If you have not read Eragon and Eldest yet, don’t read this! This whole post will be nothing but spoilers!

Read the books instead, then come back and let's discuss!














So, I enjoyed the books, both actually, Eragon and Eldest. Eragon felt a little awkward at the beginning, I’m not sure why, it could have been because Paolini was writing his first few chapters, or it could have been because I was thinking the whole time, “A teenager wrote this!” As we (Paolini and I) got into the story, that awkwardness disappeared.

Well, I have read that Paolini wanted to write a story that followed the standards of epic fantasy: dragons, magic, coming of age and coming to power, and I think he did that well. Most of the story elements were pretty derivative though, there was not a lot that was original. The storyline, intentionally or not, seemed to be lifted directly from Star Wars (another fantasy story, though many people think it’s SciFi). The boy growing up in an obscure village, who has unknown potential, a grouchy old man to begin his training, but who sacrifices himself for the good of the boy…a war at the end of the first episode, after which the boy goes off to a faraway place for training with a once-powerful and wise trainer…the boy has to leave his training before it’s finished to fight to protect his friends and allies…even the familial connection between himself and his “enemies.” Don’t get me wrong, I actually like the coming of age storyline, it might be one of my favorites in literature. Don’t you think the storyline here was just a little too similar to previous stories, though?

What do you want to bet that the elf dragon riding trainer (what was his name? O-something) will die when he returns to complete his training?

Though I guess someone might argue that Lucas lifted the whole storyline of Star Wars from ancient hero myths, which he learned about from Joseph Campbell (The Hero with a Thousand Faces), so maybe Paolini did the same thing.

The magic system was not exactly original either, seemed to be taken from Ursula LeGuin’s EarthSea books, where each being has an underlying secret name, and if you can get that name you can control the being. LeGuin’s system did not include grammar though, which was a nice addition. I liked how his blessing of the girl turned out to be a curse because he made a grammatical mistake between the active and passive voice (“be a shield” and “be shielded”). That was a nice touch, and her character is satisfyingly creepy.

I was disappointed with Eragon’s healing at the elf festival. It seemed like a cheap solution to the problem of his back wound, which had built up over hundreds of pages as something that he was struggling with. It would have been more meaningful if he was able to heal it himself with the help of his dragon or friends or something…something to symbolize his emotional damage being healed with the help of his friends. As it was, It seemed too easy, and lost some of its meaning in the story, when he was cured just like that (*snaps fingers*). Who knows, though, maybe my idea would have been too cheesy…

One thing I had questions about too, was Murtaugh’s decision to let Eragon go at the end of Eldest. Why would he do that, what could have been his motivation? While he said he was Galbatorix’s slave, he did not seem to really feel bad about doing his bidding. He said he chose to live and be G’s slave rather than kill himself. So why did he not do G’s bidding and bring capture Eragon, especially when Eragon had just tried to kill him? The only explanation he gives is that he had only sworn to "try" to capture Eragon. He has to know that they will just fight again at some later date. It just seemed to be convenient for the story, not so cohesive with the character's motivations.

I’m kind of tearing the book apart right now, but actually I DID enjoy the books, and can’t wait for the third to come out. I’m just posting these as thoughts to get discussion going…

What did you all think?

Well, no responses yet, so I thought I'd respond to myself. I'm actually used to it, it often seems that the only person who really takes me seriously is myself.

Just wanted to add a note about the magic system in E&E, as I didn't really give it its due, I think. As it is developed more and more, it becomes cooler and cooler. The way that Eragon is trained to become more and more in tune with his surroundings and the beings in his surroundings is nice. It's like the more empathy he has for the people and being surrounding him, the more powerful he becomes. The more deeply he identifies with nature, the stronger his magic becomes. That's pretty cool, I think, and it looks like the magic that Galbatorix and Murtaugh use just exploit nature's power, where Eragon's magic, and that of the elves, respects the power and magic of nature. I would not be surprised if this concept will be put into play with Eragon finally faces his two enemies, and somehow is the thing that lets him win over them.

My other prediction is that Eragon will succeed in doing a Skywalker-style conversion of Murtaugh to the "light side," which perhaps is one of the reasons why their showdown at the end of Eldest was left unfinished.

What do you think?

I've started Eragon (50pp in or so), and while the story is pretty decent, the writing strikes me as being fairly immature. It's an impressive feat for a teenager, but I'm not sure I'll be able to get past it and through the whole series. I'll try and finish up Eragon at least, and maybe I'll get into the storyline enough that the writing won't bother me as much.

Yeah, I had the same problem. Keep at it, it gets better IMHO--I'm actually curious to see if you agree or not.

Well, I finished Eragon yesterday. I didn't feel that the writing got much better, but I'm into the story enough that I'll start on Eldest in the next few days.

My main beef with the writing is that all the characters save a precious few are just hollow shells that only serve to give complete explanation of x plot point at a convenient time. Some mystery comes up and then two pages later Eragon whines a bit and the entire thing is laid out. It's all a bit too convenient, and I don't feel the characters around Eragon act particularly rationally.

Also, I don't feel the book is very consistent with itself. Is Eragon one of the greatest human swordsmen or not? Is his magical power unmatched in generations or not? This got a bit better at the end, but at times Paolini would be telling us how great and mighty Eragon has become before some trivial accident completely laid him out helpless.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want the time I spent reading the book back as I did enjoy the story, but it's definitely got some serious flaws. I just get the feeling that his editor was a bit hesitant to be hard on Paolini. I saw in the acknowledgements that Eragon was orginally published by Paolini's parents press, which sounds pretty consistent with my little theory.

Anyhow, I'll report back as I make my way through Eldest.

I would not expect it to get much better, especially with respect to how the characters surrounding the protagonist act, as you can see from my post above, which you should not read yet.

By the way, don't buy it, you can borrow my copy.

Alrighty, I've finished Eldest. I found myself getting into this book a bit more, and I'm definitely looking forward to the third volume.

As for your speculation, I agree that Eragon will bring Murtaugh back to the side of good, that Oromis will kick the bucket, and that Elva will be healed. I also read something over at the wikipedia about when Saphira repairs the star sapphire in Tronjheim, it will act as a giant energy repository for magic, and that energy pool will enable Eragon to defeat Galbatorix. I like that theory.

One other thing I was thinking of (and is also mentioned at wikipedia) is that so far, the books have been about (and titled after) the two known half-siblings, but calling Murtaugh 'Eldest' implies that there are at least three. Who is the third? Paolini has said that a green dragon will be on the cover of the third novel, I'm guessing the rider will be another of Eragon's half-siblings.

Ya, I think the story is pretty well explaned in the other 2 books. remember the werecat? "when your power seems useless, go to the tomb of souls" "to get a new weapon, look under the menoa tree" its all there, you just have to look for it. And I think the last dragon egg will hatch for Roran