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/lit/ - Literature

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6581054 No.6581054 [Reply] [Original]

Did any of you read Christopher Paolini's books?
Eragon was the first "big" book I've read when I was 8-9 years old. What do you guys think about it?

>> No.6581166

I read Eragon when I was around that age also.
I never read the others.
It seemed like a very sincere attempt at writing Fantasy.
I may read it again if I can find it.

>> No.6581214

>>6581166
It is a tetralogy (just putting that out there). The second book is quite interesting, but the third one starts to be a bit... slow. I'm asking this because I would like to know if it is worth reading the forth one. I don't have much patience with fantasy :S

>> No.6581219

>>6581214
Thank you for reminding me.
I enjoyed reading Eragon at the time.

>> No.6581240

>>6581054
I read maybe the first chapter around that age aswell--all I can remeber is faint visuals of some kind of dragon statue.

>> No.6581266

Yea I read all of them. Don't remember what age I finished. I enjoyed them. They are not very original and I don't remember a whole lot. I am a massive pleb when it comes to literature though.

>> No.6581283

Lord of the Rings fused with Star Wars

>> No.6581776

>>6581054
It was good YA. Don't reread it if you liked it; trust me.

>> No.6581783

>>6581054
Read the first three books when I was a kid and on a fantasy binge. Liked them. Mind magic was kind of a cool idea. Got bored at the end of the third, Arya killing the spectre and becoming a super friend was bullshit. Enjoyed the first most of all, the travelling with Brom was really cool. My opinion may be flawed by the fact that I've read the Lord of the Ring and watched Star Wars only years later.

>> No.6581960

>>6581054

Things to remember about this series.

> Eragon beats the villain with the power of understanding.
> The villain dying causes a nuclear detonation.
> Afterwards, Eragon starts the Olympics.
> Eragon dies a virgin.
> Eragon stays mentally linked to his dragon while she gets fucked by another dragon.

>> No.6582104

>>6581960
Disliked the fourth book because of that moral bullshit and "Oh, here are some fuckign eggs and shit"

>> No.6582114

>>6581054
i read it when it was released

at the time i liked it, but i think that was just because it was easy and fun

in reality it kinda sucks and is pretty much a blatant ripoff of star wars (I understand that star wars is a very basic hero's journey, but i mean come ON this was like line for line)

>> No.6582120

>>6581054
I liked it when I first read it, though back then I was into dungeons and dragons and all sorts of generic fantasy shit.

>> No.6582128

>>6582104
I disliked it because the first several pages were just Eragon being some superpowered godman. He was in a battle or something but there was no conflict there at all. Honestly I was disgusted, I couldn't read any further.

>> No.6582345

Is everyone in this thread being ironic or what

>> No.6582448

I always imagined the title was originally a typo, with the book being called simply "Dragon" at first, but the author hit the E instead of the D and liked it.

>> No.6582473

>>6581166
>>6581214
>>6581219
>>6581266
Unironically liking and considering re-reading this pure shit.

>>>>>>>6582345
It saddens me too.

>> No.6583008

>>6581054
I remember reading it when I was real young. It seemed good at the time but I know not to go back.

It's probably a decent thing to give to a kid before they start The Lord of the Rings. I think I might have actually read it when I was 6 years old. Does that timing work? I'm old enough to post now.

>> No.6583036

>>6581054
It's not original, thought inspiring, the writing isn't impressive, and if someone explained the story to you you'd think it was stupid.
However I enjoyed it quite a bit as a pure story. If you open this book looking for nothing but entertainment and daydreaming value, it's a good book.
And he actually tried. It's not like other half assed fantasy that doesn't explain anything. It's a planned out world that explains pretty much everything.

>> No.6583050
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6583050

>>6581054
From what I hear, they should be burned and forgotten. I'd sooner give my kid a Harry Potter book.

I liked this Myst book though. Not enough to read the others.

>> No.6583078

Wasn't the worst shit ever, wasn't the best.

A decent attempt, considering he started writing it at 15.

>> No.6583081

I read it at a stage in my development when I wasn't tired of it's cliches, and enjoyed it.

Never read the others though they were on my list for a while.

In the end I moved on to more substantial stuff, though I'm self-aware enough that I'll not shit all over it for simply being what it is: an easily read childrens fantasy novel.

>> No.6583093

>>6582448
tip top kek

>> No.6583418

Eragon and Eldest were a nice read, Brisingr started to get boring with "understanding ants" chapters and the last book as the other anon said is a clusterfuck of "understanding" and nuclear explosions. Maybe it was just me getting older, judging by the feedback in this thread.

>> No.6583433

>>6581054
christopher paolini graduated high school at the age of 15

>> No.6583440

>>6583418
how old r u?

>> No.6583444

Read it as a teenager. Really enjoyed it -- thought it was the greatest books ever written. Then I grew up and read a lot more books, and realized that they were kinda bad.

Still, good books for young teen boys. Especially as an intro to fantasy.

>> No.6583472

>>6583444
...oh, and teen girls can't like it? because no girl in the history of ever has ever liked ya fantasy, right? ಠ_ಠ

>> No.6583516

Trash from start to finish, but what do you expect when the author started the series at 15. Kids might find the enjoyable, however there are much better alternatives.

>> No.6583524

Belgariad by David Eddings is a much better first fantasy book series imo.

>> No.6583527

>>6583472

Triggered.

>> No.6583541

Read all four books, Eragon and Eldest over the course of about 4 days, Brisingr and Inheritance as they were released.

unironically enjoyed it, even though they were kinda... cliched trashy, but in a good way. somehow.

Ending kinda sucked though.

>> No.6583543

>>6583078
Its been proven that his parents lied about his age. He wrote it at 19, not 15. Also his parents jusy happen to be publishing big wigs. Also Eragon just happens to have the same plot as star wars and the names are ripped straight from Tolkien with some spelling changes. All a big coincidence of course.
Book is even less respectable than Fifty Shades, Hunger games, and Twilight. The fact that anyone can defend Eragon on lit is appalling. This isnt the usual Ivory Tower shitposting the kids success was 100% manufactured like a pop star. It was originally published on fanfiction.net for christs sake

>> No.6583545

I actually set my copy of Eragon on fire as an edgy teen
It was that bad.

>> No.6583565

>>6583545
did you whisper "brisingr" while you did it? That would have been ironical and edgy of you.

When I was 9 our class went to the library and I was the only one to borrow actual books and not Garfield comics. I read it there.
Elves are cliches, dwarfs are cliches, Eragon is a Mary Sue, every book ends with a big battle but it was cool when I was 9.
I wouldn't give it to a 9 year old today because there is plenty of generic fantasy getting published.

>> No.6583614

>>6583565
Its been years so I either got too disgusted to continue far enough to find out who brisinger is or just dont remember.
Also, my wigger jock little brother read the Hobbit around that age, and the only other book he's ever read is diary of a wimpy kid. Id say a kid that age can handle something that wasnt lazily churned out for a paycheck.

>> No.6583617
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6583617

>>6583472
Sure... Why not? Eragon is just like your prototypical adolescent male power fantasy, so I assumed it'd have less traction with the female audience. It's a story about a poor, helpless farm boy who becomes the badassest badass who ever badassed; that's basically the story.

>> No.6583635

>>6583614
>who brisinger is

Did you actually read the books? It's the name of his sword. It means fire.

>> No.6583743

>>6581783
Brom was cool as fuck, but yeah I also read the first three and then didnt get the fourth one

>> No.6584052

>>6581214
At the time it was good. Looking back, it is a ripoff of star wars and LOTR
>epitome of lazy writing towards end of series

>> No.6584066

>>6581054
I started reading it when I was in elementary, the final book was released in my sophomore year.

Arya was my first bookfu, and the last book is probably the worst thing i ever read, including a 400+ page epilogue to tie up "loose ends".

The whole mind connection thing was pretty sweet though.

>> No.6584161

The movie killed my childhood...

>> No.6584170

>>6582473
Is it bad?
It has been a while.

Perhaps I will not read it, then.

>> No.6584172

The amount of ripped-off elements is so gigantic (it's not only Star Wars and LOTR), to the point where Paolini actually seems like a pretty well-read person.

I loved the first book when I was a kid, though.

>> No.6584191

>>6584172
Tbh, half of a writer's craft is learning to camouflage your more blatantly stolen ideas.

Haha, stolen ideas - as if you can "own" such a thing.

>> No.6584212

>>6584191
Well, Paolini hides that horribly.

>> No.6585649

>>6581054
The first book was a fun read even though the influences were pretty obvious. Just good plain fantasy.
The second book already had its lengths, many parts seemed to be totally unnecessary, but I still kept on reading as there was some sort of build-up.
The third book had a very obvious beginning after the cliffhanger of the last one, but from there went just downhill. I stopped reading about halfway in, the plot was just going nowhere, the characters were dull and one-dimensional, and the "Eragon formula" was abused to the max.

And that's the "Eragon formula":
He goes to a new location, people warn him not to do certain things. He does these things. He gets into trouble. People save him, he is thankful and goes to the next location...

It's just unbelievable how much of an naive idiot he still is after having fought countless enemies, travelled the country and learned about so much on his way, all while becoming a very powerful magician.

>> No.6585659

>>6581054
Absolutely awful. There are so many better alternatives for young readers that aren't as generic or emotionally straightforward.

For 8-12 year olds I'd recommend the Septimus Heap books. They're absolutely wonderful.

>> No.6585674

>all these people liking the book
Within several months, /lit/ is going to unironicaly like Fault in our Stars.

>> No.6585844

>>6583635
nigger, you expect people to remember details from schlock shit?

>> No.6585879

Read Eragon and the sequel when I was 13-14 or something like that, loved them. I waited impatiently for the third one, but when it came out I had lost interest and never read it. Tried reading Eragon again when I was 17 or 18 and didn't even complete the first chapter, it's shit.

>> No.6587950

>>6585844
Considering how much time the books spent on that particular detail; yes... I mean, it's the fucking name of one of the books. It's like forgetting the name of the protagonist.

>> No.6587958

>>6583472
No intelligent girl*

>> No.6588197

>>6585649
Well, that's almost the formula of the Ranger's Apprentice and I came across a 24-year old woman who still loves to read that schlock.

>> No.6589201

>>6581054
>tfw you read Captain Bluebear that age instead

Those Germans really fucked my young mind.

>> No.6589223

Read the first 3 books when i was a kid, literally don't remember anything about it

>> No.6589254

>>6589201
I got the new coloured print for christmas. Dankest shit ever, man. Only, maybe, surpassed by Rumo.

>> No.6589294

>>6583635
When I say its been years I mean its been since the damn book was first released, im old by 4chan standards. I made it 3/4ths the way through.

>> No.6589315

>>6587950
Well maybe if it wasnt such a shit book people would remember such things
The whole series is really forgettable. If it wasnt for these occasional threads these poor excuses for books would never cross my mind again.

>> No.6589344

Some ideas are cool. I think I liked the second one, especially Aragons brother(?) If I remember he was actually a pretty cool guy who rekt kids with a hammer.

Other than that, even when I was reading them, I knew I was reading Star Wars.

>> No.6589414

>>6585659
oh those books!
I enjoyed those a lot when I was younger.

>> No.6590643

>>6583565
>ironical
Is that some fedora bionical spin-off or something?

>> No.6591805

>>6582448
I CAN'T BELIEVE I'VE NEVER REALIZED THIS. IT'S JUST DRAGON WITH AN E. FUCK.

>> No.6591824

when I read Eragon, I didn't understand why people thought it was bad, but I did understand why people thought it was a ripoff of Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings, and I did think Eragon was a little shit.

Came back to it a few years later and finally understanding why this prose was so terrible on my own, I felt like I had left the allegorical cave and was no longer looking at shadows on the wall.

>Wind howled through the night, carrying a scent that would change the world. A tall shade lifted his head and sniffed the air. He looked human except for his crimson hair and maroon eyes.

I read Eldest for shits and giggles and it was 600 pages of treading water and bullshit ex machinas. Never bothered with the rest.