Eldest Review, comparatively
I started reading Eldest today. Well, what can I say? Its expected. The pages were just strewn with immaturity (in part of the author) and inconsistency (in part of Eragon, the main char). You just can’t make out what kind of person this Eragon is. I mean, he’s a teenager yes, 16 to be precise, happens to be a Rider, an ancient dragon knight thought to be extinct. And he became a Rider when he found a dragon egg by accident. Furthermore, a Rider is much respected to the level of legendary. They were considered the ultimate in magic and battle prowess. And now thrown into a controversial position, held above even the rulers of already established organizations. Yeah, that’s the kind of life Eragon has to live up to. Before this he was just a farm boy and a hunter. So now his personality is torn between retaining to be a boy yet trying to be a noble knight. Unlike any professional author, a reluctant hero like Eragon would slip into the role of knight quite easily, even with so many blunders. But in the end they will always succeed. Not as beautifully or garcefully as they should, but they succeed. Reluctant hero and all. Just look at Arthur Penhaligon from Keys to the Kingdom.The only difference is that he’s younger than Eragon, 12, and came from a modern world much like ours albeit slightly more advanced with medical technology. And he was thrusts into the role of ruler and hero of another world where magic was abound. The author was a professional (Garth Nix) so Arthur’s transition was smooth, although by the end of the story he’s still boy. He’s just a boy trying to save the world, using whatever resources available, but in the end he’s still a boy. There’s no need for a dramatic personality change, no need for his vocabulary to change or his outlook on things. He communicated with the other characters as himself, not as someone else. He was still Arthur. The boy with asthma.
But Eragon’s personality change in such a short time that it should warn the others around him about how fake he is. Halfway through the first book, you just don’t know Eragon anymore. His personality was torn apart (providing he even had one in the first place). You don’t know his thought pattern or his vocabulary. After accepting his fate as a Rider, his vocabulary suddenly changed to sound more noble, but occasionally they revert back to just being a desperate, cowardy, righteous boy. I mean what the hell is up with that!?
And Arthur, when told to do something formal, like in his case, the handing of the key as the true heir. You can clearly see (read) that someone authoritive (also a solid character) teaching him the phrases.
Unlike Eragon, someone probably told him the phrases, just you don’t know who he/she is and can just assumed it was told beforehand and he had memorized it (Eragon apparently has good memories). It was funny how Eragon suddenly became a genius after just a few months of training. And the characters around him were also inconsistent. I mean, they are all important characters, of course, but they have weird speech. Their speech was made to be straight (too straight) to the point and short and authoritive and informative. So much so that they don’t sound like conversations anymore. And one thing I ntoiced about the author, Christopher Paolini, is that, he sucks at combining action and dialogue. Most of the actions were done narratively. For example like "He came to the scene and dropped his sword in disgust, muttering under hsi breath." Actually its more than that but its actually a really enraged dwarf. But you can’t know that unless you really read. The characters were nearly passive, but the dialogues seems to say "I’m important too, see?"
I was just pouring through the pages waiting for something to happen. I hate having to turn the pages and just suck everything in to get to a more interesting chapter. And the descriptions of the actions and surroundings were made to look professional but ended up confusing and boring and too much detail. This is not Harry Potter series kind of details I’m talking about. JK Rowling is in a totally different class. But I’m talking about unneccassry too much detail, filled with too many important-looking words. That just annoys me.
All and in all, this book is still the same as the previous one. Its more or less a professional-looking fanfic. I wonder how it ever got ‘rave’ reviews. Probably bribed those newspapers. Or the book just look like a bestseller. Pff. I hope to finish this book quickly.
Anyway night. Ta’ra!
