Eragon
Christopher Paolini
Reviewed by Andrew Jamieson, 26 March 2004
I should mention that this is the author's first book, and that he was only
15 when he started writing it. And whilst I believe this to be quite an
impressive first try, I also believe he has some way to go.
Grabbing a reader's attention in the first paragraph is always a definite
plus. You start the book feeling that you have something of interest in
your hand. However, once you have grabbed the reader's attention, it must then
be held until, hopefully, the last page has been read.
As the author's first book, unfortunately, the beginning of the book aptly
illustrates this. The most obvious fault is his excessive use of big
adjectives. I got the distinct impression that as he was writing the beginning
of this book, he had a thesaurus next to his desk and each time a normal
adjective would have done, he would look up something bigger and more
elaborate. Then there the chapter breaks, they are just a bit too disjointed
in the beginning. One chapter was only 2 pages long and it just felt as if he
was breaking at the wrong place. Finally, there is his pacing, again,
something I believe has happened because of his inexperience. It varies from
very slow through sudden changes to very fast, and then to something in
between the odd chapter breaks and the uneven pacing prevent the story from
flowing as smoothly as I would have liked and the overuse of large adjectives
was just humorous.
Fortunately, it does not take long before all these faults disappear. The
author's confidence improves and so does his writing. I think he still
has his thesaurus, but with experience he has learned how better to use it.
The odd chapter breaks disappear completely, that, combined with a
much better pacing allow the story to flow very nicely. However, he still
makes occasional silly mistakes which you would attribute to his lack of
experience.
Whilst the author is trying to create an epic story - this is only the
first book in a trilogy - he doesn't seem to be able to quite capture the
feel of it. There are large, dark forces at work and we have our lone hero
simply trying to struggle in this world against these odds, but, perhaps by
keeping too much hidden in the beginning it loses some of its impact. The
author has some wonderful moments where he truly grabs your attention;
unfortunately there are not enough of these, as are his moments of humour.
Nice touches but just too few of them. As with any good story, maintaining an
air of mystery is essential in keeping the readers interest, and the author
certainly does well there, perhaps too well as you sometimes wonder just what
is going on, much as the hero does. Still, many new elements are constantly
thrown into the story so it is most certainly never dull.
It is, however, the pacing which I believe is the author's greatest failing.
I had almost finished the book when I suddenly realised that for all the pages
I had read, it just did not feel as if all that much had happened. There had
been a fair progression in the story, yet I was almost at the end of the book
and in all, not enough seemed to have been done. It was as if after all my hard
reading I had discovered just how much there was left to tell, something that
may be more of a chore than a pleasure. I just felt the impact of the
story was affected by the author prolonging the story too much. Had the author
kept the story shorter and tighter I believe I would have been
truly enthralled, instead of merely interested in continuing the story.
You can tell the author's age is a factor in the book. He seems to model the
hero's emotions upon how he himself would think about things, and this does
come through convincingly. Unfortunately, this also means there are some
moments in the book where his immaturity is seen, something which may
not go down too well with older audiences. Perhaps this is for the better as
our hero is barely sixteen and he portrays him brilliantly, down to
the silly mistakes and comments youths make. However, for me, I would have
wished for someone more mature. And this is probably his second biggest
failing, the book is just too clean for my liking. There is no mention at all
of sex; true, this is not necessary, but there are no quick rolls in the hay
(what farm boy hasn't?), no eyeing out the attractive ladies in the city,
almost no mention of the female form (except the dragon's). Barely a mention
of beggars or cutthroats and thieves, nor is there much talk of normal
violence in the cities such as robberies, duels or such, only the big evil of
the king. It just seemed as if the story only revolved around our hero and his
doings; other normal life just didn't seem to be involved as much.
However, that being said, it is most certainly an enjoyable read, a good
way to while away the hours reading a fun book without resorting to the
television. The author has some nice touches of humour now and again, although
I wished he made more use of it. He does well to keep your interest, there
certainly was never a moment where I wished to skip ahead in the book, and he
does generate the quality of getting you to want to continue reading,
admirable in one so young. However, his pacing needs to be shorter, and he
needs to involve the rest of the world. So, if you can forgive the author's
inexperience in both writing and worldly matters portrayed in the book, the
pacing, and - to be honest, not truly an important issue - lack of other
normal life, you will find an enjoyable read. It will keep you entertained
until the end, even if it takes you a while to get there.
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