Thread: Christopher Paolini

Anybody read his series? It's so good. I just hate it that it's taking so long for the last one to come out. He's been working on it for years. I think it's going to be a great ending. What do you think about them?

I've read the series, and I really enjoyed the books as I'm rather partial to dragons as far as mythical creatures go. I re-read Eragon recently and found that his writing, while solid, lacked a little bit for me. I certainly wouldn't pass harsh judgment as he was only 15 or whatever when he wrote it, and hey, I don't have a book published. I do find it impressive that he keeps bringing threads back into the weave; he seems very purposeful in that sense. All in all a really wonderful series. I'm just sorry the story got absolutely mangled by the movie.

I also found the Inheritance series to be quite enjoyable. Will definitely get the fourth book once it comes out.

Who's excited for the fourth and final book to come out in November? I definitely am!

I find the Inheritance Cycle to be like soda. Addictive, but simple, unoriginal on the whole, and common. It's basically a fantasy Star Wars...

And frankly, I find the whole "You can diss it because you don't have a book published" thing to be a bit silly. It's like saying you can't say this person's food is gross because you didn't go to culinary school, or you can't say you don't like your new haircut because you aren't a hairdresser.

He was fifteen when he STARTED the books. He was, like, nineteen or something when it was finally published.

I like them okay; I read them when I need to get into a Dragon-y frame of mind, and their simple enough that I don't need to work really hard to read it. But there's one line that totally destroyed my respect for Paolini as a writer of dialogue.

"They're cannibals?!"

"Not quite. They do not partake of the meat."

There has to have been less pretentious ways for the farm boy to say they didn't eat their own body parts.

I think you may find an old thread harshly criticizing the series. I have a strong negative opinion toward it myself.

Very honestly, I find it to be a good read. Simple, concise and addictive. The only down-side is that he takes forever to release the books and the fourth one has been the longest wait yet. Also, rumors that there might be a fifth don't bode well with the whole "I can't wait to read the ending" feeling, if you know what I mean. All in all though, one of the better written fantasy books among the ones I've read and so what if its a mix of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings ? It works for me

It's a middle-of-the-road series, and he's a middle of the road author. Plenty of people bash him for 'purple prose' and dumb plotting, but what bugs the heck out of me is his dialogue- it's stale, awkward and wordy.

For all the flaws I can point to though, I still rather like the books as a fun action-fantasy series. Here's hoping he can pick up where he left off in Brisingr.

That Paolini needs to go off himself. He was originally self published, if not for knopf, he wouldn't be so famous today. Anyway, it's a huge rip off, and he couldn't even bother to create his own fantasy creatures.

Yeah, I forgot the Ra'zac, lethrblaka, and urgals existed in so much before Eragon was released.

Since I read the first book when I was like...12, I greatly enjoyed the book and eagerly looked forward to the second one. Yes, the second one got way to wordy about Eragon listening to bugs but other than that it was still a solid book with good plot advancement (regardless of whether the plot resembles that of other fantasy series. 100% original writing cannot exist anymore. Paolini wasn't the first to reuse dragons.) that left me wanting the third. By the time Brisingr rolled out I was older. Still not really...old. I was 16, starting to read more mature books. And after re-reading The Lord of the Rings and getting started on A Song of Ice and Fire the third book disappointed me. It was good, but where Eldest dragged on, Brisingr felt rather rushed. I will be getting the last book this year because of dedication to the series. I can't not read the end. But the anticipation I felt for the others isn't as strong now.