Eragon--A ripoff?!

[Buckwheat]

Same here. The movie was better.

Nooooo, I kind of liked the first book and I found the movie awful.

Also, I have not yet read the whole series, but if I find time, I intend to. This series is not that bad as some claim it to be, at least I think so ...

Not going to bother with ripoffs, though.

[SnowStorm]

A rip off was the price I payed for the last book. I just want to see how it ends and put it in the shelf next to the other three. I started reading it a year ago and I still have some 700 pages ahead.

I agree that the names he gives his characters are nerve-wracking. But I can deal with Arya and Eragon, it's Galbatorix that really annoys me, I mean, the main antagonist has a name that seems taken out of an Asterix comic strip; I'll never take that character seriously.

But what I hate the most about the books is the waste, the missed opportunities, the way he ruins his world and his characters with clichés. It's disappointing, because I feel that some of it actually had potential to make the books minimally enjoyable. That's probably why I haven't given up on it yet, I still have hope that in those 700 pages I have left to read he will write something interesting or surprising.

It comes to mind a scene from the beginning of the last book that I found to be a real wasted opportunity at making it interesting (spoiler)

Rohan's "death" - I really couldn't believe he had actually done it, that he had killed one of the main characters like that; and while the death scene was pretty lame, the death sparked some interest in me, what would happen next? how would the other characters react? - I was pretty disappointed when he was found out alive in the next chapter or so...

[Buckwheat]

A rip off was the price I payed for the last book. I just want to see how it ends and put it in the shelf next to the other three. I started reading it a year ago and I still have some 700 pages ahead.

I agree that the names he gives his characters are nerve-wracking. But I can deal with Arya and Eragon, it's Galbatorix that really annoys me, I mean, the main antagonist has a name that seems taken out of an Asterix comic strip; I'll never take that character seriously.

So I am not the only one who pronounces it in the French manner? Great.

[SnowStorm]

So I am not the only one who pronounces it in the French manner? Great.

I'm Portuguese, that should explain it :P. I don't think the name sounds much better pronounced in English though, It's just a silly name to give to a villain (or any character that is not from an Asterix book for that matter). I think the only place it sounded good was in Paolini's head and I can't tell if he was really unaware of the Asterix connection when he came up with it or if this is another case of him homaging other authors. (Or if he just ignored the connection because he thought the name was that good...)

[Theda Baratheon]

Galbatorix is a hilarious name.

[Buckwheat]

I'm Portuguese, that should explain it :P. I don't think the name sounds much better pronounced in English though, It's just a silly name to give to a villain (or any character that is not from an Asterix book for that matter). I think the only place it sounded good was in Paolini's head and I can't tell if he was really unaware of the Asterix connection when he came up with it or if this is another case of him homaging other authors. (Or if he just ignored the connection because he thought the name was that good...)

I really did not get the Asterix connection, but I agree that the name does not sound good at all. I just thought it sounded French, so I emphasise the last syllable and omit the x.

[Rolex Baratheon]

Recently read it. Last book was a chance missed, nothing more to say. The series could've been a really good standard typical sort of fantasy genre read. But it failed IMO.

[Tears of Lys]

I think the only time this series has come up on these boards is under the category of "things I read a bit of and am thoroughly ashamed for wasting even that much of my life" or "who is the biggest overpaid rip-off artist 'writer' around."

No one discusses it seriously.

[Reposado]

I think the only time this series has come up on these boards is under the category of "things I read a bit of and am thoroughly ashamed for wasting even that much of my life" or "who is the biggest overpaid rip-off artist 'writer' around."

No one discusses it seriously.

i'm guessing there was a thread discussing how it ripped of star wars but it was so long that it was purged and cannot be found with search anymore

[Shryke]

Tried to read the first years and years ago.

Was a rip-off, cliched as shit, badly written and mostly just dull.

[Tears of Lys]

I've probably told this before, but it still makes me smile. My dearest sistah-in-law, who normally has really great taste, bought the first book for me because she heard it contained dragons and elves and she knew I liked that kind of stuff, being a great fan of LotR.

Haven't had the heart to tell her what it was really like.

[Sci-2]

You guys are such fools. Obviously these books do the time warp again and again, influencing the very authors you claim are being ripped off from.

[RedEyedGhost]

This thread... was it started in another part of the board and then moved here? If so, why or why was it foisted upon the good denizens of the Lit board?

What. The. Fuck. Is. This. Thread.

IQ...dropping...dropping.......gone!

DYUh STAR WARS IS A STAR TREK RIP OFF BECAOOS THEY ARE BOOTH IN SPAACE

WHEN DOOS THE NEEXT SWORD OF TROOTH NMOVEL COME OUT OMG

MAARK LAWERNECE BOOKS ARE ALL ABOUT RAPE Y HE HAIT THE FEAMLZ

This thread makes Darth Richard cry.

This thread makes Baby Jesus cry.

#TheSecondComing?

[Reposado]

This thread... was it started in another part of the board and then moved here?

Floor migration? It's chilling

[Corvinus85]

yep, quite a ripoff and poorly written series. I finished it just for the sake of finishing it, though I almost gave up on the last book a few pages in.

Also he rips off The Wheel of Time, namely one character, Eragon's cousin who is a mirror image of Perrin Aybarra minus the wolf talking ability.

And if you think Brandon Sanderson is bad at describing fight scenes and over-explaining what characters are doing, well just read this series.

[loveboof]

I haven't read the books, but have seen the film...

What I want to comment on is how many people are saying something 'ripped off' Star Wars!

I thought everyone pretty much knew that Star Wars purposely used ('ripped') as many fantasy & mythological tropes as possible (Hero with a Thousand Faces) - which is kinda the reason for it's universal appeal :/

[Shryke]

No, look, there's campbellian monomyth and there's flat out ripping off Star Wars.

Eragon is not shy about which one of those it's doing.

[WrathOfTinyKittens]

OP will be very sad if/when they look up the sales figures for Eragon, which are astronomical.

[A Real Dire Wolf]

The thing that really jumped out to me was the way the first two books had the exact same general plot outline as the Star Wars movies. Starting with the rebel princess trying to escort the rebellion's important artefact, being ambushed by the evil emperor's right-hand man... continuing until the hero duels the emperor's right-hand man (in Inheritance it's a new one, to be fair, that's one difference between the two) and he reveals that the emperor's right-hand man (a third one... this is almost original!) is the hero's father.

[Kaldaur]

It was quite clear, from the very beginning where Eragon lives on his uncle's farm and discovers an egg in the wilderness, that this was a Star Wars clone. Meeting a mysterious stranger, dreaming of a princess held captive by the Dark Lord's lieutenant in a bastion of evil...yeah, no thanks.