(no subject)
I have just finished reading Eragon. I wanted to read it before I took babe to see it, I'm still going to dispite what it may look like after you read my review of the book. Now remember please, I've only read the book and have not seen the movie yet. From what I understand reading reviews by people who have seen the movie, it ventures far away from the book. So I'm sure that would effect my opinion of the movie once I see it.
If this story had been submitted to CoE as fanfiction I would have been very tempted to decline it as a Mary Sue/self-insertion story. There are too many simular themes between this book and Lord of the Rings. I'd even go so far as to say that the author of Eragon STOLE his plot from Tolkien. Not borrowed, not taken in bits, I definatly would not say even inspired by. This book is a self-inserted Marty Stuart LoTR fanfic. Does that mean I didn't enjoy the book? It was written alright, definatly not Tolkien-like despite its flagrant thievery of LoTR and The Hobbit.
Eragon = Aragon
Spelling aside, Eragon is Aragon, a person from humble beginings destined for greatness.
Mary Sue traits
1) Knows absolutely nothing of his parents, having been left by his mother just moments after he was born in the care of his Uncle.
2) Said Uncle while not cruel, is distant and unemotional towards Eragon
3) Is an expert bow user, despite the fact that his Uncle is a farmer and no one else in is village seems capable of using a bow and arrow.
4) Can go into a part of the wilds that everyone else in the village is utterly afraid of and will not ever step foot into it.
5) Can use magic without any training or being taught any of the words to use better than any other Dragon Rider in history.
6) The dragon egg, though unknown what it was at the time, appears out of an explosion of blue fire but Eragon doesn't worry all that much about picking it up and taking it home with him.
There's a bit more but I'll spare you for now.
The book is highly predictable, it follows a pretty standard fantasy formula. Humble farm boy, destined to greatness, sees beautiful she-elf in his dreams and falls in love with her, mentor dies before training is complete, runs across brother he never knew he had, but was abused by their father and has terrible scar from said abuse, Eragon ends up with matching scar after a battle.
Things that irrate me about the book:
The author must have had a serious crush on Trinity from the Matrix because the she-elf that Eragon falls for has straight black hair and dresses in black leather, very uncommon for an elf. The elf acts just like Trinity, fights like her and so on.
The really bad way the author comes up with names, Saphria? Oooo a blue dragon with scales that gleam like gems... Why not just call her Saphire and be done with it? pfft
Obvious, one dimentional characters, 90% of what a character does or says, is very predictable. People instantly trust Eragon though he doesn't know why, or they instantly hate him and again, he doesn't know why.
The blantant thievery of Tolkien themes. Dwarves that have built a beautiful underground city that you have to know a password in another langauge to get inside it. A Galadriel wannabe at the end of the story using telempathy to communicate with Eragon while he's sleeping. Elves that live in a forest that is unknown by anyone other than a elf how to get to it. A desert to the south that no one knows what lays beyond it. A chapter in the book actually entitled "The Halls of the Mountain King". There's much more, but I think I've made my point.
If I hadn't been Fanfic Admin on CoE and exposed to so many blantantly terribly Mary Sues my view of this book might not have been so nit-picky. I might have even really enjoyed it, that's not to say that I didn't like the book, I'm just saying that its predictable and I don't care for that, but perhaps the plot in another's author's hands would have been quite enjoyable.
On a scale of 1-10 1 being the worse piece of trash I've ever read and 10 being the absolute best thing ever, I'd have to give it a 4 and that might be a bit generous. LOL So, that's my thoughts, got anything to add? Let me know.
If this story had been submitted to CoE as fanfiction I would have been very tempted to decline it as a Mary Sue/self-insertion story. There are too many simular themes between this book and Lord of the Rings. I'd even go so far as to say that the author of Eragon STOLE his plot from Tolkien. Not borrowed, not taken in bits, I definatly would not say even inspired by. This book is a self-inserted Marty Stuart LoTR fanfic. Does that mean I didn't enjoy the book? It was written alright, definatly not Tolkien-like despite its flagrant thievery of LoTR and The Hobbit.
Eragon = Aragon
Spelling aside, Eragon is Aragon, a person from humble beginings destined for greatness.
Mary Sue traits
1) Knows absolutely nothing of his parents, having been left by his mother just moments after he was born in the care of his Uncle.
2) Said Uncle while not cruel, is distant and unemotional towards Eragon
3) Is an expert bow user, despite the fact that his Uncle is a farmer and no one else in is village seems capable of using a bow and arrow.
4) Can go into a part of the wilds that everyone else in the village is utterly afraid of and will not ever step foot into it.
5) Can use magic without any training or being taught any of the words to use better than any other Dragon Rider in history.
6) The dragon egg, though unknown what it was at the time, appears out of an explosion of blue fire but Eragon doesn't worry all that much about picking it up and taking it home with him.
There's a bit more but I'll spare you for now.
The book is highly predictable, it follows a pretty standard fantasy formula. Humble farm boy, destined to greatness, sees beautiful she-elf in his dreams and falls in love with her, mentor dies before training is complete, runs across brother he never knew he had, but was abused by their father and has terrible scar from said abuse, Eragon ends up with matching scar after a battle.
Things that irrate me about the book:
The author must have had a serious crush on Trinity from the Matrix because the she-elf that Eragon falls for has straight black hair and dresses in black leather, very uncommon for an elf. The elf acts just like Trinity, fights like her and so on.
The really bad way the author comes up with names, Saphria? Oooo a blue dragon with scales that gleam like gems... Why not just call her Saphire and be done with it? pfft
Obvious, one dimentional characters, 90% of what a character does or says, is very predictable. People instantly trust Eragon though he doesn't know why, or they instantly hate him and again, he doesn't know why.
The blantant thievery of Tolkien themes. Dwarves that have built a beautiful underground city that you have to know a password in another langauge to get inside it. A Galadriel wannabe at the end of the story using telempathy to communicate with Eragon while he's sleeping. Elves that live in a forest that is unknown by anyone other than a elf how to get to it. A desert to the south that no one knows what lays beyond it. A chapter in the book actually entitled "The Halls of the Mountain King". There's much more, but I think I've made my point.
If I hadn't been Fanfic Admin on CoE and exposed to so many blantantly terribly Mary Sues my view of this book might not have been so nit-picky. I might have even really enjoyed it, that's not to say that I didn't like the book, I'm just saying that its predictable and I don't care for that, but perhaps the plot in another's author's hands would have been quite enjoyable.
On a scale of 1-10 1 being the worse piece of trash I've ever read and 10 being the absolute best thing ever, I'd have to give it a 4 and that might be a bit generous. LOL So, that's my thoughts, got anything to add? Let me know.