Eragon / Inheritance Trilogy

[Thurbane]

When I went to the cinema to see Thank You For Smoking on Saturday, I noticed several large posters for Eragon.

Having heard nothing of it, I got home and looked up the website:

www.eragonmovie.com/

...seems very interesting, but I notice from the Wiki article on the book series, it is written by a very young author for young audiences...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eragon

Anyone familiar with the series? Is it likely to have appeal for a mature (34) fantasy fan such as myself?

As much as I like Jeremy Irons, I can help but think of that shipwreck that was the D&D movie...

 

[WayneLigon]

I liked the first book quite well. I have not gotten around to reading the second one, yet. Yes, the book was aimed at Young Adult audiences, but there are a lot of fine and very readable books in that catagory that appeal to older folks as well.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

I liked the first book quite well...

I did to. It might be predictable, but so are many things. This is at least well executed as an engaging story.

 

[Thanatos]

I've read the first 2 books and I liked them well enough. There are a few plot bits which are predictable and kinda irritating, but overall is is a well told story with likable characters and worth the money for the books.

Additionally, for as thick as they are, they are very easy reads and still manage to create some wonderful mental visual images.

I'd recommend them.

 

[Storm Raven]

Anyone familiar with the series? Is it likely to have appeal for a mature (34) fantasy fan such as myself?

The books are adequate, but that's about the best one can say for them. It is very apparrent that the author is quite young, and his characters and plots are stock and predictable. If you have read other fantasy books, nothing in these will come as a surprise. Basically, it is competently executed juvenile generic fantasy.

 

[Enforcer]

I gave up on the first book about 150 pages into it. In my opinion, it was absolutely awful. If you're a "mature fantasy fan," as in a fan of mature fantasy, you will not like Eragon.

 

[hafrogman]

Add me to the list of people who enjoyed and would recommend the series. Maybe there are only six stories in the world, but the books still manage to present the old story ideas in a fairly fresh and interesting way.

If worst comes to worst, get the first one in paperback. If you don't like it, that's your choice, but I don't believe that the time invested in trying it would be wasted.

 

[Thurbane]

I gave up on the first book about 150 pages into it. In my opinion, it was absolutely awful. If you're a "mature fantasy fan," as in a fan of mature fantasy, you will not like Eragon.

Well, my absolute favorite ever fantasy series are the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever by Donaldson. But I also enjoy "trashier" fantasy as well, such as Wheel of Time, the Death Gate Cycle and the Belgariad.

...at the end of the day, I guess that fantasy movies are aimed at a niche audience, and we have to take what we can get. Sometimes you get winners like LoTR or Willow, other times you get the also-rans like Dungeons & Dragons or Kull the Conqueror.

 

[Chain Lightning]

Trailer:http://movies.aol.com/movie-trailer-clip/eragon-ed-speleers-jeremy-irons


I have not read the books, but I feel a little annoyed with the making of the movie. This might seem irrational...but for some reason I can't shake myself out of it, .....but a part of me feels insulted on behalf of numerous other fantasy authors who have been around longer and worked harder and yet their stories never made it to the big screen. Along comes this young kid and BOOM....he gets his book made into a movie.....

Aside, I know that getting a movie deal does not always mean good fortune. Sometimes Hollywood takes your creation and really screws it up. I also know that Hollywood may indeed have been looking for other stories to translate to the big screen from amongst the veteran fantasy novelists but just simply didn't find anything that would translate to the screen easily. Who knows all the possibilities...

But despite all those factors....I still feeled annoyed about it.

Fear not though, I'll keep that off to the side when I see the movie and judge it on its own merits.

 

[Meloncov]

The book is decent, but is horribly cliched if you have read much fantasy. There are alot of better things out there to read, but it should make a decent movie.