HP readalikes - Eragon

[Miles]

> bboyminn:
> I thought I would jump in an comment on 'Eragon' and now
> 'Eldest', the first two in the 'Inheritance Trilogy',
> before the nay-sayers jump in.
>
> Many people claim these books are 'predictable' and
> 'derivative', but I found a fascinating captivating
> story filled with very likable characters. Perhaps
> I haven't read as much fantasy as these nay-sayers and
> am therefore less jaded.

Miles:
Well, my objections to Eragon are not primarily connected with the plot, nor
do they have to do with a comparison to other fantasy novels.

> I suspect, though certainly not universally true, that
> many of those who don't like 'Eragon' are people who are
> 'Lord of the Rings' fans, who simply can't stand any book
> that ventures into Tolkien territory. I personally found
> Tolkien to be a slow, arduous, tedious, grueling read;
> too many strange people and place names, I simply couldn't
> keep track in a story that seem to wander at a snails
> pace.

Well, no. I wouldn't compare Eragon to LoTR - it's too different. Eragon is
a fantasy adventure, Tolkien would have never written anything like that.

> Eragon, while similar to Tolkien in that it takes place
> in the Mythical land of 'Alagaesia',

Sorry, I don't see any connection at all. It's fantasy, like hundreds and
thousands of novels, but the genre does not make a book similar to any other
book of this genre, not even the Book of Books of the genre. Tolkien wanted
to write an epic, like the Edda or the Nibelungenlied - not a novel.

> For me, this was a real page turner, that I have since
> read several times. Wonderfully sympathetic characters,
> interesting plots and adventures, well controlled and
> well contained, carefully plotted.

In my impression, the characters are not very sophisticated, the plot *is*
predictable (very much so).

> There is a small degree of a sense of immaturity as an
> author on Paolini's part, but to be fair, he was only
> 15 or 16 when he started writing the story.

Is that a real excuse? I don't think so. And I doubt Paolini would like to
be seen like that. It's a published book, I paid real money for it (no play
money), so I think one should see the book as it is, without any excuses
because of the author's age.

> I highly recommend the books to anyone and everyone,
> and would rank it as one of my favorite series. Deeper
> and more complex than Harry Potter, and probably not
> for young readers who are not sophisticated. There are
> several made-up languages in the books; Elf - the heart
> of the ancient and magical language, dwarf, and a couple
> others. Also, since this book does not live in the normal
> world there are strange place names, though I found this
> very contained and managable, though unsophisticated
> younger readers might have difficulty.

He uses some German names, which surprised me (German is my first language).

What I really disliked with Eragon is - the language. I know very well that
I should not judge English texts, since I only learnt English at school (and
later in life by reading books). But I didn't like the English Paolini
writes. It's simple and easy, but not in a skillful way (Bertolt Brecht
tells us: "Easy is beautiful - but difficult"). Maybe it's a very personal
way to experience literature - but sometimes I simply lose my heart to
sentences. Returning to Harry - the first chapter of PS is so simple, so
short, but so elaborate. JKR tells so much in very few words (a skill she
seems to forget more and more in her following books...).
There was not a single sentence in Eragon I wanted to read for a second
time.
In combination with the predictable plot, and the very simple and
superficial characters, I really cannot recommend reading Eragon.

Miles