Eragon

[Ameraves Loyalheart]

Anyone here read this book? My Sister-in-Law got it for me for Christmas last year along with a handful of other books. I was talking about it with a friend of mine, and she says that it is pretty badly plagiarized. She says it takes a lot of information from Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series. I started reading the book and am roughly half way through it, and it seems to be a pretty good book. Now I personally haven't got around to reading any of the Dragonriders series, so I have no knowledge of anything taken from them.

Anybody want to shed some light on this for me?

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Pern, Tolkien, Star Wars are the ones I always hear.

Its sitting on my shelf...has been for a long time, I *might* get to it before the movie comes out. Malazan rules my life atm...

[YourMom]

I've read Eragon and found it a nice book to read. It's quite fast paced storytelling, so quite a lot 'of progress' storywise is made. The story itself is interesting enough for me, so I enjoyed it.

Compared to other series, like SoT and The Farseer Trilogy, Eragon is a bit thin with character evolvement and overall complexity. But that's just my take on it. The book was good enough to convince me to buy the next part 'Eldest'

I can't comment on how it compares to The Dragonrider series, but felt this post contained enough relevant information for the thread.

[Teger]

Yea its pretty obviously a huge plagiarism, not very unexpected considering the author was apparently only 17 when he wrote the book. The thing that bugs me so much about this book really is that it's just weaksauce cliched fantasy, but since it's popular to a lot of people its really considered 'great', simply because they don't have the exposure to the genre. This is the type of book you buy some someone who's 14 and you want to introduce them to the style; it's not something to be taken or read seriously. It's Dragonlance Lite.

[Tirinal]

It's not a book you buy for someone who is 14 because it's tailored for that age and is good at what it does. It's a book you buy for someone who is 14 because it was written for someone who is 18 and fell short.

I was forced to suffer through most of it when put on bedside storyreading duty for a young cousin. About three years ago I read an Inuyasha fanfic when bored (or demented, accounts vary). The sense of mild nausea was exactly the same in both cases.

[Asmadai]

I'd like to give my offtopic side review on Green Eggs and Ham.

It had a decent story, but many borrowed elements. Eating, talking, and a plot to name just a few. It was ok at times, but mostly I was bored the entire time I was reading it. Felt very poorly written; more like a children's version of a story than an adult version really. This book is the kind of book you'd buy for someone to first get them started in the reading genre.

The dialogue was somewhat immature and childish at times. I wouldn't recommend it to any reader on these boards.

[Zehn - Vhex]

Originally Posted by Asmadai

The dialogue was somewhat immature and childish at times. I wouldn't recommend it to any reader on these boards.

It can't possibly be that bad can it? harhar!

I've had it on my desk for a little over a year now. I figured I'd eventually get around to reading it but I may just settle for the cliff notes.

[Lost Ranger]

Originally Posted by Asmadai

I'd like to give my offtopic side review on Green Eggs and Ham.

It had a decent story, but many borrowed elements. Eating, talking, and a plot to name just a few. It was ok at times, but mostly I was bored the entire time I was reading it. Felt very poorly written; more like a children's version of a story than an adult version really. This book is the kind of book you'd buy for someone to first get them started in the reading genre.

The dialogue was somewhat immature and childish at times. I wouldn't recommend it to any reader on these boards.

I understand what you were trying to get at Asmadai but your example isnt accurate on what pisses people off about Eragon. No one cares about borrowed elements what so ever.

The story has a dragon in it after all. A dragon, without a doubt the most over used fantasy element I have seen. Yet I see no one complain about a dragon being in a fantasy novel because it fits. Borrowed elements are just part of writing... borrowed story lines are not. Knights, dragons, magic whatever its all standard fantasy stuff... its what places the book in the fantasy genre after all.

What annoyed me and obviously a lot of other people is that the book flat out ripped off other titles. In the movie section someone broke it down to compare it to Star Wars and its WAY to close to be a mistake. He didnt end up having a similar sounding story by mistake... he took a story we all saw 20+ years ago... changed names and locations around, tossed in a dragon for good measure and resold it. Im not surprised some people think its good... It was real good back in the day too when the main characters name was luke.

None of this would of been a big deal either if it wasnt for the fact his age was used as a selling gimmick. If this EXACT book had been written by a 30 something guy it would of never seen the spotlight. Infact its a good chance it would of never been published period. Its not that good, its FAR from original and as far as writing goes its not exactly amazing now is it? No, this book got the spot light and was published because it was a fucking kid that wrote it. I saw the interviews when Eragon came out, they barly touched on the book at all. It was all about his age and his education. They rode the "and he is only 17!!!" train soon as they could get media time.

Sorry for the long winded post. It just angers me to see shit like this make a punk kid a millionaire when I have personally read unpublished work from some authors around here that is brilliant compared to Eragon. Whats sad is that chances are their writing will never see bookshelves anywhere because adults are held accountable for any shortcomings their material may have. Seems that if your a kid though thats not the case.

Age 17 + novel = profit? Seems to be what his publisher thought. /shrug

[Moontayle]

Actually, the kid wrote it and then his parents self-published it for him using a vanity press. Apparantly, it sold rather well because about a year later it got picked up by a real publisher and that's where it began. I heard about it a few years ago but at the time I was turned off of generic fantasy, which this seems to have gobs of. I'll likely never get around to reading it and I'm barely interested in the movie.

[Tred]

Lifeless. That's the one word I'd use to describe the series so far. I read 3 or 4 other books while reading Eldest. His "Barges? We don't need no stinkin' barges!" line from the 2nd book made me groan out loud. I had to put the book down there and I don't think I picked it up again for at least 2 weeks. It's offensive how much he "borrows" from other series.

[Asmadai]

Originally Posted by Lost Ranger

I understand what you were trying to get at Asmadai but your example isnt accurate on what pisses people off about Eragon. No one cares about borrowed elements what so ever.

The story has a dragon in it after all. A dragon, without a doubt the most over used fantasy element I have seen. Yet I see no one complain about a dragon being in a fantasy novel because it fits. Borrowed elements are just part of writing... borrowed story lines are not. Knights, dragons, magic whatever its all standard fantasy stuff... its what places the book in the fantasy genre after all.

What annoyed me and obviously a lot of other people is that the book flat out ripped off other titles. In the movie section someone broke it down to compare it to Star Wars and its WAY to close to be a mistake. He didnt end up having a similar sounding story by mistake... he took a story we all saw 20+ years ago... changed names and locations around, tossed in a dragon for good measure and resold it. Im not surprised some people think its good... It was real good back in the day too when the main characters name was luke.

None of this would of been a big deal either if it wasnt for the fact his age was used as a selling gimmick. If this EXACT book had been written by a 30 something guy it would of never seen the spotlight. Infact its a good chance it would of never been published period. Its not that good, its FAR from original and as far as writing goes its not exactly amazing now is it? No, this book got the spot light and was published because it was a fucking kid that wrote it. I saw the interviews when Eragon came out, they barly touched on the book at all. It was all about his age and his education. They rode the "and he is only 17!!!" train soon as they could get media time.

Sorry for the long winded post. It just angers me to see shit like this make a punk kid a millionaire when I have personally read unpublished work from some authors around here that is brilliant compared to Eragon. Whats sad is that chances are their writing will never see bookshelves anywhere because adults are held accountable for any shortcomings their material may have. Seems that if your a kid though thats not the case.

Age 17 + novel = profit? Seems to be what his publisher thought. /shrug

I get what you are saying fully, but my point still remains. This book is intended for children. Children would never in a million years come up with such a specific critiquing of this book on it's borrowed story aspect. Children would read this, and think that it kicks ass. Sure, he did borrow alot of story elements from other stories, but hell, most of the main ones he stole, he probably reused because it's a GOOD ELEMENT TO BORROW.

How many books have I read lately that has 'the scrub street urchin who struggles to find his place in the world, only thru a series of events to find out he is the actual heir to the throne of the most ultra good guy kingdom in the land'? Like 10. It doesn't get old for me though. That's a damn good plotline that always grabs my attention.

I understand that he borrowed alot of elements, but half of them aren't even that much stolen. Spoiler: The ultimate bad guy is his father plot? Sure, Star Wars yes, but I don't remember Luke having an evil brother to cause more conflict or anything of the such from Star Wars. Sure, part of the plot was borrowed, but part of it was also created.

[Nebuchadnezzar]

http://www.anti-shurtugal.com/starwars.htm

I think that was the point he was making.

[Teger]

It's not even the fact that you can argue the overall plot structure is a rip off Star Wars, it goes way beyond that. Even in the first chapter you can easily see things stolen from the Sword of Truth and Wheel of Time series.

[Lost Ranger]

Originally Posted by Nebuchadnezzar

http://www.anti-shurtugal.com/starwars.htm

I think that was the point he was making.

Exactly!

Yes I am fully aware that the story is a childrens book Asmadai. Its because of that fact that I dont judge the writing ability of the author. He is young, and writing for a young audience so I dont expect works of art.

Look at the linked outline though. Im sorry but that is unacceptable for ANY author no matter who he is writing for. Taking good plot elements is perfectly fine by me... I read a story a few years back about brothers from our world who walk into a cave and find themselves sucked into a fantasy world they must in the end save. Thats very much like Narnia but its ok because the rest of the story is creative and entertaining. If those brothers had met up with the king of the land, a tiger named Nalsa and had to battle the fire witch I would of been pissed.

He hasnt just borrowed elements of a good plot line... heh he damn near took the ENTIRE thing. Tossing in a evil brother doesnt make it more original. Dont get me wrong im not saying that if anyone likes the book they are stupid or anything... its perfectly fine if you or anyone else enjoys it. I just hate seeing the kid get respect for writing a story that in my opinion ANYONE could of written. Take LoTR and spend a few hours on it changing names/locations and add a few plot changes and youll have a damn awesome trilogy on your hands. Doesnt make you an author.

[Rathgar]

I haven't read these books yet - currently engrossed in ASoIaF - but I was thinking about picking them up afterwards. I understand the kid was 17 at the time, so I wasn't expecting a whole lot, but if the plot seriously plays out like that summary... that's sickening. The fact that this guy is raking in cash for this sort of pseudo-plagiarism is just wrong.

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

Eragon garnered mainly a good reception becoming the New York Times Bestseller fo 61 weeks and selling more copies than every single Harry Potter Book except for number 6.

That's also fucked. I suppose I'll be looking into Malazan next.