Timewaster's Guide Archive

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.

Quote from: Fireborn on July 13, 2010, 06:04:10 AM

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.

No you have to get them from a secret box underneath the railroad tracks between 11:37 and 11:37 3/4.

Quote from: Fireborn on July 12, 2010, 04:12:51 PM

It's not entirely out of the question.  I once read a book where the main premise was that everyone in the world used magic except the main character.  Wish I could remember the title though.

You might be thinking of Jim Butcher's "Codex Alera", a six book series where everyone in the world controls one or more elemental spirits, except for the main character who begins the series with no powers at all.

Good books, but I like his "Dresden Files" much better.

No, that wasn't it.  The magic was more general, and the whole point was that the main character never got any powers.  He was just a normal kid living in a world full of sorcerers.

I'm all for pushing Brandon's books, but can't we just get along?  I like the Inheritance books!

Well, we're good then, cuz Sazed always was the most stable and balanced character.  And the fact that he's a Feruchemist doesn't hurt either.

There is a Tin-Savant among us...

Haha, nice.

There's only two named Dragonsteel books, but then you skip straight to four later.

Okay, so everyone failed their Detect Sarcasm checks...

Nice reference.

I honestly want to get a viewpoint from the windspren, Sylphrena, is it?

Bridge crews=hell on Roshar. *shudder*

The one thing that I don't like about the beginnings of Brandon's books is that we get so little information on the magic.  Then again, he saves that for later on purpose, but it still bugs me.