Poll: The Inheritance Cycle (i.e. Eragon)

[Bloodwings]

So far I've read all three books three times. Yes, I agree they were terrible- Eldest was the worst of all- all the stupid lessons from Teacher McOldstien and Three-legged Goldy there just ruined the book. Seriously, that was all filler practically. Also, seriously? He had to observe ants. Fucking ants. The most boring scenes were towards the end of the book, when Roran was traveling downsea after they stop at Teirm. This was pretty much it:
"Oh, look, we're coming to a whirlpool."
Next person: "Ok, what then?"
Third person: "We sail across it then. Hey, look, there come some mysterious black ships to drive the plot forward!"
-End of Chapter-

The first book was also pretty bland, but the fight under the mountain was pretty epic, especially when Saphira or whatever her name is crashed through the giant star rose. I'd still say its the best of the series, though.

Finally, we get to Brisingr. It's sort of like the middle man- Better than Eldest, but worse than the first book. Again, hunting down the Ra'zac wasn't as awesome as it sounded it would be. Oh, look, Sloan had his eyes pecked out.

Still, the books are okay when you actually get down to it. There was a lot- and I mean a LOT- of room for improvement, but it could've been a lot worse. My expectations for the next book are low, however.

 

[Dark Harbinger]

Somebody mentioned the EarthSea Quartet? Oh man, fantastic books indeed!

I enjoy Paolini's work, sure it isn't original, but its a lot more enjoyable than some of the tripe I have seen springing up over the last few years, Twilight being the most prominent one. I wouldn't say that The Inheritence Cycle is nicking directly from Tolkien, if anything I see it as a sort of homage to Tolkien's work. Think about it like this, Tolkien practically laid down the foundation for modern fantasy regarding races and mythology, his formula is tried and tested, it works, heck we certainly don't seem to be suffering after half a century's worth of Tolkien inspired literature.

I'll admit that the magic system is simply a tweaked version of Ursula Le Guin's but to be honest there's only so much you can do with the kind of elemental and spirit based magic present with both authors' works, I guess the systems were bound to start meeting at some point.

I suppose that is my general point, that the formulas used within The Inheritance Cycle aren't original, but they are solid and work well enough, Paolini's added a plot of his own and a fairly meaty bit of culture and language, its good enough for me.

I am also a heavy Tolkien fan, heck I read The Lord Of The Rings at 10 and enjoyed it! I would currently recommend The Children Of Hurin for any Tolkien fan looking for an even darker tale than The Rings, thumpingly good read if I do say so myself.

 

[Zakarath]

That, and the well written snarky characters.

Hehe, Silk was great. Easily one of my all-time favorite characters.

OT: Eh... I kinda liked Eragon (mostly because if you put a few dragons into something, I have a good chance of liking it. And I was younger and hadn't really seen what the rest of fantasy had to offer.), but it really is way too cliched. You could see all the twists coming from a mile away, and the writing was utterly prosaic and lacking the draw that truly good writers can create.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

It's a pretty decent series. Not amazing, but still pretty well done.

But there's just one problem.

YOU DON'T JUST WRITE A TRILOGY AND THEN GO "Oh BTW...It's gonna be a 4 part thing" AT THE THIRD FREAKIN BOOK! I was so pissed at that.

But yes, aside from that, I think it's a good read.

EDIT: But for the love of all things good, DO NOT WATCH THE FREAKIN MOVIE!!! A good movie based on a book will take the "pig" that is the book and turn it into nice, easy to consume "bacon". ...The Eragon movie just took the pig, threw it off a cliff, sliced it up with a wooden spoon, and gave us the random jumbled guts and intestines. It was ATROCIOUS. I almost walked out on that movie, but didn't since I was with a friend.

 

[Doctor Glocktor]

Where in the Hell is the fourth book already? I wanna read it then be done with the series.

 

[Pappytech]

Well, when I first read Eragon and Eldest, I enjoyed them. Sure, the movie was terrible, but I still enjoyed the books.

And then came Brisinger.

It wasn't a horrible book, just an annoying one. You've got Eragon doing stupid things, elves breaking life-long vows based on a technicality, and the ending battle was a let down. Two people killed a shade. What?

But, the part that actually made me angry was when Palonini retconned Eragon's dad. In Eldest, it was clearly established to be the evil henchman, and now suddenly it's Brom? There was no foreshadowing whatsoever, there was some proof that Eragon was the evil guy's son, and the Brom thing just came out of the blue. What kind of author doesn't plan that far ahead on a pretty major character point?

On the plus side, the dragons are pretty cool. Telepathic links, powerful magic, intelligent.

Anyway, I'll probably pick up Inheritence, hoping to get back some of the original charm.

 

[Pappytech]

Where in the Hell is the fourth book already? I wanna read it then be done with the series.

November 8th.

 

[emeraldrafael]

I've read the first three, and while they ahve hteir downs, and its mostly generic, I've enjoyed them. They're books where you can turn off and just enjoy. Like those movies like the Expendables.

 

[liger03]

Look, that's not the best way to suggest books...or, well, anything you like. It makes you seem pretentious, since you seem to assume anyone who likes Eragon has no taste and that you wish to teach them about quality. Now, if I had never heard of Wheel of Time or Malazan Book of the Fallen (actually...I haven't heard of this one), then I might make the mistake of associating them with a kind of "French art house film" pretentiousness and avoid them.

Yeah, that post sounded a lot less snooty and annoying when I was typing it. Well, I did read the Inheritance series. I also liked them at the time. But I really can't remember any of the good parts any more and the bad ones ended up staying with me. Those other books were captivating enough to stick with me to now, and I think they'd make worthy books for someone to read if they liked the Eragon series.

 

[elbrandino]

I've read them. They're alright. Aside from being about two letters away from plagiarism and absolutely loving over-long descriptions of unimportant things, I liked them. After barely surviving the ordeal that was Eldest, I'm not too tempted to continue the series, but since I already started it, now I feel like I have to finish it.

 

[UTclass2015]

My personal favorite cycle to date!And to those who hate them so much.. dont read them?

 

[Veylon]

Ah, yes, Eragon. Despite the clamoring about plagiarism, the similarities have largely evaporated by the end of the second book. The problem is that those similarities provide pretty much everything good about Inheritance and when they go, the series looses it's focus and direction.

Remember Hoth and Cloud City? Where the rebels are chased from their base to find refuge with an old friend, only to find out he betrayed them? Remember all the tension and drama? None of that is in the second book. The rebels faff about whilst Eragon undergoes an extremely long and leisurely training session in which he learns almost nothing that gets applied later. Roran's (Eragon's foster brothers) parts are the only good ones, and even his arc does nothing more than get the population of a village from their home to the rebels without interacting with the rest of the plot.

Really, the first one is okay, even enjoyable. The second is dull, and third is morally schizophrenic and dull.

 

[Nicolairigel]

Yeah, the overall story is very cliche and unoriginal, but I still love the series. I think I enjoy the way it is written, and the way it jumps between different characters stops it from being boring.