My sister gave me a copy of Eragon by Christopher Paolini for Christmas this past year, and last night I finally finished reading it. I’d picked it up a copy while at a friend’s house earlier this month and read the first few chapters, but then life got in the way of finishing it. Last night I decided to read a few more chapters before going to bed (early). Sigh. I finished it at one this morning, and I am still ticked with the author.
This book is a part of a series. At no point must you think that most of the mysteries will be revealed by the end; nor must you think that any conflicts will be resolved, either. Personally, I think it’s cruel to leave a cliffhanger at the end of 508 pages. This is yet another way that the author has poorly ripped off Tolkein. His depiction of Elven and Dwarf societies are very Tolkein-esque, his map of Alaga
Isn’t that the book that got a ton of press because the author is a homeschooled teenager?
And, goodness. I just read the plot summary over at Powell’s. It sounds like every third fantasy novel that gets published, frankly. I do love Tolkien, but he’s got a hell of a lot to answer for, too.
I didn’t see any of the press about the book, but if the author is a teen, that explains a lot. I think he’ll be a decent fantasy writer when he matures a bit more.
I work in a school, and my kids loved Eragon, but they also think that Eldest (the second one, written when he was 15-16, not 13) is much better. I agree that the book is a bad mishmash of every other really good scifantasy series out there; it probably wouldn’t have been published if the author hadn’t been a teen and “they” weren’t desperate for that genre (following on the LoTR movies’ release).