Eragon no spoilers please

[Zaukrie]

I have a 9 year old that reads quite well. How are these two books?

 

[atom crash]

I found Eragon to be a good fun read. Not a great book, in my opinion, but good nonetheless. My two biggest complaints about the book:

1. I thought it was highly derivative. But a 9-year-old who hasn't spent a lifetime reading Tolkien and other fantasy authors as well as playing tons of Nintendo and Sega RPGs shouldn't have problems with this. I've read a lot of fantasy. And as I was reading the book it was fairly apparent to me what Paolini's influences were while writing.

2. The author was 15 when he wrote the book, and I felt he was often using big words for the sake of using big words. A 9-year-old might need to hit the dictionary to look up words like "scintillating," for example.

Having said all that, I'd definitley recommend this book for a 9-year-old who's read the Harry Potter books, the Earthsea trilogy, Madeleine L'engle and the other usual suspects.

I'd also recommend The Thief Lord and Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. Her book Dragon Rider can be summed up as Harry Potter meets Eragon.

 

[Zaukrie]

Cornelia Funke is his favorite author. I don't know if he's read Inkheart or not, but definitely the other two. He called the Lion the Witch and Wardrobe (which he read in Spanish - he's in a Spanish Immersion school) his favorite book.

Thanks for the reply and suggestions.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

My son read the first one last year when he was nine. We just got the second one and he's just started. I haven't read them yet, but where he leads I will follow.

 

[amethal]

I have a 9 year old that reads quite well. How are these two books?

He's definitely at the best age to read them .

The only long word which comes to mind is "circuitous".

My wife has just bought the second book, and I'm re-reading the first one in preparation for the sequel. Its very slow going; the ideas are fine, but the writing ain't.

However, I have to admire a 15 year old who can manage to get all those words down on paper - and have people willing to buy it.

Obviously, can't comment on the sequel as haven't read it!

 

[atom crash]

"Inkheart" is a great book. It's one of the better kids fiction books I've read recently. It about a father and daughter who can read things out of books and into existence, and a villain the dad has inadvertently released from a story. The sequel, "Inkspell," comes out later this month.

 

[ShadowDenizen]

The sequel, "Inkspell," comes out later this month.

Ooooh! I loved "Inkheart"!!
Now there's a sequel?!
Yippeee!!

 

[fantasyfan]

great

i have read both of the books to the trilogy, and i think that they are such good of books that i think anyone that likes LOTR or Star Wars should read them because u will find out that it is a lot like both. i'll tell u why.

LOTR: has the same basic good vs. evil in the books

Star War: has the same Darth Vader and Luke type fo family relationship.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

A nine-year old who likes fantasy ought to like it. As the others have said, it's highly derivative -- it hits every fantasy cliche in the book, and Star Wars quotes and dialog apply throughout. There's no comparison to LoTR or even Harry Potter, but it is entertaining nevertheless. I'd put it a step below Terry Brooks, but above your average gaming fiction in quality.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I have to try Inkheart and the other Cornelia Funke novels. I'll have to steal them from my wife's fourth grade class this summer (can't get them during the year, some fourth grader is always reading them ) I love her picture book "The Princess Knight." It is one of my six year old's favorite books.

Eragon was good enough that I bought the next one. Haven't read it yet.