Geekshow

Review – ‘Eragon’ By, Christopher Paolini

I’d insert a quote here, but frankly- the book’s not very quotable.

Let’s make no bones about it. If you’ve seen Star Wars and read Lord of the Rings you know the story of Eragon by Christopher Paolini. It falls into the exact same story structure of Star Wars to a tee. There’s an evil empire, and a group of riders (Jedi Knights) that used to keep the peace before the evil Emperor Palp- I mean Galbatorix took over (who used to be one of the riders) and our main character Eragon at the beginning is a simple farm boy with a big destiny and a hidden parentage. And if you follow this paradigm you’ll figure out who his father is within the first ten pages. And yes, there’s an elfin ‘princess’ that he has to go rescue from the clutches of the evil empire who’s also the main diplomat between the elves and the human rebellion against the evil empire. His mentor is a crotchety old ex-dragon rider (one of the last remaining who weren’t killed by Galbatorix and his evil apprentice) who has resided in the village he lives near watching over Eragon. Along the journey Eragon teams up with a way cooler and more badass dude who is morally ambivalent to the entire quest to join the rebellion fighters.

I’m dead serious. The story is Star Wars with dragon riders instead of Jedi Knights.

And the elves are exactly the same as the Tolkien Elves. Paolini also invented his own ‘language’ (well, a handful of gibberish words translated in the glossary in the back) for the ‘ancient magic’ words. And the Dwarves are the same too.

The book is derivative, exceptionally, but not illiterate. The big selling point of the book is the fairy tale publishing story of the author. Paolini wrote the book at the age of sixteen, got a paid-to-publish deal for it and just marketed the hell out of it until a large publisher picked it up. Now, I’ll give him props for doing something that ambitious at such a young age but that’s about where my props end. I am of the opinion that people that young shouldn’t be published. Yes, a little jealousy DOES come into play (after all, I’m 25 and get routinely denied from obscure magazines) and it always guts me when people get to skip go and all the slings and arrows of starting out in publishing and get a bestseller in their first go around (Stephenie Meyer- I’m pointing at you too.) At the same time though I just don’t buy into the ‘wunderkind’ theory that a lot of other people seem to eat up. When I hear about a singer who’s only twelve, I don’t go “wow! I should get the album! How cool she’s only twelve!” I go “wow! That kid should be in school and wait until they’re older and more refined in their field before they do an album.” But call me fuddy duddy- I think people should wait until they’ve matured before actually starting their careers. I also believe it makes for a lazy and self-involved writer too if they didn’t pay their dues.

Christopher Paolini did what I think a lot of young nerdy writers did when they were his age- watched Star Wars, read Lord of the Rings and wrote a book that was the same story but refused to believe that it was. Christ, I did the same thing. The difference was I never tried to get those horrid stories published. (God knows I still have copies of stories I wrote when I was sixteen that were basically Buffy retold.)

Now look, I’ll be honest, I read Eragon and its sequel Eldest (haven’t gotten around to Brisngr yet but I read a spoiler for it that intrigues me) and they weren’t necessarily a chore to read but they’re nothing to write home about. Eldest could have had fifty pages easily chopped out of it mind you, but that’s another story. Eldest also got way too heavy handed and self-involved for its own good- but again, another story.

Basically, don’t buy into the publishing hype that is the ‘Inheritance Cycle.’ (It’s apparently now a ‘cycle’- it used to be billed as a trilogy.) If you know a twelve year old who has never read a fantasy novel than it’s a good book for him/her but for anyone who has ever cracked one open I say skip it- trust me, you’ve read it before- and most likely better.