I wasn't awfully

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Eragon
I wasn't awfully...

I wasn't awfully impressed. They were sort of draggy... I didn't make it past the first book, and that took me forEVer to read. Saphira was rather irksome, Paolini killed the best character (Brom) before the series was even halfway written, and it was all unoriginal. And way too verbose. Can we have another page of description regarding the exact appearance of that elfish tunnel thing?

Does anyone agree, or have a believable argument for enjoying them?

submitted by Mary W., age NJ, 11.38
(June 2, 2009 - 5:06 pm)

I read the first two Eragon books, and I must say I agree with TNO. She is right about it being a lot like LotR. Another similarity, I may add, is that Urgals remind me a great deal of Orks. And the whole "You are the chosen one" thing is such a cliche. And even aside from that, I had other reasons for not liking it (aka. his veiw of religion). I don't want to read the third book.

submitted by Emily L., age 13, WA
(June 7, 2009 - 7:06 pm)

Erm, TNÖ? 107 - 17 = 90. But hey, I refered to Paolini as "she". I was thinking "who hates their characters" and I came out with EHunter. Sorry folks.

submitted by Reuben
(June 8, 2009 - 6:39 am)

Angel sounds like he had a tough life... almost like a cat created by EHunter.

submitted by Mary W., age 11.41, NJ
(June 8, 2009 - 4:31 pm)

@Reuben: Math is NOT my strong point. heh... 

Angel? Yeah. And then he lost his soul, released an ancient demon, got his soul back, just in time to have Buffy kill him and the demon, thus dooming him to eternal damnation. He did get back, though, eventually...

Personally though Spike was far awesomer than Angel. For sure.

submitted by TNÖ, age 15, Deep Space
(June 8, 2009 - 6:16 pm)

Here is my story with Eragon. I read the first one, thought it was great and was going to read the second one but I was pretty burned out from the first one. About a year later I wanted to read the second one but had forgotten what happened in the first one, so I read the first one again and, once again, was too tired from Paolini to read the second one. Again, a year later, the same thing happened. Every time I wanted to read the second one and then decided to read the first one, I just got tired of that same, have to describe every single detail, writing style. A couple months ago I picked up the first one again, read a couple pages, and then just about fell asleep. So yep, that's my very confusing opinion of Eragon.

submitted by Julia, age 12, Oregon
(June 8, 2009 - 5:18 pm)

Please do not be offended, TNÖ!

submitted by Reuben
(June 9, 2009 - 6:38 am)

Angel's from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I guess? (I hardly even know what that is... just that there's this teenager, who, uh, slays vampires?)

Last night I explained to my mom everything that's cliche about Eragon... and she started looking at me like I was insane or something. :/

submitted by Mary W., age 11.41, NJ
(June 9, 2009 - 4:56 pm)

Yeh, he's love interest #1. And he's gooooorgeous.... but not as much as Spike. *Spike!fangriling for a few minutes*

Ahem. Buffy is much better than that. Like most Joss Whedon shows, it's not plot driven so much as character driven. All the characters, even the minor ones, have rich personalities and the dialogue is snappy and, well, BtVS named the trope Buffy Speak for a reason.

BtVS sounds stupid when it's described, but you watch it and the characters suck you in. Exactly the way the Firefly characters grab you, or Billy from Dr. Horrible intrigues you and keeps you watching despite the clearly underfunded special effects. 

submitted by TNÖ, age 15, Deep Space
(June 11, 2009 - 2:00 am)

Nah, thanks for correcting me. As I said, math is not my strong point by any stretch of the imagination. I'm just glad I was within a decade or so, haha. :)

submitted by TNÖ, age 15, Deep Space
(June 9, 2009 - 7:00 pm)

I liked the books, but I'm not going to try and convince anyone of that. (TNO(umlaut) and Mary W.) I won't argue with you. He ripped off Lord of the Rings, but no more than Harry Potter and many other books have. I mean, if you're going to rip off a book, Lord of the Rings is one of the best books to rip off. And Mary W., Maybe you should try finishing the series. They get better.

submitted by Annie
(June 9, 2009 - 6:02 pm)

I agree with everything you say, Annie. And yes, Mary W., the books get much better throughout the series (remember, I really didn't like the first one).

I think I've said my piece here, so unless something shockingly new comes up, don't think I've fallen off a cliff or something if you don't hear from me on this thread. :):):)
submitted by Aliza, age 13, Vermont
(June 10, 2009 - 3:39 pm)

Maybe in a few years when my brain hurts a bit less, Annie...

submitted by Mary W., age 11.42, NJ
(June 10, 2009 - 4:28 pm)

Hmmm.....well, I guess they are a bit tedious.

submitted by Annie
(June 10, 2009 - 8:24 pm)

Ahem, tell me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the word 'strives' means 'tries extra hard', not 'thinks he has.' Therefore, he wasn't really COMPARING himself to Tolkein, he's just saying that he WANTS to be be like Tolkein - and don't all fantasy writers? That still sounds a bit presumptuous, but I don't see how that makes the book any worse! Does anyone know? It seems pretty IMPOSSIBLE to me, that it would have any effect whatsoever on the quality of the novel!

Oh, and Julia, just so you know, there's a brief synopsis of Eragon at the beginning of Eldest.:)

submitted by Ima
(June 10, 2009 - 8:49 pm)

What it proves is that he's pretty arrogant, which rubs off on his characters. *coughEragoncough*

submitted by Mary W., age 11.42, NJ
(June 11, 2009 - 4:00 pm)