and also
...in other bookish news, I read that 'Eragon' book that critics were all raving about a while back. The next great young adult fantasy, or sommat, and the second book came out last fall, and I have a bit of a thing for good YA fantasy, so I was all, hey, I should try that.
MOST DERIVATIVE CRAP EVER. Jeez. I know there's nothing new under the sun, and whatnot, but this outright STEALS from Tolkien, LeGuin, and McCaffrey, to name the most blatant ripoffs. Dude. Half of the fun of fantasy is the world-building, and when your world sounds like it came straight from a D&D game to the page...no. Just no. And for the love of god, just because Tolkien's fantasy world involved men-elves-dwarves-orc-uruks-nazgul doesn't mean you, too, need to include the exact same set of races in yours. Plus, we've got a capital city with white towers, and yes, the elves came across the sea from the west, and the hero is a MORTAL MAN in love with an ELF LADY OH NOES WOE IS ME WHAT SHALL WE DO. It's only missing the halflings and costume jewelry.
And the prose isn't great, either. It's very matter-of-fact and blandly readable, and manages to make the most elaborate action sequences sound dry as dust. The plot itself is your typical Coming Of Age archetype, with all the necessary archetypal characters -- aging mentor who kicks the bucket 3/4 of the way in, for example, and there's definitely a Luke I Am Your Father moment coming up in book 2 or 3, or rather Luke I Am Your Brother And Our Daddy Was That Uber-Evil Guy Who Is Now Alas Dead But This Knowledge Will Haunt You Anyway (seriously, I feel that the author wants to set this up to be a major plot twist, but it's blatantly obvious halfway through book 1). But, y'know, I have no problems with archetypes. They're there for a reason. But the trick is to make it all sound fresh and original again. Take Harry Potter. The basic plotline is as archetypal as you get, no surprises. And, hell, Rowling's prose ain't exactly Tolkien, either. But the world she creates around it IS original. It's fresh and funny and wonderful, and that's why I stick with the fandom and love the books and movies in spite of the inconsistencies and Ellipses Of Doom and whatnot. But Eragon? Does nothing for me. And this is a fantasy book -- all magic and battles and Good And Evil. This genre is many things, and not all good, but it's very rarely boring. But somehow, that's exactly what Eragon manages to achieve -- implacable dullness. What a waste of time.
And if this is what critics hail as "a galloping good example of its genre" (actual quote), then my fellow fantasy readers, we're in trouble.
MOST DERIVATIVE CRAP EVER. Jeez. I know there's nothing new under the sun, and whatnot, but this outright STEALS from Tolkien, LeGuin, and McCaffrey, to name the most blatant ripoffs. Dude. Half of the fun of fantasy is the world-building, and when your world sounds like it came straight from a D&D game to the page...no. Just no. And for the love of god, just because Tolkien's fantasy world involved men-elves-dwarves-orc-uruks-nazgul doesn't mean you, too, need to include the exact same set of races in yours. Plus, we've got a capital city with white towers, and yes, the elves came across the sea from the west, and the hero is a MORTAL MAN in love with an ELF LADY OH NOES WOE IS ME WHAT SHALL WE DO. It's only missing the halflings and costume jewelry.
And the prose isn't great, either. It's very matter-of-fact and blandly readable, and manages to make the most elaborate action sequences sound dry as dust. The plot itself is your typical Coming Of Age archetype, with all the necessary archetypal characters -- aging mentor who kicks the bucket 3/4 of the way in, for example, and there's definitely a Luke I Am Your Father moment coming up in book 2 or 3, or rather Luke I Am Your Brother And Our Daddy Was That Uber-Evil Guy Who Is Now Alas Dead But This Knowledge Will Haunt You Anyway (seriously, I feel that the author wants to set this up to be a major plot twist, but it's blatantly obvious halfway through book 1). But, y'know, I have no problems with archetypes. They're there for a reason. But the trick is to make it all sound fresh and original again. Take Harry Potter. The basic plotline is as archetypal as you get, no surprises. And, hell, Rowling's prose ain't exactly Tolkien, either. But the world she creates around it IS original. It's fresh and funny and wonderful, and that's why I stick with the fandom and love the books and movies in spite of the inconsistencies and Ellipses Of Doom and whatnot. But Eragon? Does nothing for me. And this is a fantasy book -- all magic and battles and Good And Evil. This genre is many things, and not all good, but it's very rarely boring. But somehow, that's exactly what Eragon manages to achieve -- implacable dullness. What a waste of time.
And if this is what critics hail as "a galloping good example of its genre" (actual quote), then my fellow fantasy readers, we're in trouble.