Ah.

Not very subtley...
I always thought he stole it from Aragorn. Never even thought of dragon XD But I guess it's because they're pronounced so differently.

Agreed.

My brother always mixes up Aragorn and Eragon... It is annoying!

Well, I finally read Eragon, and now I know what y'all are talking about. I never thought a fantasy could seem so much like Star Wars, but now I know.
Something about Angela the witch bugged me. Her fortune-telling, the magic, her werecat. I don't know, but something didn't ring quite right with me. And the cat was weird.
Saphira was the only character I liked because of her weird attitude about life in general (and Arya was really annoying).
The other thing which disturbed me was the telepathy, touching other people's minds (is nothing sacred anymore?), and that Shade-person. He creeped me out.

I'm aware that I haven't said anything that someone else hasn't said, but I needed somewhere to spout my opinion. Thanks for creating this post, Jaynin!

There's another topic on Eragon here.

I agree that Angela was weird. I liked her personality, but her magic practices were a little iffy. And Solembum... wow, he's strange!

I do want to point out that the characters improve with each book. And the plot starts to deviate from Star Wars a little bit. The last one is my favorite, so try to get through Eldest too!

This thread has been helpful. I have a family member that loves this series, but I've never gathered up the will to read it myself. The comments I've heard on it come from all sides of the scale, so it's hard to decide whether it's worth it or not! I agree that there's a value, within reason, to reading proven (popular) books even if they're not your ideal, but if I truly dislike the book I'll probably have trouble finishing it.

My family member, though he enjoys it, agrees that the first book has a lot in common with SW/LoTR. He also says that the books get progressively better written and original as the series goes on. Which, given how young the author was when he wrote the first book, makes perfect sense.

Do you have any more rants for us, Katie?

I'll read that other thread, too. Thanks for posting the link, Abby!

LOL! I forgot this was my thread! I'm planning to read at least part of the second book if my library every gets it because I want to know if it plays out the way I suspect it will. It's very, very predictable I'm afraid... apparently there are some moral objections to the second book though. Has anyone read Eldest who can elaborate on this?

I can't remember Eldest very well...I seem to remember it had a few problems with it, but I can't elaborate. I don't own the books and read them a while so I'm not much help.

eruheran

I don't have time to elaborate on them, but I know they were mentioned in the other thread!

I just thought I'd mention that there is another thread for Eragon on page two that you might want to read. I pretty much agree with all negative opinions thus far stated.

That said...don't diss Eragon too badly.

Not many 15 year olds ever get published, not to mention write a best seller. And that's how old Paolini was when he wrote the first book. They aren't the most original, but not much writing doesn't share similarities with SOMETHING.

I read them when I was 13, and I must say, to someone who isn't interested in word craft (like I was at that age), they are lots of fun, have lots of action, sparkly dragons, fairly complex magic, and I liked them at the time.

And the writing does get better as you read the series.

I'm not saying they're good books. But someone had to put in some kind of good word for them.

Willow, I agree! It was pretty good. But, it read like a first draft. A good first draft, but a first draft all the same. Paolini failed to send it off to his friends to get input first, and somehow his publisher didn't make him do any revisions. Most of the problems could be easily rectified by the author, IMO.

I find it highly amusing, myself. Has his written anything since Eragon? I suspect his books will be really good in a couple of years.

Yes. He's currently finishing writing that Cycle. Try Eldest, and Brisingr. They have gotten A LOT better.

(and don't let Eldest daunt you. A lot of people stop reading with it, but if you stick with it, it gets interesting. )