Eragon Author: Christopher Paolini | Language: English | ISBN:
B000FBJCK8 | Format: EPUB
Eragon Description
Fifteen-year-old Eragon believes that he is merely a poor farm boy—until his destiny as a Dragon Rider is revealed. Gifted with only an ancient sword, a loyal dragon, and sage advice from an old storyteller, Eragon is soon swept into a dangerous tapestry of magic, glory, and power. Now his choices could save—or destroy—the Empire.
“An authentic work of great talent.”—
The New York Times Book Review“Christopher Paolini make[s] literary magic with his precocious debut.”—
People“Unusual, powerful, fresh, and fluid.”—
Booklist, Starred
“An auspicious beginning to both career and series.” —
Publishers WeeklyA New York Times Bestseller
A USA Today Bestseller
A Wall Street Journal Bestseller
A Book Sense Bestseller
From the Hardcover edition.- File Size: 3162 KB
- Print Length: 528 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0375826696
- Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (August 26, 2003)
- Sold by: Random House LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B000FBJCK8
- Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,876 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #74
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure
- #74
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teen & Young Adult > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure
What you almost always hear first about this book is "wow, it was written by a 17-yr-old". And the author is fully deserving of the respect and admiration he gets--it is indeed an impressive book for a 17-year-old to have written. What he probably should not have gotten was a publishing contract, since while it is impressive for a 17-yr-old, it is less than impressive for a published work of fiction.
If an adult had written and published this, I would have been disgusted (as I was with the Sword of Shannara) with the clear calculation that had gone into the work: "ok, I'll take a lot of Tolkien, a lot of McCaffery, a good amount of Leguin, some Dragonlance, some Star Wars, etc. It will be a can't miss book." Since it's the product not of an adult but of a teenager, it comes across much more positively--as a work of fiction by someone who has read lots and absorbed lots of fantasy and simply didn't have the experience (or the good editor) to take out all of his favorite parts of other works. How can I dislike or be too critical of someone who so obviously loved some of my own favorite authors, loved them so much that they simply took over his book through I'm guessing no fault of his own.
And that in a nutshell is the problem with Eragon. The story is cliched, formulaic and barely passable as are the characters and the language is simply what you would expect from a somewhat precocious teen fan of adult fantasy. If you have any experience in the field of fantasy at all, reading Eragon will feel like a visit to Las Vegas (though not so tacky)--sure you can see New York and Paris and Italy, but they are mere shadows of the real thing. So McCaffery's telepathic link between dragon and rider is here, but not the powerful emotionality of her (especially earlier) works.
Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. This book is a trainwreck. Where do I even begin?
I'll start with the most obvious and egregious issue: Many, many concepts, character names, and place names were lifted straight from other and much better fantasy writers' works quite shamelessly. Not even "inspired by" type theft - blatant copying. A plucky female character named Arya, a mountain range called the Spine of the World, "Urgals" who are described suspiciously like the Uruk from Tolkien - all these and far more to list here were taken directly from much better fantasy works by the author. But most disgustingly ripped-off of all was the scene where Eragon touches the magical "stone" (dragon egg) and his palm becomes marked with a silver-white circle, thus proving that he is destined to become a great user of magic. Hello, Paolini: David Eddings called; he wants his original idea back. This book is a smorgasbord of stolen works. Paolini should be ashamed of himself for thinking that such intellectual-property theft is acceptable, and he should thank his lucky stars that other fantasy writers aren't more angry over his "borrowing" of their ideas. The professional editor who offered him a contract should be tarred and feathered. And he should refrain from selling fantasy if he's not already familiar enough with the staples in the genre to know when his clients are stealing ideas.
Right, on to the next point.
The language in this book - ugh, atrocious! The prose is clunkier than a pair of cement boots. I can't say whether Eldest and Brisingr are more palatable than Eragon in terms of narrative voice, believable characters, and non-embarrassingly-awkward dialog. I will certainly not be reading those books to find out.
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