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Paolini

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Has anyone got through Christopher Paolini's follow up to Eragon. I am currently reading it and wanted to know how others felt about it.

crabs><>
 
I haven't even looked at this one. I was so annoyed by the formulatic first attempt that I decided not to bother.
 
I hear you, I am still working through Eldest, I have a lot of hangups with this guy's writing, but i like the story so much, it seems like a really cool place and some really cool characters, but i believe its wasted potential.

i'll add more once i'm done with the book, i got about 2/3 through it and had to take a break.

crabs><>
 
I agree that the storyline had a lot of wasted potential and places to elaborate in detail. The writing was immature and sometimes overwrought, I thought, and little detached, as if the narrator didn't really care all that much; this was just a second-choice job and all he really needs to do is describe things emotionlessly. There were several interesting characters in the first book that could have been more developed. It was a nice story, but it was lacking in many ways.

Maybe I should stop complaining and give it another shot.

I think I'll do 'B' too, because it was one of my favorite books as a first grader: Betsy Barker Bites.
 
Your first post comes close to exactly how i felt, immature is only almost half explaining it, as well as your second job idea.

we can always hope the third and last will be better.
 
just finished eragon. the writing is very immature, and actually i didn't find interesting characters at all. the book is boring and sometimes even stupid... i don't want even try the second one. :mad:
 
Personally, I loved Chris Paolini's books. Eldest ends with an interesting twist that I didn't see coming.
I see a lot of people feel his work is immature. Hello, it was his first novel. He started writing it at age 15. Parts of his books drag a little bit, but he has potential and he'll learn as he goes along.
 
Or perhaps Eragon should have been posted on FictionPress or elsewhere so he could've gotten some criticism and gotten better before he go published. The amount of complaints about the writing being immature is just a sign he shouldn't have been published yet. Of course he cannot be expected to be any better at age 15, but did he absolutely *have* to publish before his writing had improved? Was there a train to catch? Or would his writing skills deteriorate if he wasn't published?
 
He actually hadn't planned on getting a huge publishing deal, you know. Eragon was published by a little-known publisher, and a well-known publisher stumbled across it later. And they seemed to think it was good enough to be sold to a wider audience, so of course Paolini agreed.
 
So he was 15 when he STARTED Eragon, but he was 18 when he got it published. so when Eldest came out, how old is he now. I'm only complaining because it is half done, the guy has many great ideas that were put down and published half baked. I think if he had been a little more patient those ideas would have a more polished feel to them, instead of something hastily written down. i'm still getting through Eldest, because i like the story line and setting, and i'm hoping he is more patient with the third and last book in the set.

The book was published first by his family, before the bigger publisher took it on, i would take that deal to, i just don't understand how the reviews for Eldest were so positive, encouraging i can see, but the folks reviewing it are giving him false hopes of greatness.

crabs><>
 
So first it was him who was in a hurry to publish, and then a bigger publisher took it on without suggesting some editing. Pity. I've read only parts of the first book - but that was enough to tell me I don't want to read the rest.

There may be good ideas in it, fair enough, but nothing ruins a good idea like a bad presentation.
 
No accident...

He actually hadn't planned on getting a huge publishing deal, you know. Eragon was published by a little-known publisher, and a well-known publisher stumbled across it later. And they seemed to think it was good enough to be sold to a wider audience, so of course Paolini agreed.
Click to expand...

Rather charitable to suggest that Paolini only achieved huge success 'by accident' (implying that he was a bit embarrassed to be suddenly immensely popular). Paolini is actually a genius at self-publicity. For example, he managed to arrange a three-way telephone interview that also included Philip Pullman and another famous writer (unfortunately not so famous that I remember her name offhand), and printed the transcript in such a way that it looked as if the three of them were in the room together, on equal footing. I'm sorry, but much as I admire any teenager who can turn out a 400 page novel, to compare himself even by implication to Philip 'the Maestro' Pullman is to incur the wrath of a lot of people...!

I trust however that by the time he's thirty Paolini might actually be pretty damn brilliant.
 
I thought Eragon was a very good YA fantasy book. I didn't like Eldest as well as Eragon though.
 
i think the are grear books,to get younger readers into fantasy .And that he has grest things (hopefully)coming down the line and ill will get book 3 this way when my kids are old enough to read i can getting them started into fantasy .and not worry about what three reading.
 
Speaking from experience, I am fifteen years old and an avid reader. I have loved fantasy since I read the Hobbit in grade 3, but some of my friends weren't into reading. Until they met Eragon and Saphira. These books have inspired my friends into reading and I am just now introducing them to such works as the LOTR trilogy, His Dark Materials, and The Wrinkle in Time series. I plan to get them into Ursula LeGuin soon as well. The Inheritence trilogy is definitly a good one for entry level fantasy readers as well as those who are more advanced, as I thoroughly enjoyed them myself. I just try not to read too deeply into it and go along for the ride, and everything is all right!

-Joey
 
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