mooseyjoe Posted June 12, 2006 Share Posted June 12, 2006 sense there was another thread which got me thinking about this book, i'm talking about it here. Spoiler Alert!!! A long long time ago, in a galaxy far far away... There is an order of knights with magic swords and powers to match them. They defend law and order and keep the peace. Then a powerful evil knight corrupts a young and promising member of the order, and together they exterminate the magic knights. years later, a young man goes off into the wild, and when he comes home, the empire's soldiers have killed his aunt and uncle, whom he lives with. Then, the village elder takes him aside, gives him a magic sword like the knights use, and they leave to fight the empire. They befriend a rebellious criminal and go off to rescue a pretty young woman from the clutches of the empire. along the way the elder/trainer-of-the-last-knight gives his life to defend the young man, whos magic powers such as telekinesis and mind control are just developing. the story goes on for a while, and then the young knight gets severely wounded by one of the emperor's chief subordinates. sound like star wars? well it's not, it's just the storyline that paolini adopted for his first book. It is well written, but the blatant theft of plot was disturbing. I greatly preferred the second book, if only because paolini actually pulled himself away from the Luke skywalker theme. I posted the same thing here, in case you want to see what other people thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hexxenhammer Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 I read the first 10 pages pages, puked, and thought, "What, did a 15 year old write this?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jubilee Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 We saw a movie poster for Eragon the other day at the theater and I was trying to explain the plot of the book to my husband when I realized I was describing fantasy star-wars... heh. I thought the main character was really whiney and obnoxious. I kept wishing he'd get killed, or grow up - I suppose that's pretty star-wars too... I was going to pick up the audio version of the 2nd book, but I hate the voice the reader has chosen for the dragon, so I haven't yet - but i'm not sure I could put up with the main character again for a whole book. :) /ali Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mooseyjoe Posted June 13, 2006 Author Share Posted June 13, 2006 fortunatley, he is a bit less whiney. But he can still get annoying. The second book is still a bit star warsy. He goes to train with a yoda-figure, and then leaves before yoda would have liked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evilbob Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 <rant> Thats the plot of that attrocity? Gah!!! Sorry, the author is from the area where I live, and was a semi-Guest of Honor at our local convention 4 years ago, before his book got picked up by an actual publisher (when his parents were publishing it). He is an arrogant, pompus twit. I even went to one of his readings, you know to give it a chance (this was before we learned of his twittish-ness), it was fairly gawd-awful. Did you know that if you draw out the topography of his world you get a dragons head? </rant> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gimp Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 If it's well written, I could forgive a Star Wars rip off, as Star Wars acknowledges ripping off traditional fantasy epics itself. I haven't read it myself, but my son has, and said the plot was overly obvious and lacking maturity, but hopefully the author's writing will mature as he does. Too bad the author is a twit, but a lot of authors are full of themselves, so it's not surprising for it to be obvious in a young author. In the end, if a young twit can write something that catches people's attention enough that it gets one more person reading and using their mind, I can accept it. There's a lot of really bad fiction out there written by adults. Derivative fiction written by a kid that's not too bad is a step up. Probably a strong reason for it getting picked up by Hollywood is the resemblance to Star Wars. Hollywood is not really big on gambling with unknown story concepts. Imagine the gaming concepts if it does well on the screen. I find humor in the topography idea. My daughter created a map for school that had to show different topographic concepts, and she used a full dragon for her continent. Of course, she did that in fourth grade... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Almathea Toes Posted June 14, 2006 Share Posted June 14, 2006 YIkes, what would that do to the weather patterns. Oops wait, this is fiction and physics, oceanography and related sciences are for us nerds. I really hate it when authors just plunk down continents, mountains and weather types with no reagrds to how air currents ocean currents etc. really work. It always strikes me as sloppy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gimp Posted June 14, 2006 Share Posted June 14, 2006 YIkes, what would that do to the weather patterns. Oops wait, this is fiction and physics, oceanography and related sciences are for us nerds. I really hate it when authors just plunk down continents, mountains and weather types with no reagrds to how air currents ocean currents etc. really work. It always strikes me as sloppy. Very sloppy, but easier for people to do than take the time for research. Since most groups won't notice, it isn't a terrible thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclimbin Posted June 15, 2006 Share Posted June 15, 2006 Yeah, the second book continues in the Star Wars path with the Yoda-like trainer and the "surprise" twist at the end when his family relations are revealed. I guess another possible argument in (partial) support of Paolini is that Lucas "stole" his ideas from Joseph Campbell's research on Hero myths and how they are amazingly similar from culture to culture. So if you give Paolini as much credit as Lucas (which is generous), both works are derivative. I read an online interview of Paolini and he said that he tried to write a fantasy story that stayed within the conventions of the fantasy genre. Which means, if you believe him, that he was just trying to re-tell the same story that has been told many times before. Or, it could be that he is just completely unoriginal, and didn't realize that his plotline was hackneyed until he was halfway through it, and so made up a story to justify his lack of originality. :D I actually enjoyed the books, and am looking forward to the next one, but I'll read and enjoy almost any kind of trash. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mourningcloud Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 Haven't read Eragon, but I know that Star Wars was actually loosly based on Kurosawa's The Fortress (AKA the Invincible Fortress, if I am not mistaken); A samurai epic (samurai, among other mystic oriental monastic warrior-types, being what jedi were based on). Lucas confirmed it as a definite influence, although to his credit Empire and Jedi were much more his own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ixminis Posted June 21, 2006 Share Posted June 21, 2006 Although the Empire Wedge Ships were out of "A mote in God's Eye"... much more maneuverable in the book... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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