Author Topic: Brandon's chat room  (Read 6237 times)

Wolfstar

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Re: Brandon's chat room
« Reply #15 on: July 13, 2010, 01:20:42 PM »
>:(
You guys can be real snobs sometimes.

I promise you, anything I say is merely my own opinion and I mean no harm with it.  If you enjoy the books, that's fantastic for you!  I even mostly enjoyed the first one, but it has greatly faded for me since.  I could not read the second one.

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.  You get kids to read Eragon, soon, they might read Harry Potter, which could lead to Narnia and LotR which could lead to WoT or Mistborn/Elantris/Warbreaker... yada yoda yada.
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KhyEllie

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Re: Brandon's chat room
« Reply #16 on: July 13, 2010, 05:16:15 PM »
Yup. I read HP4 thirteen times before I decided I probably like to read and should try picking up something else--and it all led right here! I read Eragon too and liked it, Eldest and loved it...and it's all gone downhill from there. I'll read the fourth one simply because I can't just not finish a story(same reason I wasted my time reading Twipuke) and be content to move back over here.

I didn't read the chat, so does anyone want to mention the when/where/why of this panel with Sanderson and Paolini?

Fireborn

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Re: Brandon's chat room
« Reply #17 on: July 14, 2010, 06:48:45 AM »
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!
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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.
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Shivertongue

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Re: Brandon's chat room
« Reply #18 on: July 14, 2010, 08:54:08 AM »
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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Wolfstar

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Re: Brandon's chat room
« Reply #19 on: July 14, 2010, 02:08:21 PM »
Hehehe, I just recently gave my Animorphs collection to my nephew.  I never made it to the end *sigh*
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Ari54

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Re: Brandon's chat room
« Reply #20 on: July 14, 2010, 10:10:19 PM »
I still have my Animorphs books on a back layer of one of my bookshelves. I think I got up to #26 before I started getting old enough to just not feel so intensely interested. I have been tempted to read the rest, though.

>:(
You guys can be real snobs sometimes.

I really do like Paolini's books.  I'm stuck in the story.  He is not however a good author.


Paolini can definitely plot. It's almost a pity that self-publishing Eragon was sucessful- I think he'd probably be a much better writer if he had moved on from there, given how formulaic Eragon was. However, because it's so formulaic, it's a great beginner's entry to fantasy, and it's a lot more accessible than Lord of the Rings or Wheel of Time.

Really, the same way fantasy might end up owing quite a bit to the popularity of Harry Potter, I don't see any reason to be snobbish about Eragon. It will be interesting to see what Paolini does next.

Shivertongue

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Re: Brandon's chat room
« Reply #21 on: July 14, 2010, 10:50:05 PM »
I still have my Animorphs books on a back layer of one of my bookshelves. I think I got up to #26 before I started getting old enough to just not feel so intensely interested. I have been tempted to read the rest, though.

That's actually about where I got, maybe #29 or #30. I finished them about a year and a half ago when I suddenly was struck by this burning desire to know how it all ended. Tracked down all the books I didn't have and went on a reading binge. It was quite satisfying and nostalgic. ^_^
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KhyEllie

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Re: Brandon's chat room
« Reply #22 on: July 18, 2010, 02:25:49 AM »
I have some really vague memories of having seen Animorph books on the shelves of my 3th grade classroom...I think I read one or two, but I wasn't into reading back then and I wasn't really aware that there was a storyline...or that there were 30+ books for that matter. I recall enjoying them but have no memories that have lasted until now.

Adrienne

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Re: Brandon's chat room
« Reply #23 on: July 21, 2010, 02:59:01 PM »
It was so disappointing for me to see Brisingr had a midnight release at Barnes and Nobles but they didn't do the same for The Gathering Storm. :(