MandyThe Evil in Eragon
August 23rd 2007 04:50
Eragon is a story about a boy and his dragon. Been done before, right? But surely, such a best-selling book (in 2005 after 2 years in print, 2.5 million copies had been sold and Eragon continued to top The New York Times bestseller list for children's books) must be dazzling in its originality, characterisation, writing style and pure story-telling?
You'd be forgiven for thinking it was so. But Eragon is nothing but a pulp novel, easily accessible and easily forgotten. There are few redeeming qualities about the book- it's poorly written with horrible grammar, sentence structure and a style that betrays the author's love of his thesaurus. It's derivative, using almost word for word the plot of the original Star Wars movie and plonking it down on the fringes of Tolkien's Middle-Earth. The characters are dull and incredibly predictable, none more so than the titular hero of the story, simple farmboy (snort) Eragon.
In its favour, the book does have a pretty blue cover. Although the illustraion of Saphira, Eragon's dragon, is laughable. She looks like a confused lizard, more human than reptile, and hardly the awe-inspiring creature Christopher Paolini describes voluminously in the story.
Which brings us to the quickest rebuttal Eragon's fans make when confronted with such criticism- the author, Christopher Paolini, wrote the story when he was only 15! Like OMG! Boy geniuz!!! Here is a comment from an Amazon.com reader, reacting to criticism of Eragon and its sequel, Eldest:
Ow! Zinger from Sarah Owsky!
Sadly this is a comment indicative of the large majority of Paolini's rabid fans. The great site Anti-Shur'tugal.com has a page especially devoted to demonstrating the maturity and literacy of Eragon fans. It's quite touching the lengths they will go to protect, defend and lick the feet of their great hero, Mr Pao-Pao.
Example: Mike, a fan and someone quite high up in the running of Eragon fan-site Shur'tugal.com (yes, Anti-Shur'tugal was created as a haven for those less than fond of Eragon, who were chased with torches and flaming pitchforks off the Shur'tugal boards) got around, raised the funds and procured a gift for Christopher- a geniune red metal sword, five feet long with a ruby (fake, I presume) embedded in the handle. A replica of Eragon's sword Zar'roc (snort) featured prominently in the book. If that's not rabid, slavish devotion, I don't know what is.
The New Extra-Sharp Backscratcher! Now GUARANTEED to draw blood!
Some of the more rational arguments presented by the fans:
1. Paolini was only 15 when he graduated from high school and started to write Eragon. Therefore, he must be intelligent, and capable of writing a great book.
Well, possibly. In interviews, he has proved to be quite verbose, and from the number of different ideas he poached to make Eragon, he seems to be well read. But the fact remains that Paolini was home-schooled. Home-schooling, as far as I know, is not restrained by the limitations of semesters ot school holidays. So graduating at 15 is probably quite feasible for someone with not much else to do. And many many writers begin in their teens or younger. But it is experience, not age, that makes all the difference to writing style.
2. Paolini was published at 18. Where's your published book, huh?
True. Paolini was published as a teenager. By his parents' publishing house, Paolini International LLC. It wasn't until a year later, after peddling the book across half the US using gimmicky costumes, that Eragon was bought by a commercial publishing house, Random House's Alfred A. Knopf Books. Who by the way designed a very alluring cover. Hmm.
But at 23, Paolini's "I'm just a teenager!" drawcard is past its use-by date. What weapon do the fans have now?
3. Eragon (and its sequel Eldest) have been monster best-sellers. That many people can't be wrong! NYAHHH!
The books' sales have indeed been prolific, at one time tipping Harry Potter off the best-seller lists. It seems the public no longer wants to read entertaining, lyrical stuff that makes sense. And that is sad. Those discovering the fantasy genre, or even writing in general, through the pages of this work will be sadly misinformed, for Eragon is near the bottom of the barrel when it comes to literary merit. And no, I'm not some literary elitist who only reads Dickens, Proust and Wordsworth, I read and enjoy Harry Potter, The Da Vinci Code and Tomorrow, When The War Began as much as the next million people. But I won't deny that I read a lot, and that gives me the perspective and the ability to recognise shoddy work when I read it. To all those Eragon lovers, I say hello! How are you? Let me show this story called His Dark Materials, it's great! Have you heard of Stephen King? No? Well here, read Carrie! What's that you say? Anne of Green Gables and Little Women are old? Yes they are! Now READ THEM!
Above it all, Eragon is boring. The writing can be excused by the writer's age at the time, but there's no hiding the thin plot and slooooooooow pacing. It was all I could to to force myself to continue reading it, as my attention would drift away and before I knew it, I had read the same sentence three times and not taken it in. By the time the sequel, Eldest was published in 2005, even the fans had started to lose hope:
The third book in the trilogy (following Eragon and Eldest) is set to appear on bookshelves soon. It is rumoured to be named Empire, keeping with the six-letter "E" titles and what is sure to be the theme of the third book (eg. Eragon defeats the evil king and his EMPIRE). Even the fans are hoping Christopher Paolini pulls something out of his butt for this one. Could it be that his adoring public are becoming disenchanted with their beloved Pao-Pao?
As a final note, after reading Eragon, I went online to try and find out what went on in Christopher Paolini's mind while he wrote this, and in the process I discovered two things of interest:
1. His parents were members of a survivalist cult, and
2. He is exceedingly arrogant, not to mention deluded. To wit:
HA!
You'd be forgiven for thinking it was so. But Eragon is nothing but a pulp novel, easily accessible and easily forgotten. There are few redeeming qualities about the book- it's poorly written with horrible grammar, sentence structure and a style that betrays the author's love of his thesaurus. It's derivative, using almost word for word the plot of the original Star Wars movie and plonking it down on the fringes of Tolkien's Middle-Earth. The characters are dull and incredibly predictable, none more so than the titular hero of the story, simple farmboy (snort) Eragon.
In its favour, the book does have a pretty blue cover. Although the illustraion of Saphira, Eragon's dragon, is laughable. She looks like a confused lizard, more human than reptile, and hardly the awe-inspiring creature Christopher Paolini describes voluminously in the story.
Which brings us to the quickest rebuttal Eragon's fans make when confronted with such criticism- the author, Christopher Paolini, wrote the story when he was only 15! Like OMG! Boy geniuz!!! Here is a comment from an Amazon.com reader, reacting to criticism of Eragon and its sequel, Eldest:
OK for all of the people out there who said that this book was horrible and that there is no way he can save his books i say to them... SHUT UP!!!! to me reading Eldest was fun. no matter how bad or predictable it got! i enjoy the characters and i didn't care. i didn't start reading the book and immediatly begin to criticize it. and just because christopher paolini isn't telling everybody about his book or keeping up to date with his newsletters doesn't mean he isn't working hard. do any of the people who criticize him know how hard it is to write a book? excuse me THREE books? i doubt it. so for those of you of sitting on your thrones and declaring what is good liturature and what is not, i say to you shove it up your *** and deal!
- Sarah OwskyOw! Zinger from Sarah Owsky!
Sadly this is a comment indicative of the large majority of Paolini's rabid fans. The great site Anti-Shur'tugal.com has a page especially devoted to demonstrating the maturity and literacy of Eragon fans. It's quite touching the lengths they will go to protect, defend and lick the feet of their great hero, Mr Pao-Pao.
Example: Mike, a fan and someone quite high up in the running of Eragon fan-site Shur'tugal.com (yes, Anti-Shur'tugal was created as a haven for those less than fond of Eragon, who were chased with torches and flaming pitchforks off the Shur'tugal boards) got around, raised the funds and procured a gift for Christopher- a geniune red metal sword, five feet long with a ruby (fake, I presume) embedded in the handle. A replica of Eragon's sword Zar'roc (snort) featured prominently in the book. If that's not rabid, slavish devotion, I don't know what is.
The New Extra-Sharp Backscratcher! Now GUARANTEED to draw blood!
Some of the more rational arguments presented by the fans:
1. Paolini was only 15 when he graduated from high school and started to write Eragon. Therefore, he must be intelligent, and capable of writing a great book.
Well, possibly. In interviews, he has proved to be quite verbose, and from the number of different ideas he poached to make Eragon, he seems to be well read. But the fact remains that Paolini was home-schooled. Home-schooling, as far as I know, is not restrained by the limitations of semesters ot school holidays. So graduating at 15 is probably quite feasible for someone with not much else to do. And many many writers begin in their teens or younger. But it is experience, not age, that makes all the difference to writing style.
2. Paolini was published at 18. Where's your published book, huh?
True. Paolini was published as a teenager. By his parents' publishing house, Paolini International LLC. It wasn't until a year later, after peddling the book across half the US using gimmicky costumes, that Eragon was bought by a commercial publishing house, Random House's Alfred A. Knopf Books. Who by the way designed a very alluring cover. Hmm.
But at 23, Paolini's "I'm just a teenager!" drawcard is past its use-by date. What weapon do the fans have now?
3. Eragon (and its sequel Eldest) have been monster best-sellers. That many people can't be wrong! NYAHHH!
The books' sales have indeed been prolific, at one time tipping Harry Potter off the best-seller lists. It seems the public no longer wants to read entertaining, lyrical stuff that makes sense. And that is sad. Those discovering the fantasy genre, or even writing in general, through the pages of this work will be sadly misinformed, for Eragon is near the bottom of the barrel when it comes to literary merit. And no, I'm not some literary elitist who only reads Dickens, Proust and Wordsworth, I read and enjoy Harry Potter, The Da Vinci Code and Tomorrow, When The War Began as much as the next million people. But I won't deny that I read a lot, and that gives me the perspective and the ability to recognise shoddy work when I read it. To all those Eragon lovers, I say hello! How are you? Let me show this story called His Dark Materials, it's great! Have you heard of Stephen King? No? Well here, read Carrie! What's that you say? Anne of Green Gables and Little Women are old? Yes they are! Now READ THEM!
Above it all, Eragon is boring. The writing can be excused by the writer's age at the time, but there's no hiding the thin plot and slooooooooow pacing. It was all I could to to force myself to continue reading it, as my attention would drift away and before I knew it, I had read the same sentence three times and not taken it in. By the time the sequel, Eldest was published in 2005, even the fans had started to lose hope:
After finishing the first book, Eragon, I was eager to read the second book, but I was disappointed. The book seemed bloated and it seemed to drag due to long details about everything. This book was 700 pages and yet could of easily been written in 200-300 hundred pages. The ending of the book picked up pace only to leave the reader dissapointed by not providing an ending. I just read 700 pages and Paolini couldn't even give the book a decent ending. If/when the third book comes out i will not be buying it.
- Fat Monkey, Amazon.comThe third book in the trilogy (following Eragon and Eldest) is set to appear on bookshelves soon. It is rumoured to be named Empire, keeping with the six-letter "E" titles and what is sure to be the theme of the third book (eg. Eragon defeats the evil king and his EMPIRE). Even the fans are hoping Christopher Paolini pulls something out of his butt for this one. Could it be that his adoring public are becoming disenchanted with their beloved Pao-Pao?
As a final note, after reading Eragon, I went online to try and find out what went on in Christopher Paolini's mind while he wrote this, and in the process I discovered two things of interest:
1. His parents were members of a survivalist cult, and
2. He is exceedingly arrogant, not to mention deluded. To wit:
Paolini, regarding his books, has said, "In my writing, I strive for a lyrical beauty somewhere between Tolkien at his best and Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf".
HA!
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Eragon the novel and the film it inspired were both dull retreads of classic mythology that offered nothing of interest to those who grew up with this type of tale.
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
A very thorough treatment of your subject--and well-written! While I haven't read this book, your assessment sounds quite well-thought-out.
Wishing you success here at Orble!
Jeanne
Comment by Cibbuano
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