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A thread on the Second Life boards led me to the Amazon web page for the book Eragon by Christopher Paolini. I'd never heard of the book, but it's a massive epic fantasy on the lines of Tolkien or Terry Brooks, and it has a beautiful picture of a blue dragon on the cover. A really, really seductive blue dragon cover.
Perhaps the fact that I kept reading "Eragon" as "Dragon" the first few times I saw it is a clue. Also a clue, the author started writing this epic when he was 15 and finished at around 19, apparently.
It's a popular book with a lot of people. There are also many negative reviews, and these generally cite Paolini's incredibly cliche'd plot and world (virtually the entire novel is pulled from Tolkien, with dashes of Ursula K. Le Guin, J K Rowling, Anne McCaffrey, Terry Brooks, etc.) In other words, not an original idea is to be found in the novel. Normally that wouldn't put me off, the story could still be engrossing if told well (and the fact that he has so many fans certainly indicates that the novel works on some level at least), but the rest of the negative reviews cite his inexact use of language and lack of ability to write clearly and effectively.
One reviewer refers to "lots of telling, incorrect word usage, sentence blunders, uneeded descriptions, overdosed adverbs, and lack of reality". Another review, from a kid mind you, says he admires that Paolini actually finished such a huge novel, but does not admire the result: "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."
Another kid who states he is younger than the author says, "Maybe it's just because i'm used to the writings of Tolkien and George R.R. Martin, but this guy really needs to learn how to write. Hopefully he'll get better and at least become as competant as Robert Jordan, but that still isn't anything to brag about." Heh. ^_^
I got the picture. It's the kind of book I might have loved when I was young -- like many of the book's young fans -- and then later on, be embarassed that I had liked it so much. But I think the one that clinched it for me was someone coming to the defense of the book. Also a young kid, he wrote, "Please, do ignore the raters, they don't know a genuin uthor when they see one."
Boy, that nails it doesn't it? And the kid goes on to say he likes to write and has been inspired to write a fantasy novel just like Paolini's. God forbid! We can only hope that he learns what writing is about as he grows older.
Still, there's hope for someone so young who has the drive to complete such a massive novel (and its sequel). One can hope that his willingness to learn will eventually lead him to become a better writer, before his ego grows so large that he can't see his own failings.
Perhaps the fact that I kept reading "Eragon" as "Dragon" the first few times I saw it is a clue. Also a clue, the author started writing this epic when he was 15 and finished at around 19, apparently.
It's a popular book with a lot of people. There are also many negative reviews, and these generally cite Paolini's incredibly cliche'd plot and world (virtually the entire novel is pulled from Tolkien, with dashes of Ursula K. Le Guin, J K Rowling, Anne McCaffrey, Terry Brooks, etc.) In other words, not an original idea is to be found in the novel. Normally that wouldn't put me off, the story could still be engrossing if told well (and the fact that he has so many fans certainly indicates that the novel works on some level at least), but the rest of the negative reviews cite his inexact use of language and lack of ability to write clearly and effectively.
One reviewer refers to "lots of telling, incorrect word usage, sentence blunders, uneeded descriptions, overdosed adverbs, and lack of reality". Another review, from a kid mind you, says he admires that Paolini actually finished such a huge novel, but does not admire the result: "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."
Another kid who states he is younger than the author says, "Maybe it's just because i'm used to the writings of Tolkien and George R.R. Martin, but this guy really needs to learn how to write. Hopefully he'll get better and at least become as competant as Robert Jordan, but that still isn't anything to brag about." Heh. ^_^
I got the picture. It's the kind of book I might have loved when I was young -- like many of the book's young fans -- and then later on, be embarassed that I had liked it so much. But I think the one that clinched it for me was someone coming to the defense of the book. Also a young kid, he wrote, "Please, do ignore the raters, they don't know a genuin uthor when they see one."
Boy, that nails it doesn't it? And the kid goes on to say he likes to write and has been inspired to write a fantasy novel just like Paolini's. God forbid! We can only hope that he learns what writing is about as he grows older.
Still, there's hope for someone so young who has the drive to complete such a massive novel (and its sequel). One can hope that his willingness to learn will eventually lead him to become a better writer, before his ego grows so large that he can't see his own failings.
