Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Autistic, June 6, 2006
I know I'm only regurgitating facts other, much more eloquent, people have stated, but I feel these are things that need to be read over and over again, because ignorant people are being sucked into forking out twenty something dollars to buy a novel that just lacks the magic us fantasy-readers have become so accustomed to.
And it's painfully obvious why this novel is lacking. Eragon is basically superman as a boy and set in a totally different world. The plot has been "borrowed" straight from the Star Wars films and the world is basically Middle-Earth with a different name. And when I say world, I don't mean the geography, I mean the races that inhabit it, their characteristics, and their appearances. None of it is new, and all of it can be traced back to other, much greater works. And I don't care if those other novels borrowed ideas from Celtic mythology or some such thing. At least they put their own spin on things and gave old ideas a new twist. Mr. Paolini definitely didn't do that.
The characters are completely dull and mind-numbing. The only one I found interesting was Brom, and even he didn't capture my attention that often, because I'd seen him before and already heard his story from somewhere else.
There is only one thing I'm asking. Please, even if there is just a minute amount of good in your heart, do not buy this book and keep letting this poor boy (who is now twenty/twenty-two if I'm correct) go on believing he can write. Maybe there's an author in there somewhere, but I'm thinking it's going to take a lot more criticism and rejection than what Mr. Paolini has received for him to come bursting out. And from what I understand, Mr. Paolini is very full of himself. He reminds me of an autistic boy I know, completely sure that he's the best thing that has ever happened to this world, when all the while those around him are laughing at what a big fool he's making out of himself.
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59 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Mythic, but perhaps too much so., May 25, 2004
Everyone here seems to be extremely divided in their views of this book, and I'm afraid I fall in the dislike camp.
Okay, let's start with the plot. I must admit it is quite enjoyable, if you are in such unlikely circumstances that you are both inclined to like fantasy, and have not read most of the modern classics in said genre; or, perhaps, you have to have read enough awfully-written stories to know cliches when you see them. Basically, Eragon embarks upon a quest for revenge against shadow forces he doesn't know much about, but which will undoubtedly have something to do with his 'mysterious past.'
While most people mention fantasy books as inspiration, I find Eragon's plot more reminiscent of Star Wars than of anything else. There's the dead order of peace-keepers with amazing powers, the main character's mysterious past (Who's his father? He doesn't know!), the magical power, the old man with long-dead secrets of the past, which of course he teaches to this headstrong youth without really bothering about whether he's _good_ or not, and most tellingly, the destruction of the boy's farm and death of his uncle, which in both Star Wars and Eragon sets the main character off on a quest of revenge. Just thank heaven there's no C3P0...
In terms of concepts, there are very few original ideas, either. Paolini draws from Tolkien's works, not just Lord of the Rings but background materials as well, and, I am told, Anne McCaffrey's (sorry if I misspelled that) Pern books. Personally, I can't stand McCaffrey's writing, which is why I can't speak for myself on that one. Anyway, all of the races are almost exactly the same, down to the origins of the elves across the sea (Tolkien came up with that one, folks!); while Urgals and the Ra'zac are original, as far as I know, they are shadily described. Indeed, the Urgals always remind me of the Knights who say Ni, a la Monty Python, which rather kills their potential as villans.
Paolini attempts to make his world original and fresh by adding in what he seems to think is his own idea, judging by the care he takes in explaining it: an ancient language, a true language, with magical power. Unfortunately, his implementation of this idea has two flaws: 1) lacking a proper knowledge of the mechanics of language, he has created a set of _words_ with absolutely no grammar involved, so that to get across a complex idea you have to smoosh words together and hope that it works; and 2) the words seem to have been created by randomly pounding on the keyboard, and adding vowels where he thought them necessary. They're not unpronouncible, as this has created a tongue with a phonology similar to Russian, or perhaps closer to Czech; but I doubt that was intentional, as my high school is one in, I think, a little over fifty in the United States that actually teaches Russian. 'Brisingr' is a word that simply could not exist in any Romance or Germanic language, and, as I said, I doubt that Chris Paolini put much thought into making his language original (even Tolkien, a philologist, only used harsh Slavic sounds in his black speech, the tongue of evil) when all the rest of his work has little or no thought in that area. Originality, I mean.
One more thing. Eragon is grammatically correct throughout, a fact for which I am thankful, but shows distinct signs of having been written by a ten-year-old - and yes, I know the author was fifteen at the time of publishing. So what? I'm sixteen, and I can still vary my sentence structure. Learning to do so was an integral part of my 7th grade English education! All of Eragon's sentences are short, less than a line long, and generally begin with either an article (a or the) or the subject of said sentence; occasionally you'll find another adjective there instead, if you're lucky. I have not noticed a single subordinate clause in the entire book, and have been appalled at the blatant lack of semicolons. Semicolons! What is the world coming to, if people can say a story without semicolons is worth reading?
Still, Eragon did wonders as light, mindless reading material - besides, of course, the choppy writing style inherent in a book with uniform sentence structure and a dearth of semicolons - and so, rather than a one, I give it two stars out of five.
P.S. - I haven't seen anyone else comment on this particular name theft, so I thought I'd mention it. You know the Bid'duam? Turn it around and what do you get: Muad'dib. Frank Herbert alone could sue the kid for plaigarism; I'd hate to see what the Tolkien estate would do if they got word.
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30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Imitation bodes ill for thesaurus wielding teen author, March 18, 2006
A Kid's Review
First off, I want to say that I am slightly biased. I worship J.R.R. Tolkien and his epic, beautiful, lyrical works. I also respect other writers such as David Eddings, J.K. Rowling, and Ursula Leguin. So maybe my preferences led me to a book with a gorgeous blue dragon that looked distinctly human on the cover. When I first happened upon Eragon, I had no idea who the author was (or, shall I say, how OLD he was) and I had never heard of it before (ignorance is bliss). So when I picked it up, I read the first couple of pages, and I was a lost cause. Though there are many factors that contribute to Eragon's failings as a fantasy novel (or a novel in general), the two most blatant are writing using a photocopier and writing without the skill to do so. I admire Christopher Paolini so much because he has sufficient firmness to go on with such an epic (the task, not the result) task till the end. But the admiration ends there. I don't think that his age should excuse the pomposity and dullness of his language and overall lack of technical skill. He has a real knack for taking a whole lot of SAT level vocab, putting it together, and making it mean NOTHING AT ALL. How's this for an example... "May thee who enter here forget thine impermanence and that which is beloved"; this is an inscription on the citadel of Dras-Leona, and I still can't grasp it. There is just something so superficial and fake about CP's writing style that I know for sure his novel is popular only because of the intricate plot rather than a sublime and beautiful mastery of the English language. Though he graduated at 15, I guess he didn't take Creative Writing 101. My next pet peeve is a fairly common one, and it is that there is not one ounce of originality in Eragon. I won't bore you with all the sordid details, but don't expect anything new, and don't expect anything great from Eragon. At best, it is a mildly interesting, simplistic novel that that will deliver you from extreme boredom. At worst, it is a poor attempt by an adoring fan to emulate those who are far, far greater than he. Maybe later, CP, but for now, you aren't fit to wipe Tolkien's shoes. SHAME ON YOU!
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