Probably because I kept reading/hearing that it was really just a rehash of Lord of the Rings. Or of Star Wars. Or of Harry Potter. People also said it was badly written, or immaturely written, or predictable, or boring, or... you get the picture.
So I decided to read it for myself, to see if it was as good, or as bad, as people said.
It is.
Christopher Paolini started writing Eragon when he was a teenager. And it feels like it was written by a teen, with some odd pacing and writing that is both spare and wordy. S. E. Hinton he isn't (but who is?). So don't read this book if you're looking for sparkling prose or perfect plotting. But if you want a fun, fairly fast read, something to divert you this summer while you're on a plane or the beach, go for it! I liked it well enough that I got the second book out of the library.
Oh, and as for the accusation that it's similar to Lord of the Rings or Star Wars or Harry Potter -- of course it is! It follows the pattern of all great myth-based stories. Our hero gets a call to action, acquires a mentor, meets up with some archetypal characters, and engages in a big battle against the Evil One. I don't call that copying, I call that utilizing the mythic story structure. For more info on that, read The Key: How to Write Damn Good Fiction Using the Power of Myth by James N. Frey or The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell.
(Originally posted on Inscriptions on Jun. 22, 2008.)
Hello! It’s been some time since I read Eragon, so I don’t remember every detail, but I didn’t think that the writing was particularly immature, and personally I liked it more than Harry Potter. I may be mistaken, but I think I remember that the monsters got bigger and scarier with every battle, which I thought was kind of funny. It was odd that Eragon called his adoptive parents by their first names, and that when hunting failed he had to go buy meat even though they lived on a farm. Also, I didn’t like it when Eragon was healing that beautiful elf girl, and had some thoughts. It wasn’t terribly inappropriate, but I don’t think we need something like this in young adult books. Is it just me who feels this way?
ReplyDeleteHave you read the Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage? I have only read the first book, but it is written beautifully, and very heartfelt.
----Lizzy
Lizzy, I just reread this a couple of months ago (read that newer review here) and still liked it a lot. Not as much as Harry Potter, but that's totally a matter of taste.
DeleteAre you talking about Eragon's uncle who adopted him? I guess I didn't find his calling his uncle by his first name weird since this is a fantasy book, so the society being portrayed can have different conventions for how you address people.
The farm he lived on was a crop farm, not a livestock farm, which is why he hunted for meat. Kind of like in the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, where her parents kept a cow for milk and sometimes butchered a hog, but her father provided most of the family's meat by hunting. Not all farmers raise their own meat.
I thought Eragon's thoughts and behavior toward Arya while healing her rang very true for a boy in his mid-teens, maybe because I have a teen son right now. There's no sin in recognizing that a person of the opposite sex is attractive, only in lusting after them, and Eragon was very careful to preserve Arya's modesty while he healed her so that he wouldn't be tempted to lust after her. Teens experience attraction and desire, and showing them that they CAN control those feelings is actually a positive thing, I think, and not inappropriate. I don't think the way that was handled could lead readers astray. In fact, if Paolini hadn't mentioned Eragon feeling this, it would have felt kind of unrealistic, and maybe caused readers to wonder if Eragon is being truthful with the reader about his thoughts and feelings.
I haven't read the Septimus Heap books, sorry. I don't read lots and lots of fantasy, on a whole.
Hi, I'm sorry I wasn't able to respond to you until now. After reading your response to my first comment, I do agree with what you said about Eragon and Arya. Perhaps I was overreacting a bit, and there is something there for young people to learn from. I'll have to reread this book again soon. Best Wishes!
DeleteThat's okay -- it takes me a week or two to reply to comments sometimes myself.
DeleteEnjoy your next reread! :-)