Books I Read and Other Assorted Oddities

All right, here's the one I've really been excited to do.  Of the entire Inheritance Cycle , the last book, Inheritance, was my least favorite.  I hated the beginning.  I felt like Paolini wasted the first 150-200 pages.  I felt that all the main characters did was whine about how bored they were.  Nothing important happens in those first two hundred pages.  Even the siege and battle of Aroughs wasn't that important, nor was it that interesting.  I felt that Paolini wasn't sure how to start the book, and stuck it on there to get page length.  Nothing important happens until the battle of Dras-Leona.  It took me two weeks to get through the first two hundred pages of Inheritance , and then a week to finish the remaining 650.  After the build of tension that the first three books have been slowly working up to, the beginning of Inheritance was a huge letdown.  The other books in the series start in the middle of the action.  Starting that way easily hooks readers and

I've been seriously debating how I was going to approach my critique of this book for the past week-ish.  Of the series, I think Brisinger  is my favorite.  Paolini managed to keep the pacing up, he started in a good place by attacking the Ra'zac and ending with the deaths of Oromis and Glaedr, the attack on Feinstar, and the summoning of a Shade.  I liked the idea of Eragon's sword, and how Rhunon was able to get around her oaths.  The dwarves' deliberation over Hrothgar's successor was slow and felt a little dragged out.  However, it is understandable because few political matters like that are decided hastily.  The soldiers who couldn't feel pain was a clever and creepy problem to overcome.  Paolini managed to slow down the intensity to finish the book, leaving the reader desperately wondering how Eragon and his friends were going to defeat Galbatorix. Despite this book being my favorite, I still have a couple of issues. My first issue:  If Roran was so c

I think the biggest problem I have with Eldest is Roran.  I just don't really like his character.  The evolution of his character just seems inconsistent, especially between Eragon and Eldest .  Perhaps the reason I don't like Roran is that there isn't much to work within the first book.  Paolini doesn't give you a real good idea of who Roran is between the first and second books.  In any case, Roran doesn't seem to line up.  At times, he even becomes almost an unbelievable character, especially during fight scenes.  Are his accomplishments realistic?  I'm not doubting that one man could convince an entire village to follow him from one end of the Empire to the other, but his fighting style, felling almost two hundred men by himself with a hammer, seems improbable.  I understand that people do crazy things for love, but Roran becomes completely different almost overnight as soon as the Ra'zac come calling.  It's hard to believe some of the things that

I forgot to mention something I noticed about Eragon in my last post.  If any of you have read David Edding's Belgariad series, then you might have realized that many ideas about the workings of magic in Eragon follow along with the Belgariad .  For example, the "Be Not" principle is a very important one in book three of the Belgariad  and has some of the same effects that it does in Inheritance (book four of the cycle).  "Magic" in Eragon can be equated to "sorcery" in The Belgariad .  Magic in both series depends upon your personal strength.  You can't bring people back from the dead (this is a common rule throughout all of the magical fantasy).  Another similarity is that there are different kinds of magic.  Shades are spirits trapped in the mortal world in Eragon .  Eddings actually portrays basically the same idea as an actual demon.  Mispronunciation or breaking of concentration will cause the Shade or demon to destroy the magician.  In

Book one of Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle, Eragon , came out when I was about thirteen or fourteen.   Funny enough, this book and Paolini’s young age at publishing fueled my intense desires to be an author.   It was an incredible book to me at the time.   As I read it now, I realize that it was definitely written by a teenage boy working on a debut.   Here are a couple of big signs.   1. Eragon is pretty short; less than 500 pages (books one, two, and three of Harry Potter also fit into this category).   2. The chapters are very short; usually only a couple of pages each.   3. The diction and voice are young.   As you proceed through the Cycle, it becomes obvious that Paolini’s style has matured, especially between Eragon and Eldest .   Is this a bad thing? No, absolutely not.   If the change had happened in the middle of either of these books, it probably would have been.   However, the jump in style in some ways matures as Eragon himself does between the first and second

For those who are grammar/spelling geeks, I thought this one was funny.  My brother and I were at the gas station and found this typo next to the pump.  We looked later, and all of the signs next to it also had the same mistake. Stay tuned, for tomorrow I begin posting about Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle.

So, in my reading lately, I decided that I get awful critical when I read.  I think this likely comes as a result of being an English major.  In starting this blog, I've decided that what I want to do is post a critical reading of some popular books, some not so popular books, and classics.  This could very well be one of my more brilliant ideas, or it could be just plain silly. Before I really cut to the chase, I feel the need to put some disclaimers up. Disclaimer #1: All observations are based on my interpretations.  They are neither correct nor incorrect.  Such is the nature of literary analysis.  I call it as I see it.  Everyone sees the same text differently, so don't be afraid to disagree.  Friendly disagreement is acceptable.  However in saying this, I must alter a quote by a famous man.  Do not judge me because I read differently than you. Disclaimer #2:  This will contain spoilers.  I wouldn't advise reading the posts about the books I'm currently plowin