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Quality product. We gave it as a Christmas present and the receiver was thrilled. We were pleased with the quality and the price was a good value
I love the first two books (borrowed them) and wanted to get the series so I could read them again as well as the last one. I looked for this at my local book store and it was way more expensive there. I got it fast and in perfect condition from Amazon. I can't wait till the 4th one. It said it was for late teens but I loved it and I'm way past that category.
Would you say, "Son, the book you wrote is good, but the plot is not your own. And his treatise on vegetarianism is just -ugh. They claim the book is just trash, that Paolini is nothing but a cheap plagiarizer who would never have been published had his parents not owned a publishing house. Apart from the bit about Roran, there was nothing new. Well, it's evident he's striving, but we are yet to see any signs of his success. I found the book extremely entertaining, but the first thing I noticed was that the plot seemed to have been lifted scene by scene from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. It was, as I said before, highly entertaining. There was no depth to the book or to the characters.
Of course, that is the only original point in the plot. While it can be argued that all Paolini did was follow the same pattern, the glaring similarities with the Star Wars Movie puts the lie to this line of argument. As such, when I first heard of Eragon (and the hype of a 15 year old author), I just had to buy it. Paolini must be part kender, I think from the way everything from other people's works seems to fall into his book. In fact, I enjoy reading books again and again.
Even though his elves are but pale shadows when compared to Tolkien's, they were still "borrowed" from Tolkien. There isn't a death in the book that moves you, not Garrow's, not Brom's. Eldest fails to do even that. Maybe Paolini and his parents should take the time to read `The Winter of our Discontent' by John Steinbeck.On with the critique. Of course, it was then I decided to write this critique. This is plagiarism and it is as bad as stealing" or would you say, "This book is good, so who cares if its plot is copied from somewhere else, we own a publishing company, so let's get you published". Paolini makes Rhunon use Eragon's body to forge the sword, so technically she has not forged the sword and thereby broken her oath. I don't claim to have read everything there is to read, but I have still read a lot.
But this was really a torture. I have been following the debate regarding the books by Christopher Paolini. Eragon, on the whole, was not a bad book. After all, he was only 15 when he started writing Eragon. Now this is understandable and even excusable. Now, fans of fantasy literature know this is not the case with good fantasy novels.
To say that the reason other teens are not writing books is because they have better things to do is petty and indicates nothing but jealousy. You read it, you forget it. And when you close the book, you wish you could really go to the world and meet with the people. As Molly Weasly comments on Mundungus Fletcher in Harry Potter, "I don't know where you learned your ideas of right and wrong, but you seemed to have missed a few crucial lessons". The books will probably have a fan following for a few more years till most of his fans grow up. Many authors before Paolini have successfully created masterpieces on the basic storyline. And I am always trying to find new and new books in the genre. There is not a single character who remains with you after you close the book.
The way it starts off with a rescue, the way Oromis tells Eragon that he has " taught him everything that might help defeat Galbatorix" all follow the Star Wars plot so minutely, that one wonders if the book was written for a dare (Dare you to write a story about dragons with the plot of Star Wars.). And it really was a torture. of Paolini maintain that the book is a masterpiece, that Paolini ranks right up there with the greats in the genre. Eragon doesn't invoke any such feelings. In Brisingr, it is boring in spite of battles being fought and people being killed.I forced myself to re-read the entire series recently after getting caught up in the debate.
I think the Harry Potter series did it long before. In fact, it evokes no feelings. Now, if your 15 year old were to come to you with a book he had written and it had a plot lifted scene by scene from another story, what would you say. What an ego he must be having.As for Brisingr, well, what a letdown. Now, a lot of people have already commented on this and so I'll refrain from drawing comparisons or in pointing out the similarities in plot points.
I never had a problem with re-reading a book before. It does not require longwinded narrations from the author to make you experience the world. Tas will be delighted.The biggest plus point I can find for Paolini is that he had the perseverance to write this book. Nothing was happening and lengthy narrations were used to describe the fact that nothing was happening. The book was boring in the extreme, even more boring than `Eldest'. But, unfortunately, that is all it was. The ground on which he stands seems flimsy at best.
After all, none of the aforementioned stories reads anything like Star Wars. The Prydain series by Alexander Lloyd, Belgariad by David Eddings and The Sword of Truth Series by Terry Goodkind are just a few examples of stories that follow this storyline. The fans (or fanatics). That Paolini's book does and disturbingly so, indicates to my mind that he had deliberately copied the plot. Hence this post.First off, I am a great fan of fantasy literature. The way Eragon declares so loftily that he will not eat the flesh of something whose mind he has shared and the way he later on changes his mind is strongly reminiscent of Richard in The Sword of Truth Series.His views on atheism are so absurd, they do not even deserve to be commented upon.
Period.Eldest was worse than Eragon in terms of writing and plot. He could do well to take lessons from Xenophilius Lovegood when he tells Hermione to "prove that it doesn't" exist.And in spite of the atheist beliefs, Paolini does create a few miracles in the books, one when Eragon is healed of his debilitating injury and made as near an elf as was possible, next when Rhunon forges a sword for Eragon when she had sworn she would never again do so. Tolkien's narrations read like poetry, Paolini comes across as merely boring. You read of them and you move on because to you they never become people, they just remain as names. In spite of the fact that I found the book entertaining, I was disturbed that nobody seemed to mind the fact that the plotline has evidently been copied.
I fell asleep quite a lot of times in the middle of various passages.As for Paolini's praising the elves to high heavens, what can I say except that he must admire Tolkien quite a lot. Well, seeing such a lot of people getting so involved in the book and the controversy, I thought I'll jump into the bandwagon as well. In Eldest, it was boring because nothing was happening. But maybe all this debate about Paolini may lead to kids discovering the true masters like Tolkien or Ursula Le Guin (whose Earthsea series provided Paolini with the basis for his theory of magic).In conclusion, I will say that the books are neither well-written nor edited, Paolini is yet to attain any sort of maturity in his writings inspite of reaching his twenty sixth birthday, his characters have no real depth and worse of all, his too numerous "borrowings" leave a bad taste in the mouth of the reader. Of course, I cannot agree with the detractors of Paolini who claim that this is not an impressive feat since he was a homeschooled kid with not much of a social life. Of course, it does seem as if Paolini listened to at least some of his critics, the revelation of Brom as Eragon's father does add a little more originality to the plot that is otherwise a dead ringer for Star Wars. The detractors are equally vehement in their denunciation. One would have to assume that it was her body that swore the oath.The inconsistencies in the book and the fallacies in Paolini's arguments are too numerous to be pointed out.
I originally wrote this for my blog, but decided to post it here as well And to compare himself to Heaney.
Books are not written because their writers have nothing better to do. Paolini has said "I strive for a lyrical beauty somewhere between Tolkien at his best and Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf".
Now the theme of young farm boy being pushed into a role where the fate of the world rests in his hands is one as old as the genre. And if you think it's easy, try writing at least a chapter.I cannot agree with the fans who claim Paolini has made kids interested in reading again.
A good book of the genre makes you feel as if you have been in the world inhabited by its protagonists. At least, Eragon was entertaining.
Ditto with the "borrowings" Paolini has done from other sources. But these are not books that are going to survive the test of time.
I've never seen my son devour a book like he did these. I bought this set of books for my 17 year old son, and he loved each and every book. He read the first book, and couldn't wait to read the 2nd and 3rd. He is now asking me when this author will be writing more. I highly recommend these books for those of you with teens who are into fantasy tales.
Maybe you've reached this conclusion but here it is again: Eragon is Luke Skywalker. If you want to read something with a new plotline, this is not the series for you. Not exactly, but he's almost there. The storyline is similar, the tragedies are virtually identical. If you want to read Star Wars with dragons in it, here's your series. Honestly, I like it.
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