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Sarai White
Copycopycopy
I was so excited when the book first came out. I thought, Great! more fantasy! Plus all those reviews saying that if you liked Lord of the Rings you would like this one?(I'm a total LOTR freak.) Exactly the opposite! If you have read LOTR, even just skimmed through it, you will notice that there isn't a single original word in Eragon. THe land and creatures are way too much like LOTR, and the plot is carbon-copied from Star Wars, minute for minute. Oh yeah, and he never manages to even describe what his main character looks like! I was sorry I even bought the book after about two minutes into it. At first, I couldn't figure out for the life of me why Eragon had been published..but ofcourse! His parents published it. i hope, though, that once he gets out of this carbon-copying from other books stage he should be able to become a pretty good writer.
I think that all of the people that gave Eragon 5 stars haven't been able to read any of the great fantasy writers, such as McCaffrey, Pullman, McKinley, or better yet, just go back to the master who started it all: Tolkien. Eragon is just a really badly copied version of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. I mean, yeah, I can see how you would say that there isn't much of the Harry Potter influence in here, but nearly everything else is. Also, I've noticed that a lot of the people who like Eragon spen a lot of time calling names at people, but never actually get around to telling exactly why they like Eragon so much. Here are some example of why this book was copied from other books:
Eragon=Aragorn
Arya=Arwen
Brom=Gandalf
Galbatorix=Saruman
Beor=...Beor(oops, forgot to change the name there!)
Farthen Dur =Minas Tirith
Dwarves=dwarves
ELves=elves
The list could go on and on and on and on.
The only thing that comforts me is that Eragon will disappear in about 10 years, while LOTR has been going strong since the 1950's.
Leigh Dancer
Eragon: Hype, Drudgery and Cheap Imitations, Oh my!
There are many fans of Eragon. I am not one of them. Let me explain why.
Had Christopher Paolini attempted to publish this book the way most authors must seek to publish their material (through hard work, dedication, and talent), I highly doubt it ever would have been published. I have read all kinds of things from essays to opinions in order to gather facts about this book. I have yet to see an argument defend it with merit.
The dialogue is sloppily written, explaining things that should already be self-explanatory. '"Sorry," apologized Brom.' This is an editing nightmare. If one cannot tell that sorry is meant to be an apology, one should have one's head examined.
Long, random bits of detail make me ill. Thus this book should be enough to hospitalize me. Frequently Paolini describes elements he need not go into detail about. Now, being a descriptive, visual author isn't bad, what's bad is dragging a story down with obsessive unnecessary details.
Copying. Everything he wrote has been done, and it HAS been done better. The names he chooses clash in relation to genre, time period, setting, character, etc. He has blatantly stolen material from at least Tolkien, and what he has done to it is horrid. The plot line is unoriginal, and hardly interesting.
I cannot make you believe me, or listen to my opinions, but please, if you're of sound mind and sound sense, and thinking of reading this abomination, please set the book down, and do not waste your energy on it. It is not worth it.
Paolini as a young writer got away with far too much. The language in the book was, at times, unnecesarily flowery, or blatantly immature. Christopher Paolini digs back up the stereotypical 'graceful elf' and the overdone 'boy and his dragon' combination to create a truly disgusting massacre of words.
I am sorrowed by the popularity of this horrendous book.
Hysterik
But where's Yoda?
I've seen reviewers say, 'fans of fantasy and science-fiction will love it!!'. Well, I am a total sci-fi/fantasy nut, but this book did not please me at all. I'll give Christoper Paolini some credit, he seems to have made a lot of people fall head over heels for his novel.
But the bottom line is, this book was terrible.
I usually finish a novel before judging it, but it was just so terrible I had to stop halfway through. The land and creatures were too LotR and the plot was too Star Wars.
Farmboy living with uncle -- Eragon/ Luke Skywalker
Coming home to find home destroyed by bad guys -- It happened in Star Wars too.
Wise Old Mentor -- Brom / Obi Wan Kenobi
Beautiful girl saved from prison -- Arya / Leia
And the list goes on. I kept expecting to see Yoda.
Mirabelle
15? Good Author? Best book? PLE-ASE!
Alright, he's 15, he's immature, but still, this book was BAD.
The plot is totally stolen from other author's work, and poorly written. The description is thin, and since all of it is basically stolen from other novels, you know what's coming around on the next page.
Dragon riders and elves and dwarves? Soooo much better in the hands of a Mature Author.
And, No, I am not giving him credit for being Fifteen and writing a novel. It was poorly written, mostly stolen, and not His own Creation, but other Authors.
And, to everyone that rates it a 5 and says it's the best book, think of these questions and think of the answers:
Why couldn't Paolini(Sp?) MAKE UP a creature, instead of dragon riders?
Why did all of his names sound so familiar to others?
Why were there only elves, dwarves, and some mutant creatures (Urgals, Kull/ Ura Kai, Orcs) and not some made up creatures he made in his own mind?
Eragon/Aragorn falling inlove with Arya/Arwen? C'mon, that's totally stolen!
Why was there no Twist? A little turn that makes you dig your nose deeper into the book and drool because you're so focused?
Why? Because it's all Stolen, Stolen, Stolen!!!!!!
My nine-year-old cousin is making a fantasy book, and it's better than anything Paolini could ever make. She's 9. Wait until her book gets published!
Alright, and one last thing to those "I love Paolini's work and rate a 5!!111!"
Stop comparing his work with Tolkien's work. Stop saying it's much better and/ or equal. Because, it's not. Really, it's equal to Harry Potter, saying it's an easy read.
Tolkien was one of the greatest authors of our time, and to compare his work to Paolini's is like comparing Skinny people to fat people. What I'm saying is:
Its
Not
Right!
A good fantasy novel needs some Points, also, to make it A great, if not Wonderful book:
It has to have mostly creatures that are made formed in the author's mind. Example, J.R.R. Tolkien, a great, AND wonderful Author that I respect greatly.
The plot has to have twists, turns, and start off with lots of description and thought. It can't just start digging into the plot. The Reader has to get to know the characters, and be able to start to visualize the world and characters in their head in great detail.
The Novel has to have the reader's attention. It can't drone on in a monotonous tone and say events like you were just watching a Piano Player without music. It has to burst with life and the Reader must feel like they are actually feeling the wind in their face if a character in the book does.
And the most important Point:Description.
There has to be so much detail, so much color description, so that by the end of a few chapters, you know how the Characters act in a certain way, how they react to sudden crashes, how their world looks and feels when touched. How the different characters feel. I mean this as, how they feel on certain days and not others. What the color is of things, how different animals and plants and still life objects feel. What their creatures look like. What the different elements feels like, so that when you finally put the book down it;s because the house is on fire, not because you remembered something you had to do.
leanna age:16
hello can you say ....
ok i have read half of eargon and let me tell you this dragons of pern books were better. the plot was unimageble and it has too many lotrs facts if you read between the lines. so i had to put it down. but what can i say it was wrote by a 15 YEAR OLD!!! if you class it with anne mcaffery and tolken then you are saddly mistaking this childs work.
come on!
Most Juvinile writing I have ever seen in a large book. Lord of the Rings was obviously copied. Anyone could have writen Eragon, there isnt anything really special about it. Not better than hp or lotr by a long shot.
Jonny West
Alright i agree almost 100% with all the other 1 star raters. Yeah he obviously put a lot of effort into the book but that effort was merely stealing other authors ideas, characters, worlds etc. Being fifteen and having your book published would be something to commend but his parents published it. The story itself was rather boring, i quit reading it. The plot, if there was one, was horrible. When you know what's going to happen next at every turn you know the book is going to be bad. If you've read any other fantasy books, RA Salvatore being one of my favorites, Paloni's (or however you spell his last name) characters pale in comparison. I recomend for all of you 5 star raters to read any other fantasy book, not including harry potter which is an easy read. Maybe Salvatore's Trilolgies and his Quintet will make you see how bad this book really is.
Someone (again)
Hey world. It's 14 year old Someone again. This book was awful. I'm giving it a 1 instead of a 2. The plot was interesting, I'll give you that, but the writing style was horrible. Theres hardly any description of anything, and again, badly written. It seems it's up to you, readers considering Eragon, wether or not to read this book, because it was either the best book ever or a book which doesn't even desrve to be mentioned in the same sentence as the words Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings. Yup, I was dissapointed, but It's up to you to decide whether to read it or not.
Lord of the Rings rocks!
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