Amph ~The Inheritance Cycle, by Christopher Paolini~ Discussing its literary merits

Hmmph, I don't know if anyone had posted this but...

http://www.amazon.com/Brisingr-Inheritance-Book-Christopher-Paolini/dp/0375826726/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&am]Watch the video near the middle of the page, but ONLY IF YOU HAVE READ ELDEST. It has spoilers.

I swear, if he kills off another character, as soon as I read it the book will be flying out my window...

 

I am still not getting over the cheesyness of this title yet.

 

LOL!!

 

I'm never going to get over the cheesyness of that title!

 

with you.

I know someone who's not getting a copy. Moi. And many other people.

The title is cheesy. I can just picture someone introducing a friend to the series: "And the titles are Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr--"

"Excuse me?"

If you chose a title that is in a language that is unknown to the general public (i.e. not the fans), be very, very careful. Actually, I'd suggest not to do it at all. What you end up with is a silly-looking title that has no obvious meaning. The only possible upside to it is that it might just be considered "intriguing," but honestly, I'd prefer "understandable, meaningful and intriguing" to just "intriguing" any day.

LOL! I'd add to that. "Only if I don't have to edit/read/listen to/know anything about your stuff."

 

That title is the silliest thing I've seen since Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. You NEVER explain anything to your readers about your novel unless they ask the questions first. It's called blowing your own horn, and I know it's tempting to do so but it's just conceit. I just looked at this guy's facebook page, this guy's full of himself.

I'm going to read them, just so I can tear them to pieces as I read. I'd love to be his teacher in a creative writing class, too bad he was homeschooled.

 

I seriously think its because his parents are connected to the publishing world. I can't even bring myself to read it.

Though as a side note, I think it was published differently in the US because (the way it was explained to me) the two words mean the exact same thing, but in the US a philospher and a sorceror are two very different things, so it was intended for people picking it up to know what it meant.

 

Wait...


Paolini has a Facebook page?

BRB.

 

Please don't deface his page, Corry, that's not nice. Join one of the 'amti' groups instead

 

BTW, I'm starting to read Eragon. It's okay, but nothing to write home about. It would be so much better if I hadn't read the story all ready and Luke...sorry Eragon wasn't such a poncy git. Obi-Wan...I mean Brom is okay, though he needs to learn how to be more evasive.

 

Except there is no such alchemical concept as the Sorcerer's stone, while there is a legendary philosopher's stone . It's nothing to do with the meaning of the word, really.

 

The kids don't know that

 

, Nat.

The Philosopher's/Sorcerer's thing used to annoy me, but then I decided there was no point on me getting annoyed because I'm not America and didn't have to buy the copy with "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" splashed across the front cover.

But that's off-topic.

I think Paolini's new title is sillier than any Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone could ever be.

It's a bit distracting, I do have to admit, when you start seeing SW parallels all over the place while reading those books.

I definitely prefer whiny ANH Luke to the "poncy git".

 

I do like the Inheritance books but when I read Eldest it felt like the story was getting a little more far fetched as it went. I will still read Brisingr, and I hope it will be worth it.

I too think the title is silly, and I'm utterly shocked that he's making 4 books now.

 

Apprently there's going to be FOUR books *shudders*. But that's just what I heard, it's not confirmed though.

I finished Eragon though, and I'm not so sure about going on to Eldest, there's no real attraction.

IMHO there are TWO good points about the novel.

1. He is able to keep the pace of the novel throughout the entire length without any major flagging or dips. The bits with him travelling were a little slow at times, but I wasn't really bored while reading. (Though I have been bored with some novels, like Jeter's Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy where I didn't bother to finish Slave Ship)
2. His use of magic is quite interesting even if it is not very original. It's a sort of Rumplestiltskin-style magic where having the name for something gives you power over it.

I could go on and on about the bad bits but my pet peeve was the fact that here was a teenager trying to be J.R. Tolkien. Some of the language of his magic is a second-cousin to Elvish, not to mention the place where the story is set looks just like Middle Earth. I have nothing against people of his age writing stories, but trying to be Tolkien just reeks of conceit. I have half a mind of lining up to meet him just so I can tell him he's two young to write.
And was there some element of politcal intrigue in there at the end with the Twins? if there was, I missed it as I saw no evidence of scheming, double-dealing or hidden daggers. He needs to read his Shakespeare more.

Other than that, I say Paolini has potential as a good writer, and hopefully ten years from now he'll pick up a copy of Eragon or one of the others, flick through it and say "Was I really THAT bad at writing back then?"

 

Apprently there's going to be FOUR books *shudders*. But that's just what I heard, it's not confirmed though.

It actually has been confirmed. 4 books. Paolini said that he realized that he has more story to tell than can fit in one book.

I don't think he's too young to write; I think he's too inexperienced. There are plenty of amazing authors who are as young as he is. She'll kill me when she sees this, but Idrelle_Miocovani, for instance, is an awesome author and she's younger than he currently is. The thing is, he seems like he's writing fanfic. He should find a messageboard, not a publishing company.

 

Of course, age and experience don't equate to the same thing. Obviously, though he hasn't written many stories or he would be better at it. That's how you get better at writing, you write.

As for publishing, it was his parents who owned the company, so that's why he got published. Any sane publisher would have thrown it out the window or at least sent it back just in case several angry authors sued for plagiarism.

He then did a book tour when he did 130 signings which is how he did his promotion. So really, the novel is powdered milk prenending to be cream.

I'm against Kathy Tyers now, as she helped him with the novel and she should know better. She only got him to rewrite the first three chaoter when she should have told him to put the whole thing in a drawer for the next ten years.

 

I agree 100% -- for most people, it's experience.

And yeah, I think it's his parents all the way. Most publishers wouldn't hae done it. (Though companies were actually competing for Robert Newcomb's books, and they were head-banging worthy).

 

Mmm, that's what I've been thinking lately. Either this springbreak or summer I'm going to read Eragon again to refresh my memory before I read Brisingr(I can't even spell the title, I had to go look it up )so that I can better judge what he does to it.

Heh, I just thought of something against his name choice for Eragon. I thought it was pronounced EE-ragon for about half the book before I discovered his lil' pronunciation guide in the back. Never really a good sign for a published book when you need one of those. Well I suppose in some cases it's necessary, but this one not at all. If he just spelled the blasted names like the ones he stole them from...

I wonder if he ever watched POTC. I was watching it with my sister a little bit ago, and I noticed one of the character's name was Murtagh... I dunno if that's been mentioned...

 

I wouldn't say that pronounciation guides are bad. The fantasy writers who do stories set in the Celtic world often include them, because most people can't pronounce them. And they're not the only ones; Robert Jordan (among many others) had a guide as well, and he is/was one of the greats of fantasy.

 

It actually has been confirmed. 4 books. Paolini said that he realized that he has more story to tell than can fit in one book.

I normally take it as a bad sign when an author suddenly changes his/her original plan because, "oh, I suddenly have more story to tell!" I think it's a sign of poor pre-planning.

Nat, you better start running. I've got muffins ready to throw. *ominous timpani roll*

What used to be the Inheritance Trilogy (what does he call it now, the Inheritance Quartet? ) reads and flows like fanfic. It's annoying and it drives me crazy. I agree with what you said about the messageboard, Nat.

Kathy Tyers helped him? I didn't know that.

Now that's embarrassing. If I were here, I'd be in hiding.

I totally agree with you about the experience thing. It all basically boils down to the fact that his parents owned a publishing company and -- judging from his interviews and his "messages to the fans" -- Paolini was arrogant and impatient enough to want to see his own name in print that he didn't even bother to go through all the necessary steps decent writers need to be proficient at their art.

And that's the sad thing, because I do see potential. I just don't see good characters/plot/writing style.

I like pronounciation guides. Nat's right -- you see them all the time in the fantasy genre. It's cool to see how the author pronounces the character names (if they invented the names). But at the same time, I also like it when there isn't a pronounciation guide. I think it was David Eddings (I might be wrong) who said that he purposefully didn't have a pronounciation guide for his created names because he thought the fans needed to come up with their own pronounciations.

And now I have an on-going argument with my mom about how to pronounce the name "Ce'Nedra."

 

The title of this thread should be changed. Paolini has decided to split third book in half, which now makes it The Inheritance Cycle.

 

For pronunciation, there's always the phonetic alphabet, though i doubt he would know how to use that as Paolini is no linguist.

 

The pronounciation of some of the names are about the single thing I wouldn't at.

And I said you would kill me for a reason

I agree with whoever said above that it would have been better to write for ten years and then try to get published.

 

Especially considering that in his "Language Guide", the pronounciations are listed as follows:

Ajihad -- AH-zhi-hod
Alagaesia -- al-uh-GAY-zee-uh
Arya -- AR-ee-uh

And my favourote:

Eragon -- EHR-uh-gahn



I showed it to my sister once. She's working on a Health Sciences Major with a minor in Linguistics, and as soon as she looked like she wanted to throw the book.

And I said you would kill me for a reason

And I see that you're not running yet. Better watch out, I have my muffin catapult ready.