Inheritance Cycle

[Kitty]

Rather than continue to spam up the "What Novel Are You Currently Reading?" thread, I thought I'd make a thread specifically to discuss Christopher Paolini's magnum opus.

So yeah.

I've only read Eragon and Eldest (so please, mark spoilers for Brisingr, if you don't mind ^_^), but despite the fact that those two were highly derivative, I rather liked them (my favorite of the two is easily Eragon, and my (only) favorite character, Murtagh). A lot of the like was from being easily amused by guessing the plot ahead of time, or speculating as to whether Eragon might actually be a sociopath or if we'll find out that Galbatorix has really been a good guy the whole time, and other stupid reasons Paolini never intended. But, I still want to find out how it all ends. They're the Twilight Saga for fantasy lovers- poorly written, (mostly) unlikeable or unremarkable characters, but still so damn addictive I have to keep reading.

And speaking of the writing, you have to be careful when calling plagiarism, but in this case, I feel pretty safe saying that even if Paolini may not have sat down in front of the tv with the Star Wars trilogy, opened up Lord of the Rings, and started writing, he sure borrowed from them unconsciously. A lot of works follow the standard hero cycle- it's how you choose to follow the cycle that matters. And if Paolini had followed Star Wars any more closely, I think he'd have heard from Lucas' attorneys. This review of Eragon on Amazon has a nice list of the similarities, as does this page.

What do you all think of the books? Fans, or no? Discuss. Comments about the movie adaptation could go here, too, I suppose.

[Desert Warrior]

Even though I've never read any of them, I thought I'd put in my two cents with one of the parts you said.

I feel pretty safe saying that even if Paolini may not have sat down in front of the tv with the Star Wars trilogy, opened up Lord of the Rings, and started writing, he sure borrowed from them unconsciously.

I'm just gonna talk about the LotR part. I was reading some page on TV Tropes (Obviously it is one of my favorite websites). I think the page was Cliche Storm or something, but I digress. On that page, they mentioned that LotR is usually considered to be that trope, even though it is actually the trope namer for many tropes. So some authors can't help it if their work seems similar.

[Kitty]

On that page, they mentioned that LotR is usually considered to be that trope, even though it is actually the trope namer for many tropes. So some authors can't help it if their work seems similar.

Eh, all fantasy, to an extent, is derivative. But many authors can take something they borrow from another author and still make it their own. In my opinion, Paolini might as well have called his world Middle Earth, instead of Alagaesia. His elves are pretty damn close to Tolkien's elves, as are his dwarves, the settings are similar, a lot of the names are either very close, or downright identical to many of Tolkien's, and there's Paolini's elvish, which is kinda like Tolkien's, except more like someone took part in that "Smash face on keyboard; post results" thread of ours. Then there's the human Eragon falling for the Elvish princess Arya storyline- Aragorn and Arwen, anyone?

Honestly, if it were just the similarities to Tolkien, I wouldn't even bother to comment on it. Tolkien had so many great ideas that have inspired others that you could draw similarities between him and probably everyone else who came later in the genre. But throw in the similarities to Star Wars, The Dragonriders of Pern (I mention this series outright because I've read them. I'm not familiar with the other works that people claim he's plagiarized), and examples (there's one on the second link I posted, I think) of what can only be downright stealing from several other authors, and it's not just the familiarity of the genre anymore.

[GrandShadow]

the Inhieritence Cycle are my fav books right now, i can't wait for book 4.
personally i hate when it's compared to Star Wars. i can understand and deal with comparing it to LotR and other fantasy series, i mean after LotR it's hard to be 100% original in that genre. but Star Wars? i only see 2 similarities: the whole 'your fathers blade' and the corrupted father bit. *Brisingr Spoiler in BLACK text* and the father bit isn't even a problem anymore.

my favorite character is Saphira without a doubt and after reading Brsingr i can't wait for Eragon vs Galbatorix.


i hate that you haven't read Brsingr yet Toph, it's so tempting to talk about it, considering it's easily the best of the three.

[Azula]

Obviously it would be hard to create an epic story without using some other one's for ideas. I like writing and I know that you have to get inspiration from somewhere. Paolini most likely was a fan of star wars. He invisioned himself in his fantasy and it was inspired by Star Wars.

When you're writing a story you should be able to see the world come alive. You create a world and you look around and see what is happening, then you write it all down. When you think of a character you should be able to know her completely. Let the characters tell you all about themselves, their emotions, their past, then write it all down. When you don't know your characters then your story will seem completely fake and lifeless. Every story has a person behind it, a collection of that person's thoughts. The goal of a good fiction is for it to become a mirror for people. They should look in it and see themselves. They see themselves but they are you, and they can see everything that you could see when you wrote it.

I believe Paolini's book was in fact a success for himself. He managed to create a world and describe it so that we could almost feel ourselves in there. The problem was that his world was had too much inspiration from other people. I also thought that some of the characters weren't real enough. I felt as if when he was writing about some of the characters he didn't bother on trying to know them.

I know I sound nuts trying to explain this. It is hard to explain in words how I feel about this.

[Requiem]

I've said it once and I'll say it again, it just seems to be a straight-up crossbreed between LoTR and Star Wars to me, through the setting and story respectively. I'm sure any of the points I will make have already been made in those links that I was too lazy to read at the moment. They are entertaining, though.

[Kitty]

but Star Wars? i only see 2 similarities: the whole 'your fathers blade' and the corrupted father bit.

I see a lot more- I think you can pretty much take a summary of Star Wars, replace the names with characters from Inheritance, and you have Paolini's story. But I can understand that not everyone might see it that way.

i hate that you haven't read Brsingr yet Toph, it's so tempting to talk about it, considering it's easily the best of the three.

It's interesting that you say that, because I've heard that Brisingr is like 700 pages long, or something, but nothing important ever happens. And yes, major suckage that I haven't been able to read it. The one copy at the local library has been overdue for almost a month, and, miserly as I am, I hate to buy the third without owning copies of the other two. But I may end up breaking down and picking it up soon.

after reading Brsingr i can't wait for Eragon vs Galbatorix.

See, one of the problems I have with the series, and perhaps this will change after reading Brisingr, is that so far, I have seen nothing to prove to me that Galbatorix is evil, except that Paolini says he is. So far, I think all he's done, besides wiping out some dragon riders (who may have been corrupt, for all I know) is raise taxes and ally himself with some questionable folk. I know I'm not reading this as intended, but I tend to see the Varden more as terrorists than freedom fighters.

Despite my mini-rant, I am interested in the series. Lord knows it's better than some of the crap I've read over the years. I really dislike Eragon and Arya, and a lot of the side characters, but Orik is pretty okay, Brom was cool, though his story was obvious (or has been thus far), and Murtagh was epic (in the first book). Eldest made me so pissed off when it came to him, but I'm gonna hold out hope that his story gets less annoying and he returns to his previous state of anti-hero awesome.

[GrandShadow]

ok then Toph. read the following at your own risk, cause it's a rant about 3 and why the tards that say nothing happened are f***ing idiots.

Nothing happens? Eragon and Roran save Katrina, Murtagh attacks again, we learn the secret to Galbatorix's power, Eragon gets a new sword, Orik is crowned king of the dwarves, Oromis and Glaedr die, Brom is Eragon's real father, and a massive siege to finish off three. Nothing happens my @$$. the reason people try that bul is cause they were expecting it to end in 3, while anybody with braincells could tell that wasn't going to happen without it being rushed and filled with plot holes. seriously, more happens in three than the other two combined. i highly doubt 4 will be the end too. cause we still haven't done anything with the Rock of Kuthian, Katrina is pregnant like Elain now, Murtagh is likely going to go through a redemption of some sort, we're not done with Elma-no way no how, and there's still nothing to justify Eragon and Saphira leaving forever. anybody that says 3 does nothing need to start reading a new series cause they must be missing everything.