is about Arya, so Saphira can have sex but he can't common CP that's terrible and the fact that it was Arya's dragon just makes it so much worse, oh well end of random rant.

I've read the the hate and I've read the books,and I've come to the conclusion that the hate is just that "hate". Good day to you all.

You've come to the conclusion that the people who hate the books hate the books? I guess you must mean "irrational hate", so I think rational refutations are in order.

We already have a thread for this.

I believe the second thread was created so that the fans would have a thread purely to themselves without having to lock horns with the haters. Funny how things turn out...

Some forums just need a "fans only" sign.

Thread necromancy ahoy!

Paolini announced a new book (site currently down at time of post).

The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm - Tales from Alagaesia, Volume 1, Eragon

Getting a CS Lewis vibe from the title (which really isn't that subtle, and this is coming from someone who wrote a fanfic called The Apprentice, the Student, and the Charlatan), and based on it's full title, I'm getting a "Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina" vibe as well. Supposed to follow Aragorn, Pokemon Sapphire, and Aria di Mezzo Carattere. You can tell I'm enjoying this a little too much.

Set for release on 31 December 2018.

Edited by Rytex on Oct 10th 2018 at 9:54:38 AM