Has anyone gotten this yet? It just hit shelves at the Walmart I work at. I own the other three so I am mandated to acquire this one as well (xD) I am looking forward to the conclusion of the Eragon series. I just wonder if I don't have my hopes set too high? I have been burned by book series before...good series with terrible endings :$ Thoughts, fellow word weavers?
I shan't be buying it. I'm not at all a fan of the series. I won't go into it in any more depth here, but there's a post on my external blog called "Not More F**king Elves" which goes into greater depth, if you're particularly interested.
I read said blog post, and I find your stance understandable Banzai, I myself have become frustrated with the spawning of teenage vampire dramas. (Or very similar themes thereof) But I'm sure there are other threads on the subject. I'm not saying that the Eragon series is perfect or even good. But I read the others (and own) and wish to see how it ends. I'd just rent it from the library and be done with it, but alas, our library is sooooo slow in getting anything new. I'm also gonna try to pick up the Game of Thrones series, since I know the store carries them as well. Which your blog post reminded me of.
I love these books. And I understand his writing is not incredibly amazing, but I have to give him tremendous praise, because he did something at age 19 that I have wanted to do for such a long time - get published. I am younger than him, but I know that it will take a while before I am published. He has a very long career in front of him.
Sorry, said I wouldn't do this but I can't help myself: he was only published because his parents owned a publishing house. He was, to all intents and purposes, self-published. This shouldn't at all be taken as a slight against young authors. I was published at 19, and had only been seriously writing since 18, so if you put the effort in to making your writing the best you can and working to improve it I believe that age is irrelevant. Good luck with your aspirations, but don't put Paolini on a pedestal to aiom for- you can do better than that.
I'll buy the hardcover so I can sell it in a bundle with the other three on Ebay. I might read it. @Banzai. It all suddenly makes sense.
The only thing worse than the books is the movie. A Song of Ice and Fire series is awesome. I agree with no more elves. That is why the only thing with elves that I still read on occasion is what I grew up with: R.A. Salvatore and J. R. R. Tolkien.
I picked it up on Friday. I was going to do a read through of the other 3 books again before I read it, as I honestly can't remember much about them. I couldn't even get past the first chapter of Eragon. I think I might just skip Eragon and try starting from Eldest.
Unless you somehow liked the first three books a lot, then I'd get it. Otherwise, even in a personal matter where I have read (more like made myself) get through the first three, I won't be picking it up. The ending is supposedly very disappointing. And Paolini hasn't improved much when it comes to style, creativity, and just originality as a whole.
The book was good. The ending was decent. The end of the war was like an episode of My Little Pony. Massive anticlimax. He did write himself into a bit of a corner though with the uber unbeatable enemy of unbeatable power.
The story being told was decent in my opinion. The end left a lot to be desired in many ways. The entire last book dissapointed me, but I don't regret buying it to at least end this series for good. I loved the first books when I was younger and new to the genre. After reading other books of the sort the series falls short.
I still haven't finished the book yet myself, but I'm finding myself becoming... bored, really, with the series. I got it mostly for the fact that it was the final book in the series- why leave a job half finished, you know? Anyways, I don't really care how old he was when he was published, who published him, or whatever. A decent book is a decent book, and while I don't like the final book, the series has a lot of fans, especially amongst my school. I've already had three people asking me, "Why haven't you finished it?" The answer is simple: the book isn't interesting enough to be finished within the one day it took them. Critics have their own opinions, but as much as I'd like to say, "Well, where's your best-selling novel?" I'd be just as much of a hypocrite as everyone else. I bought it for the sake of completion, nothing more and nothing less. Whether I'm liking it or not, I can't say. It's met my expectations, which isn't much of a compliment. A good book has to go beyond. This one just doesn't go that extra mile (yet).
I haven't been on in a while, but I saw this and I thought I would inform you of what I later learned about him. (Unless I am getting this totally wrong, if I am, I am sorry) Yes, it is true that he originally was only published by his parents. Later (after Eragon was already being sold) the nephew of some author saw it in the book store and bought it. He read it, then took it to his uncle, who took it to his publisher. The publisher later went to Paolini about re-publishing his books.
Eh. I, like some of you mentioned, read this book just to finish off the series, and I was extremely disappointed. There were a ton of cool (if not entirely original) concepts in each and every book in the series, and the world he built was pretty cool in my opinion. It's just kinda sad that he couldn't tie together the ending better. As Loopstah said, he wrote himself into a corner. And he definitely couldn't find his way out. It also doesn't help when the last one hundred pages are basically the author telling the readers, "Oops, I forgot to tie up these plot lines... here ya go!" And of course, the final dragon egg hatches for a very predictable and cliche person, and serves basically no purpose in the book... But it's not all bad. If you liked the first books then give it a whirl. I may be criticizing it, but it wasn't a horrible read.
Banzai, I read your blog post and totally agree with everything you said about LOTR-rehashed fantasy. It's especially annoying because I write fantasy (although it has nothing to do with medieval times, elves, dragons, magic runes or anything else like that), and have to always explain that it's not a LOTR-style ripoff. *sigh*
I actually didn't mind the first one, in fact, I really enjoyed it. Keep in mind that I was about the same age as Paolini was when the first one hit the shelfs. I guess it appealed to me: Boy, dragon, and snarky-ass companion all go on an epic, fun adventure. Then I got the second book which turned everything into a "What is the meaning of our existance? Are we good or bad? What makes a good man evil, and an evil man good?" Derp. Way over my head, and I didn't like it at all. It...just wasn't the first book. =( Plus, every even numbered chapter centered around a side character I knew little about, and I didn't care about.
I like the Eragon series. I kind of like the fact that it's not original. Inheritance was good, but I prefered Brisingr.
His books are extremely cliche and seem to follow the farmer becomes the chosen one story line. I'm not a fan of his writing style either...
I started the series when i was young, so like many of the posters i just bought it to wrap it up. I liked the fact that he tied up all plot lines. When he reached the end he could've just left them unfinished, and i wouldn't have been surprised. I may not have liked how he did it, but he did it. The ending was just bad. The egg hatching was cliche, predictable, and happened after any use could be served at all. And to top it all off, THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON FOR THE CONCLUSION, besides a single hint thrown out in the very first book that could have been twisted however he wanted.
How could you enjoy the fact that it's not original? Stories like that make me not read them. I refuse to read his work because just skimming through it was painful. Horrible writing style, lack of creativity...
I have to admit I loved the Inheritance cycle to the point I had to buy a kindle as my hardbacks had fallen apart from constant reading. But I was slightly disappointed by the ending of Inheritance..
WHAT!! the prophecy was more than a hint thrown out at the beginning it was constantly mentioned through out the series!
I'm not mentioning the prophecy, that made sense. I mean the dream in the first book about the last scene.
