Eragon Skywalker

[lockholm]

So you may have heard of Eragon by the teen writer Christopher Paolini. It topped the bestseller list and spawned a movie most notable for special effects

Comments

[math_avenger]

No, Eragon, I am your father. I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn. Ooops, funny how that slipped in there

[lockholm]

Yeah, Eddings has pretty much one set of characters that he deploys with minor variations in this and other series (the Sparhawk books read pretty similarly) To his credit, the books are fairly entertaining, but after a while they all blend together

[math_avenger]

While agree that the Elenium and its twin suffered the same problems as Eddings' other efforts, I found the political aspects, along with the more innovative approach towards magic, refreshing. That said, still a bit of a repetitive hack.

Sadly, I find myself inexplicably drawn to Jordan when in airport bookshops and finding nothing else to read (Hudson News has appalling selection, unsurprisingly). Also, sadly, I actually almost enjoyed his last effort, as the story actually moved forward. I say almost enjoyed, as it did nothing to remove the utter disgust I had at his previous book where, literally, nothing happened for 900+ pages. Setup, schmetup.

I don't think Martin is that similar to Tolkien but in name. There are dragons, yes. But that's about the extent of the similarity. I think you're apt in your description of Martin as in the historical fantasy genre that isn't mainly about magic, wizards, conflicts with gods, or similar things in the general fantasy genre.

Isle of View, Mathavenger

[robertmapril]

I'm gonna step in and defend Piers Anthony here just for a moment, him being such an influence on me as a kid. I think his Xanth books did quite a bit, much of it tongue-in-cheek, with their setting, while the Incarnations series, while it puttered off and became boring and incomprehensible, was also fantastic in its setting and in the anthological nature of its story, which upset me as a sixth grader expecting to follow Zane through all the books, but strikes me as pretty ballsy now.

Re: Isle of View, Mathavenger

[lockholm]

I really enjoyed the Incarnations series and a number of the Xanth books. The Incarnations books are not in themselves examples of hackery. They were an amusing and novel take on an unusual subject.

I see the question of hackery to some extent separate from enjoyability. Piers Anthony's books descend in quality over time while retreading the same formulas. (To be fair, I haven't read anything of his in a long while.)

Nothing like a spirited discussion of our favorite Fantasies

[robertmapril]

I read the Xanth books in Junior High and enjoyed the puns and so forth, and read the Incarnations books around that time too, so they may not have aged as well. I tried to follow his virtual reality series but found it sucked out loud. I agree too that hackery should be separate from enjoyability since as long as something is enjoyable, it is because it's contributing something to the genre. Stepping away from fantasy for a tick, the Romantic Comedy genre in movies is about as overdone as it gets, and yet there still is the occasional romantic comedy which is quite enjoyable.