Eragon (book review)
We're reading the book before the movie comes
out.
The book was written by a home-schooled young man
whose family already published a couple of books. He started at about 15 years
old and finished at 19. There are some natural comparison that come to mind as
I read the book:There are elves,
dwarves, and men, kind of like in Lord of the
Rings.There is a map of the land
in which the story takes place, kind of like in Lord of the Rings (and Chronicles of the
Catechist)There are Urgals (not to
be confused with orcs).There
is a chief bad-guy who betrayed those who trusted him and is trying to take over
the world (not to be confused with Sauron in Lord of the
Rings).There is a half-spirit Shade, not to
be confused with a ringwraith, who does the bidding of the chief bad
guy.And there is Eragon, a young
teenager who is coming of age under the tutelage of an aging master (not to be
confused with The Karate
Kid).The style of writing is
more relaxed than some of the other books I've mentioned. Tolkien's Lord of the
Rings is an epic story, based around his many years of back story and language
development. Alan Dean Foster's Chronicles of the Catechist have each chapter
as a story in itself, following a larger arc that fills the trilogy. J. K.
Rowling's Harry Potter book chapters each end with a cliffhanger that FORCES the
curious reader to continue to the next chapter, which wouldn't be so bad if she
hadn't starting writing 800 page long books.
Eragon's chapters are individual
stories, not as self-contained as those of Foster's books, ending gently unlike
the Harry Potter series, and certainly not of the grand epic style of Tolkien.
However, they're fun to read.Enjoy the
book. I wonder how the film will work, since so much of the book is in the
feelings, thoughts, and sensations of the characters. In the meantime, enjoy
the book.The book, however, doesn't
end. It just quits, not to be confused with Star Wars: The Empire Strikes
Back.Yes, sequels are
planned.And I don't trust those
twins!
Posted: Sat - December 2, 2006 at 04:51 PM
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