Poll: Eragon: Quality Children's Literature or Shitty Ripoff?

[atalanta]

Show me a fantasy book that isn't heavily based on the same structure as a million other fantasy books and I'll give you a medal.

I mean... by structure do you mean the usual trappings of crappy mass-produced fantasy that can't think past Tolkien (i.e., dwarves, elves, fighting A Great Evil) or more the Campbellian structure? Because finding books that don't fit the former is easy; finding books that don't fit the latter is really hard in every genre of literature.

But hey, have a few excellent, atypical novels:

-Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
-City of Saints and Madmen, Jeff VanderMeer (this is sort of cheating; it's more a collection of stories, but it's brilliant and atypical and original and I can't say enough good things about it)
-the Gormenghast novels, Mervyn Peake

Edit: oh damn, I forgot a really good one

-House of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski -- if I'm being honest it's really somewhere between SF/Fantasy/Horror, but it's definitely pretty unique.

 

[the1ultimate]

The poll seems a bit biased, and lacks a "it's okay" or "it's not bad option".

It is set in a generic fantasy world, but it's ultimately the elements and characters unique to any particular story which lend it its particular appeal.
I honestly think that Eragon got the formula (or mashup of fantasy elements) closer to perfect than most other fantasy books out there.

I'm not sure if the ending will be good, but so far I think it's looking similar to the end of LotR.

 

[CK76]

It's okay, I have to know how it ends. It is not near high fantasy greats, but not a bad read.

 

[vrbtny]

What do you think about the Eragon book series. I think its a pretty shitty ripoff of numerous, much better examples of literature, but thats just me. What do you think?

Um...

I know it's a rip-off. But the part where you say "Better literature" Is complete crap. I'm assuming you think it's a rip-off of star wars and lord of the rings....

Seriously have you tried reading Lord of the Rings.... It's freakin' impossible to read.... I know it was written by a proff... but still.

And if your seriously saying that Star wars is good literature......

 

[InsanityRequiem]

A rip-off of myths? Of course. It's fantasy. A rip-off of other fantasy authors? Other than it has elves, dwarves, dragons, and the fight against 'evil' I only agree on that.

The divergence from that is big.

In terms of 'good and evil', Elves aren't good like in many fantasy settings. They are at most Neutral in my eyes. Hells in a hand basket, they are trying to basically create their own version of Galbatorix through Eragon. Any act he does that would be good/right/just, they shake their heads and look down on him, telling him that he should have done an obviously more cruel act instead, using their form of 'just'. And if you look at it, it's because of the elves system of just and order that the setting became how it is.

The dwarves I see aren't the ones that enjoy drinking and merrily slaughtering enemies. They are a heavily political group. A lot like the dwarves in Dragons Age: Origins. I would not be surprised if the dwarves in DA:O were based off of Eragon dwarves.

Dragons: They're nearly extinct. Of all fantasy books that I've read with dragons, they're thriving and split into two 'groups' based on their scales. In Eragon, they're all one big conglomerate, none being good, none being evil. They are a highly intelligent race of animals.

The fight against 'evil' is really a fight against a man that went off the deep end because of the strictures set by the leaders of his order. I have not read any story in fantasy like it. I've read it where the 'evil' ruler has been and always was evil.

P.S. I know I haven't read every fantasy book out there, I don't have that time and truthfully, many of the fantasy books I've seen and been able to read are more romance in a fantasy setting now. And while I can put up more insight in how it's original in its own way, I don't want a wall of text and brainhurt for me.

 

[Altorin]

it's derivative. doesn't mean it's a rip-off.

 

[Cheery Lunatic]

I really enjoyed them. I couldn't really give a fuck if they've ripped something off or not, this is like that Avatar/Pocahuntus thread again.

Try dismounting that high horse sometime.

AMEN.

I don't care if it's not "original" (which is basically impossible in this day and age, anyway) as long as the story is told well.

A couple of things irritate me about the series: one is the fact that the author writes TOO many details and not enough characterization. The next is that the whole love, relationship thing with Eragon and the elf feels way too forced. Make it more natural and cut the angst, get a new love interest, or just get rid of the whole love thing permanently.

 

[Puzzles]

A rip-off of other, better works for sure. In fact, it felt like reading the immature fantasies of an autistic 15 year old... Oh wait...

 

[Fire Daemon]

It's essentially if Star Wars had sex with the big bag of fantasy cliches and from that union Eragon was created. The story and characters are nearly taken exactly from Star Wars and while they are kind of improved in the second book more rip off characters (the elf teacher is Yoda by the way) turn up. The only thing I enjoyed was Eragon's brother and hometown trying to escape across The Spine because that was actually interesting, too bad it always seemed to be pushed to the side though. I did actually enjoyed it when I was younger but even then I could see that it shamelessly ripped off other things and mocked it thus.

Many have credited that it doesn't matter if it's written well, but it isn't. The characters are bland, the hero is unintentionally more villain like than anyone else, as others have said it suffers from Purple Prose and Mary (or Marty) Sue, it is ultimately bland and rides on an a wave of predictability.

I haven't read the third book but seeing as how I doubt that Paolini can elevate himself above the level of average fan fic author I don't see why I would.

 

[the protaginist]

I think they're quite good. Sure, they are rip-offs of various other things, but what isn't these days?

And also, I think the bits in the 2nd and 3rd book that are told from the Protagonist's cousin's prespective were really creatively written. It was an interesting spin on a normal tale. My only real problem with those sections were when he goes off to fight the enemies troops, it goes right back to generic-y stuff.

 

[mrhappyface]

What do you think about the Eragon book series. I think its a pretty shitty ripoff of numerous, much better examples of literature, but thats just me. What do you think?

Um...

I know it's a rip-off. But the part where you say "Better literature" Is complete crap. I'm assuming you think it's a rip-off of star wars and lord of the rings....

Seriously have you tried reading Lord of the Rings.... It's freakin' impossible to read.... I know it was written by a proff... but still.

And if your seriously saying that Star wars is good literature......

I read Jane Eyre...Lord of the Rings is nothing compared to it. And Star Wars was based off Hidden Fortress, which was an awesome film, and Dune, which was a awesome book.

 

[Dwarfman]

Haven't read the books, the movie was okay.

One thing though I could tell right away that the whole thing was written by a 16 year old just by the immature handling of the script. I immagine the whole thing would be better if Paolini waited till he finished high school and thus learning english before going back over his muse and having his family publish it.

 

[Veylon]

Eragon, the book, wasn't that bad. Yes, it was Star Wars set in Middle Earth with a dash of Pern, but at least Paolini picked good things to rip off, and the result was a fairly promising, if clumsily executed, story.

The Inheritance Cycle, on the other hand, went downhill in Eldest. The Star Wars plot was unwisely abandoned, as were various plot hooks that could have developed the main character, who spends the entire novel training. A secondary character, Roran, was introduced in order to provide action sequences. Without him, Eldest would have contained one (1) fight. In this book, Eragon is given one superpower after another without earning them, and it culminates in taking the fans' favorite character and breaking him.

The third book, Brisingr is better in that stuff actually happens. Roran's plot arc is resolved, battles are fought, and a main character perishes. Unfortunately, Paolini then decides to have Eragon perform some disturbing and unnecessarily cruel acts that make this reader, at least, ask "What the Hell, Hero?" Up till now, he's been a well-meaning, if foolish and self-righteousness fellow, and now he does this?

Overall, the series is plagued by the obvious fact that Paolini planned little or nothing out. The magic system is a vague and mysterious mess, with several principles introduced and then discarded, and plot points keep popping up, only to vanish in obscurity, never addressed. Worse, he's still introducing new characters and concepts, even in the third of (supposedly) four books.

The series is a ripoff, but if anything it benefits from what's ripped off, rather than suffers. The series loses it's way every time Paolini tries to strike out on his own.

 

[Darth_Dude]

Who cares? Its old.

Old? The latest book was released in 2008.

OT: I love the books, it may be a rip-ff, but its a good rip-off.

 

[Video Gone]

Read the book, and it was indeed a rip-off.

And Dante's Inferno looks like the most original game ever compared to the film.

Film? You think the film was the original Dante's Inferno?
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... Haaaaaaaa...
Oh, that's good. Haha.
Also, Dante's Inferno is extremely un-original when compared to any game out there, and that's what matters when dealing in GAMES.

OP: It's not as bad as all the damning, and has a rich backstory to pluck from, but that's only because it's a ripoff. Where's the option of "Actually quite good ripoff"?
The Dragon Riders books were better though.

That was the point. He knew Dante's Inferno is blatantly ripping off other games and he said that this is more unoriginal than that - meaning it's extremely unoriginal. Think before you post.

I kind of caught onto that about 2 seconds after I read the comment, but alas, I like being mean.

 

[RyVal]

Unfortunately, Paolini then decides to have Eragon perform some disturbing and unnecessarily cruel acts that make this reader, at least, ask "What the Hell, Hero?" Up till now, he's been a well-meaning, if foolish and self-righteousness fellow, and now he does this?

Lord.

If Paolini makes his protagonist righteous and all-powerful, it gets called "Mary Sue". If he gives his protagonist any flaws, like any real person, it gets condemned as "character derailment".

The man cannot win.

 

[Agayek]

It's extremely generic fantasy.

There are at least 4 direct parallels between Eragon and Lord of the Rings (from what I've read, which is quite a lot, only Harry Potter suffers from that condition any worse). The plot is bland and predictable, and there is really very little in terms of originality in the series.

That said, I'm rather fond of the books. The characters are interesting, it is superbly written, and despite being rather generic and bland the story still managed to make me want to know what happened next. I quite like the series overall, in spite of its flaws.

 

[Jibblejab]

The movie is total shite,

But the 3 books are genuinely good books to read

 

[Arcane Azmadi]

Eragon is garbage. It's badly conceptualized, badly written and of highly dubious moral value. It's RABIDLY anti-religion, the "evil" guys aren't really that obviously evil and Eragon is such a complete asshole that a lot of people prefer to cheer for the "villain". And the author is obsessed with elves.

You can find a full description of it (and everything wrong with it) here. [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InheritanceCycle?from=Main.Eragon]

 

[Jekken6]

I liked the first two, but I got half way through the third one and it felt too much like the previous ones. That and the fact that I got bored with it.