Has anyone read Eragon?

[Melkor Lord Of ALL!]

This new fantasy series has much hype in my country and I wonder if it is a rewarding reading experience for more mature fantasy fan. I heard there is no much inventiveness in those books, but I can enjoy good execution of old themes.

 

[Zulithe]

Hi Melkor. I have not read it, sorry. But I did research it extensively at a time when I considered purchasing it. The reveiws at amazon.com completely turned me off. You might want to look there, and at reviews from other online book dealers, in addition to the feedback you'll be getting in this thread.

 

[Endur]

Eragon is good. I highly recommend it.

 

[prodigyxss]

I too saw bad reviews for it, but I gave in and bought it because I was looking for a junk book, and im very glad I did. After reading that, I even bought the second in the series. I highly recommend it.

 

[orbitalfreak]

I only managed to get through one chapter in the book before I tossed it. The writing seemed horrible; on a kiddified level like Rowling, but with none of her talent. In one early part, a wizard is described as "blowing up quarter-mile patches of forest," and the character names look like someone slammed their hand on the keyboard to create them: lkasdfzyl iuehxm sldfxy, for my hand-slammy creations to approximate what I'm talking about. The author was young (13ish?) when he wrote this book, and it shows very much. Some people have a lot of talent at a young age; this guy, it seems to me, just got a lucky deal, probably with a published trying to hype the young age to milk sales.

 

[lrsach01]

Its not a bad book. However, if you're at all familiar with sci-fi and fantasy, you are going to come away feeling like someone just puked up a lot of old story lines. I recognized Star Wars and Sword of Shannara IMMEDIATELY. Pern and T H White crept in as well as a few others. It felt like a tacked on re-tread of old stories.

 

[Aust Diamondew]

It's worth reading if you don't have much else and can check it out of a libruary. It's also a quick read (being a book meant for younger readers after all). But isn't amazing and doesn't bring anything new to the table. About on the same level is Harry Potter IMO.

 

[BastionLightbringer]

The author was young (13ish?) when he wrote this book, and it shows very much. Some people have a lot of talent at a young age; this guy, it seems to me, just got a lucky deal, probably with a published trying to hype the young age to milk sales.

The kid that wrote the book is from NJ nearby, IIRC, an article in the local paper said both his parents are book publishers. I might be wrong.

Bastion

 

[amethal]

I have tried to read it, and failed.

There's very little new in it, which doesn't bother me. I enjoy a good rehashing old stories and themes.

However, the writing style struck me as very clunky (for want of a better word) and I just couldn't take any more.

I found myself concentrating more and more on how it was written, rather than the story, and it killed all the enjoyment.

My wife, however, loved it and thinks I was just being "picky".

 

[Azlan]

I have not read it, but I've heard lots of news and read lots of reviews about it. And what intrigues me about this novel is how it's a best-seller – written by a teenager, no less – when all it really is yet another rehash of old, overly used themes and plots.

I mean, sure, it might be a good rehash and an enjoyable read. But for it to be such a best-seller and such a darling in the media's eye, as it is... ?! It makes me highly cynical of the book publishing industry.

(Then again, I'm highly cyncial of just about all major industries, in the US. :\ )