Now here is where I guess I've got to come in and tell you why I can't take Paolini's work seriously. Its not an issue of snobbiness, I just read that first book and it made me very very sad. I was seeing bits and pieces of cliched plots that had been done before put together in what was honestly kind of a haphazard manner. I mean, from the whole "My uncle who raised me is dead I must quest for understanding, also run for my life" thing was a little Luke Skywalker meets...well everyone else. And the fact that the magical mystical [noun] him and Old Man Mentorpants are search-questing for for hundreds and hundreds of pages ends up being...well, completely redundant is a huge letdown for the readers.
I've found that the best speculative fiction is the kind that is subtle with its cliches, the kind that doesn't immediately announce itself as something you've seen before. Inheritance instead, for me at least, waved a big flashy sign saying "YARR, HERE THERE BE BADLY REHASHED TOLKIEN!"
It works for me probably because I've never read Tolkien, and despite being a big Star Wars fan, I never noticed the tropes at work. I see every story I read as independent of everything else while I'm in them, it's not till later that I put together similarities.
I really do like Paolini's books. I'm stuck in the story. He is not however a good author.
And that is where we disagree. I'd simply appreciate a bit more tact about it, please.Hey, I like the Inheritance books! It was my first epic fantasy book!
BABABAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
By definition, yes they would be.
But here's what I tell the kids at work: I'm just glad that someone managed to get you to read, even if it is something I would never recommend.
Actually, the honor of getting me to read belongs to Miss K.A. Applegate, author of Animorphs (which, even ten years later, I still adore they're just that good), and J.K. Rowling for fantasy in general. Eragon got me into epic fantasy as a sub-genre.
Woot! Animorphs love! I still have every book of that series! I should reread them again.
I struggled to get through Eragon. I found it incredibly cliche and derivative, not to mention the writing was just awful. Not the worst I've ever read, but the prose goes through these moments of such horrid purpleness... Storywise, Eragon feels like a Mary Sue, the plot is overwhelmingly predictable, and I'm still not entirely certain why Galbatorix is such a bad guy, or why he needs to be overthrown. I mean, the reader never sees Galby actually DOING anything evil.
Don't mean to be a snob about it, but I kind of am.
(Keep in mind, though, that I tend to get bored/annoyed easily with any story that involves elves, dwarves, or dragons in ways I've seen a million times before.)
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