Eldest by Christopher Paolini

[meganbmoore]

 Below the cut is primarily my hatred of Eragon himself.  That whole "betrayal" scene has sent it to new heights.

Ok, seriously.

Your supposed "best friend"  has just told you that he was tortured-by a person well know for being evil and cruel beyond words- into revealing information.  He told you that, weakened and imprisoned, and was forced to

Comments

[magicnoire]

Spiral? That's being put out by Yen Press, right? I wouldn't worry about them going out of business just yet. They're the new manga imprint of Hachette, formerly Warner and Little Brown, now known as Grand Central Publishing. They just launched last month, so give them some time. Del Rey Manga started off small with only 4 titles and look at them now. :)

[meganbmoore]

Yes, that is them.

I am now joy-filled.

And Del rey has the benefit of being rather picky about what they license.

[magicnoire]

I've been following the launch of this imprint for the past few months and they seem to be thoughtful and careful with what they're doing. Their catalog is a little different - it has a different feel and style -- but I feel like they get mad props because their launch title was the manga about autism. I know one of the girls who does their translation via the Asian ball-jointed doll hobby and at the very least, they have a very strong stance about not censoring the titles in any way. So I'm cautiously hopeful about their success.

[meganbmoore]

Do you have a link to the website?

[crumpeteer]

Eldest might be the most frustrating book I've ever read and SO HELP ME TOLKIEN, IF HE KILLS MURTAGH IN THE END I WILL END HIM!

What gets me is that Paolini completely seems to miss the fact that Eragon is in no way heroic (everyone else does everything for him), likable (everyone likes him for no good reason) or intelligent (he makes STUPID decisions and jumps to conclusions constantly). He seems to conclude that since HE loves his creation, everyone else should. A faulty conclusion to jump to indeed.

[meganbmoore]

It's not so much the idea of Murtagh dying, it's the fact that if Murtagh DOES die, it will be for a "redemption" that he DOESN'T NEED.

Eragon is, by far, the most irritating fantasy hero I've ever read about. In the afterword, Paolini says "he's not to bright, is he?" but in a "but you love him anyway" way...except...there's nothing lovable or sympathetic about him. Eragon is very much a 15 year olds idea of...well...a perfect 15 year old hero. If it weren't for Murtagh, I'd just rely on Codex Alera for my coming of age fantasy needs...there the hero is actually LIKABLE and gets called on it when he's stupid and actually has to grow up.

[crumpeteer]

This is why 15 year olds are generally not the best writers. And its the fact that I feel Murtagh is going to die in some great self sacrificial Darth Vader moment that literally makes me want to wretch, as you have to actually do something WRONG for that to be an appropriate ending. Murtagh better start killing kittens and kicking puppies in book three for me to buy that.

[meganbmoore]

The sad thing is that there's actually a fairly solid story...hopelessly lost in all the derivative and faulty writing and characterization, but enough that you think he could be good if he were put through the wringer like most writers. As it is, though...

I think that's a large part of why Murtagh is so well liked: He's the only thing we have to showthat it COULD be good if Paolini had proper guidance.

I, seriously, wanted to kill Eragon in that scene. I mean, his supposed best friend was standing there, essentially apologizing for being forced to reveal secrets while under torture, and the "hero" is standing there, screaming about him being a traitor and deserving rotting in a cell...I mean, what? Did Murtagh need to cry and sob about how horrible it was to get the message across?

[lesbiassparrow]

I have never felt tempted to read these books and now I am particularly glad of that. I can just imagine what sort of hero my 15 year old self would come up with and it wouldn't be pretty.

[meganbmoore]

Count yourself lucky and remain strongh in your resistance. For whatever reason, it seems that if you make it until Murtagh appears, YOU ARE TRAPPED FOR ALL ETERNITY.

[tigger_01]

*giggles again*
Oh yes - I was much like you when I finished Eldest, but it's been months since then and I've just let Paolini slide.
I'm not sure I completely agree with you when you say that Eragon is the perfect hero and has never made mistakes - what about that little girl who he wrongly blessed? But yeah, compared to what it should have been, and was in Eragon, Eragon has much, much further to go.
Totally agree with you about the "betrayal" scene. *grumbles*
I really don't blame him if he hates Eragon now - his little brother, escaping a cruel life with his father and the stigma associated with his name, being exulted as the hero and saviour.

What did you think about Arya? She got on my nerves most of all, I think. The QUEEN of Mary Sues if ever there was one.

[meganbmoore]

I don't mean that Eragon is perfect as we define it or could view it, but that's how he's treated.

The little girl is actually the perfect example of what I mean. Eragon literally destroys a life and barely gets a verbal slap on the hand for it. Then, instead of actually letting it be a mistake, Paolini turns around and makes her apparently NOT MINd and a vastly powerful ally...as presented, it's not a BAD thing that he did, but a GOOD thing.

I was incapable of paying attention to Arya's scenes...it was too horribly written.

[tigger_01]

Ah, okay. Fair enough - that makes sense. He never gets punished for his mistakes (of which there are plenty) and the reader is supposed to feel sympathy when someone doesn't take him seriously or when Arya pushes him away.
*headdesk*

That poor, poor girl. *shivers* He did destroy her life, and all because he tried to play "the hero" and screwed up.

Hee. Fair enough. I skimmed through most of it (including the scenes with Oromis?!, that random old elf guy) but Arya's scenes were too painfully hilarious for me to ignored. Ironically - she's normally the one that gets vilified while Eragon gets off a lot lighter.

[dangermousie]

I loathed the first book and not even Murtagh got me to try the second. Glad I resisted, I see...

[meganbmoore]

Murtagh is there for about 10 pages. The only good pages. I survived only by massive skimming. Besides I(obviously) have a thing for the coming of age heroic journey in fantasy, and this series is the perfect guide for how NOT to do it.

Come to think of it, I think the first book may have spawned a mini dissertation about that...I can't recall...