Comments on: Eragon Review

By: Ashley

Ashley — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:54:59 +0000

Just to get your facts straight, Saphira chose Eragon because of his PURE HEART. There was a reason. He wasn’t chosen just to be chosen. Besides, we don’t know that he gets the girl; so far, she hasn’t liked him that much.

And as far as Saphira having no personality, I’d say she’d be furious if she heard you say that she’s nothing but a pack animal. She’s too proud for that (as are all dragons). So yeah, maybe her personality is a bit underdeveloped at this point. But to call her a pack animal is almost criminal.

I agree with you about Galbatorix. Although, considering what you said about Murtagh being a purveyor of wisdom to Eragon, I can’t imagine what you mean, especially since he turns against Eragon and becomes a fierce rival.

But now that you mention Eragon never moving ahead of his ‘destiny’, I can see you have a point in that as well.

By: Wings

Wings — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 06:42:08 +0000

KCE, I’m gonna have to second B. Mac’s Percy Jackson recommendation. I’d also add David Lubar’s Hidden Talents/True Talents duology, and possibly the Pendragon series (10 doorstopper books, it should take a while to burn through that). Add to those The Phantom Tollbooth, maybe The City of Ember, The Thief Lord, a little Redwall…My tastes run a little more sci-fi than fantasy, but a balance of the two never hurt anyone. Besides, even the worst of this stuff could beat Eragon into the next century.

Raise your son to enjoy good literature, KCE, and not this modern tripe which passes for storytelling. Lousy stuff.

- Wings

By: B. McKenzie

B. McKenzie — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 06:45:18 +0000

My condolences, KCE. It sounds like your son’s into fantasy, so I’d recommend looking into the Bartimaeus Trilogy, maybe The Once and Future King, maybe Percy Jackson (a less clever version of Harry Potter but decidedly sharper than Eragon), Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming (even though it’s never as good as its title) and anything by Patricia Wrede. And, of course, The Taxman Must Die whenever it comes out, but that goes without saying.

By: kce

kce — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 05:05:17 +0000

I am presently stuck in a hideous conundrum….. I have to read Eragon to my 8 yr. old son. It’s painful. So, so painful. But we’ve done all the little kid stuff; Wayside School, Captain Underpants, Diary of a Wimpy kid, Harriet the Spy and other kid stuff, (all much more skillfully written than Eragon); we’ve done all of C.S. Lewis; all of Roald Dahl, many times; we’ve done Lord of the Rings (with simultaneous editing), the whole Pellinor trilogy, several times; Harry Potter (when he was 5, 6, and 7, 7 times), Watership Down, Dracula, Frankenstein…. And now I’m stumped. Suggestions? I was just about to suggest going back to the Pellinor books again when he spotten Eragon on the old bookshelf in the garage. I have to read it with an editor’s pencil in hand to bear it. Curious, Eragon looked at him. Stunned, he fell to the ground. Happy, he smiled. Scared, he ran. Curiously, he looked at him. And so on. And so on. And the ENDLESS DIALOGUE!! Why must most of the “plot” be driven by the idiotically stilted speech of Eragon, Brom, Saphira and Whatshisname? Where’s the narration? IT IS DRIVING ME MAD!! But my kid likes it. He wants it. I can’t say no. I should say no, but I can’t. But this is it. We’ll read it once, and never again. I might as well just shoot myself.

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 03:06:08 +0000

Yeah, I would’ve been around around 10 or 11 when I saw B&R. It came out in 1997.

By: John

John — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 02:34:31 +0000

Hmm…I enjoyed Batman and Robin as well. Im not 40…Im in my 20′s. Maybe thats why I like his writing.

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 02:09:30 +0000

I’m not annoyed.

To be honest, if I had been born 10 years later, I probably would have been an Eragon fan at some point. I can chalk it up to youthful innocence, like the way I enjoyed Batman & Robin as a kid.

On the other hand, I’d be a bit concerned if you were a 40-something prospective fantasy writer whose favorite work was Eragon, especially if you were writing for an adult audience.

By: John

John — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 23:06:36 +0000

Just to annoy everyone on here, I read Eragon and really enjoyed the book. In fact Paolini inspired me to start writing.

By: Chihuahua0

Chihuahua0 — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 01:00:42 +0000

For some reason I never thought this series had any major flaws until I travesed the Internet. Eragon was a very entertaining book. Must be a Twilight thing too.

By: Rachel M

Rachel M — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 12:43:00 +0000

Thank you, that was very nicely put!

PS: BATMAN ROCKS!!!

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 22:53:44 +0000

One thing I like about characters like Wonder Woman and Batman more than heroes like Superman is that they come by their powers in a way that establish something about their personality. For example, WW is an Amazonian princess that sneaks into the competition to become Wonder Woman because she cares more about doing good than being a dutiful princess. In contrast, Superman doesn't do anything to get his superpowers, and he's merely a passive recipient of incredible luck (like Les Miles with a cape).
Alternately, if the character's powers are purely the result of luck, at least use the origin story to establish the character's values and choices in other ways. For example, it was purely luck that Peter Parker got bitten by the spider, but at least he shortly thereafter decided not to stop the robber that went on to kill his uncle. So we learn something about his personality and the very human motivations that drive him even though he didn't do anything special to earn his powers.
...
PS: If I had heat vision, superbreath, superspeed, incredible strength and nigh-total invulnerability, you'd better believe Toyman would not have a chance. Hey, Superman, there are ways to fight that involve not hurling yourself at the enemy. LEARN THEM.

By: Rachel M

Rachel M — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 18:02:51 +0000

Thank you so much! I totally agree about Eragon, the kid with the bow would have been a better hero.

Also, I’ve been trying to explain to a friend why I have this utter contempt for DC’s Superman. I hate that he doesn’t earn his abilities, and I can’t stand that he never really uses them effectively! I lost count of how many fights he could have ended quicker by using his heat vision, super breath, ect.

By: Leigh

Leigh — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 05:57:02 +0000

I loved reading this review. The only thing you forgot to bash was how powerful the “elves” were (actually I have to disagree with you on the Elves being the LOTR rip-off. LOTR elves were more human and likeable/relatable whereas Paolini makes them practically all powerful. A Mary-Sue species). As for the dwarves, they must have been bad since my mind seems to have blocked out any mention of dwarves. Yet I know they were there.

I love the people whose defense for this book is one of these: He was only fifteen when he wrote it (it reads like something I’d write at age twelve after a Star Wars marathon), he must’ve done something right the books are so popular (fail. So is Twilight, no accounting for taste.), or my personal favorite: you try and do better (as if the critic needs to be an accomplished writer to criticize another’s work, just being well read or having a functional brain isn’t enough.)

By the way I like this site. The comments are as worthwhile to read as the articles.

By: Wings

Wings — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 20:01:55 +0000

Hey, I was trashing Eragon after two books and several excerpts from the third!

I’m in full agreement with B. Mac on this one, Ben. There were some details of Harry Potter taht were explained by later books (Chamber of Secrets was considered weak my a good chunk of the fandom, then the sixth book came out and justified everything about it. Fans then rejoiced.), but overall the series would make sense to a reader no matter what book they started on*.

And NicKenny? I used to like (Alright, “like” is a strong word, but I thought it was okay) Twilight. You are not alone. XD

- Wings

* I don’t recommend starting just anywhere, though. I feel it detracts from the experience.

By: B. Mac

B. Mac — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 19:06:28 +0000

"There's still one book left, so dont make assumptions yet. And that one book still has room to explain Eragon’s reason for all that “random” stuff that happened to him." If readers find the first work atrocious and/or nonsensical, it's unlikely that they'll come back for the sequel, let alone two sequels. In contrast, I think Harry Potter and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe set up series with novels that can be enjoyed and understood on their own.
Now, it may be the case that writing more novels will bring out so-far-unseen skills from Christopher Paolini and maybe he will write Eragon books that are actually good at some point. But, if that happened, it would only make the first two look worse, not better. ("If you had this kind of talent, why the hell did you inflict those two on us?")
If you're ever in a position to write anything, I would HIGHLY recommend against justifying anything to your editor with "it'll make sense in the sequel!"
...
"I know i’m bringing a storm of shit upon me but I have to say I rather enjoyed the Eragon books. Sure it was a bit of a Tolkien ripoff but (shrugs) I enjoyed Tolkiens books. So sue me."
No worries. I've liked a lot of crazy things over the years. For example, it took me a few years to realize just how atrocious Batman & Robin was, but I liked it when it came out. (I was in middle school at that point). I also found the early 1990s cartoons about Spiderman, X-Men and the TMNT better than Batman: The Animated Series, even though it's clear in retrospect that BTAS is dramatic dynamite and a cartoon masterpiece. (Two Emmys is, ahem, quite impressive for an animated action series--the only other action series to win a Primetime Emmy for an Outstanding Animated Program was Samurai Jack).