Eragon: I Liked It

He may have gone through the same struggles writing, yes.

He did not have to go through the tumultuous emotions of sending off a manuscript to to heartless editors and agents and lie awake at night, staring at the ceiling and wondering if he would be rejected.

From what I've seen on this thread, when people mention the fact his parents helped him out, it usually comes with people insulting Paolini.

When did he claim that?

People have been saying that Paolini thinks he's as good as Tolkien, when all he said is that he aspires to be that good, and using that to assassinate his character for how long now, so proof please.

edited 6th Jun '11 3:44:56 PM by Chaosjunction

Which part of my post are you referring to?

Sorry, I was referring to AHR's post, you and Nate sniped me.

I read it in Spanish. I'll hopefully pick up the last book in English, I hate translations.

....So what if he didn't have to go through the same things as another person?

That's just as bad as me saying I want to see someone do better, is it not?

With that argument, that makes lower classed people somehow "better" than other people, does it not?

That probably makes me the best person in the thread then. :P

edited 6th Jun '11 4:35:58 PM by cutewithoutthe

No, it just means that he'll always be mediocre. Reread what I posted.

It seems reasonable to me to say that a book which has survived being looked over by critical editors and a long publishing process might be better written than a book that has not.

I mean, most published books have passed the quality test of an independant publishing company. Eragon didn't.

How do you know that, Loni?

And authors definitely don't need adversity to improve themselves.

edited 6th Jun '11 4:37:30 PM by cutewithoutthe

How do I know what? That it wasn't edited by a publishing company? Well, his parents published it. They're not an independent source, and they might not pick up on things that an outsider would.

Bear in mind I'm not saying that means Eragon is bad. Just that it's lacking that one particular qualification.

That depends on what you mean by 'adversity'. If adversity is somebody going through your work and telling you "this section is terrible, rework it" and "you don't need that. Cut it. No I don't care that it took you two weeks to write", then yes. They do need adversity.

No, I mean, Eragon was published two times; first, by his parent's company, and then by Knopf.

Who's to say they didn't test its quality then?

Then again,....

edited 6th Jun '11 5:01:23 PM by cutewithoutthe

I don't know, actually. Were there any edits made to the book when Knopf picked it up, or did they publish the exact same book? Does anyone know?

If they did make edits, were they just a spelling and grammar check or did someone advise him on more general things to change?

I know about the five foot sword wielded by a fifteen year old thing.

And he wears it on his hip.

I'm not very good at math either. >.>

Admittedly, there may have been minor changes, but still; someone that worked from Knopf liked it.

edited 6th Jun '11 5:17:08 PM by cutewithoutthe

I think they did eventually change the length of Zar'roc so it didn't trail on the ground. As someone with no sense of scale who skims over descriptions of weapons anyway I didn't really care.

What got to me more than that was the scene in Brisingr where he sliced off the heads of three dwarfs with a single mighty stroke. Y'know, because neck vertebrae don't actually do anything to prevent that sort of thing...

edited 6th Jun '11 5:22:06 PM by LoniJay

Can't Katanas do that?

And I think I remember a sword not the katana doing that in Deadliest Warrior.

Plus, aren't dwarf necks really small? I think three of their necks would fit on one pig...

Then again, bones are hard...

edited 6th Jun '11 5:23:58 PM by cutewithoutthe

I have no idea what katanas can or cannot do, but that scene just felt ridiculously over the top.

And while dwarfs are short, they're always descibed as being stocky and very strong. You'd think their bones would be at least as thick as human ones. By the time he got through the first neck it ought to have robbed his sword of quite a bit of momentum.

It is stated in Eldest that dwarves have stronger thicker bones than humans.

edited 6th Jun '11 5:27:17 PM by snowfoxofdeath

I'll give you that, but isn't his sword like uber strong?

And doesn't it have like some kinda barrier around it sometimes?

(I haven't read these books in like 3 years)

It was the Katana in Deadliest Warrior.

The Kilij went straight through one pig.

Both of the pigs were stationary, i.e. not moving around and trying not to get their heads chopped off, and Zar'roc is constructed differently from either sword. Maybe it's magic-enhanced, I dunno.

edited 6th Jun '11 5:29:21 PM by melloncollie

God I love that show.

Was it even Zar'roc or Brisingr, or was he inbetween swords at that point? Did he go to the dwarves before or after the elves?

Don't make me read that book again! >:L

I'm enjoying Stephen King too much~

I think it was Brisingr, but that's shouldn't matter, both the swords are pretty similar except for that sometimes-on-fire thing.