Sunshine and Light

Eragon/Eldest by Christopher Paolini

Eragon and Eldest are the first two books of Christopher Paolini’s “Inheritance” trilogy. The third book has not yet been released. For fantasy fans, these books have all of the standard characters – elves, dwarves, and men combating a single evil overlord who is threatening to take over their world. In reading this I had a great time playing “find the influence” – with the most obvious leaders being JRR Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” and Anne McCaffrey’s “The Dragonriders of Pern” series. There was even a fight scene that was obviously a child of “The Matrix”. In the fantasy world, these influences are really good ones – well done, and well known for good reason. But it tends to bring a bit of a complaint in that the influences are so strong that there is little new in the book. On the flip side, new and fresh tends to reside in the world of sci-fi, while fantasy tends to be a regular novel with flying horses or elves. It’s hard to be new and fresh when the fantasy world has the same shorthand for various creature types – elves are beautiful, lithe, quick, and tricky, dwarves are stocky, ground-loving stone-workers, humans not quite up to the strength of the dwarves or the magic of the elves, who still manage to earn the respect of their more talented brethren.

Having said that, the novels are very entertaining, and perfect for the target audience – teen fantasy buffs. To give a little background, Eragon was written when Paolini was 15 (and freshly graduated from HS), and Eldest was completed when he was 20. So there’s definitely a younger tone to these books than you get from something like “Dragonriders”. It doesn’t detract from the story; Paolini is very talented and creative. Just know what you’re getting when you start reading.
I do recommend these books for fantasy buffs – for adults they’ll be a quick read, despite the bulk of the book. And if you liked the “Lord of the Rings” movies, but didn’t like wading through Tolkien’s dense prose, these will fill that gap nicely while still being readable

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Labels: Books

posted by MyHusbandRules @ 9:46 AM