Christopher Paolini

He writes YA... but I don't consider his work to be the best example of YA Fanasy. It needs a GOOD edit. Just my 0.02.

I liked it, but you could see where Tolkin and Jordan had influenced his writing style. A few times I had to recheck the authors name to see who was book I was reading. I have not read the second book so can offer no opinion on that one yet.




edited because I tried to type like I talk, bad idea

I haven't read any of them, but was eyeing them the other day. I do love dragons. Let me know what you think.

Christopher Paolini should, I think, be a lesson in marketing your book, and not in writing it.

I agree with Elekra on that (while I know very little about marketing myself). There are a multitude of better YA books out there, especially fantasy. If you want you could try almost anything by Diana Wynne Jones (I love her) or The Secret Country by Pamela Dean. That's kind of a pinnacle of YA though. Man is it great! Just my humble opinion, however ^_^

Now hold on just a second. I like the story line and the plot, I was just saying that I could tell who influenced his style. As far as marketing is concerned, I picked up the book only because I liked the blurb. I bought it in hardback not because of any "hype"(I had not heard peep one about it), but because it got my attention. After I read it, my sons did, and then my nephew. If you don't like someone's style or voice that's fine, but lets not turn this into one of those "ugly threads".

My point is, I think word of mouth more than marketing(at least in my world) sold his book. Heck I don't like to read Grisham, but you don't hear me cracking on his marketing skill do ya? Authors, just like genres are a matter of opinion.

(ducking flamage from the Grisham remark)

Paolini is boring to some fantasy lovers because it's very derivative. But folks who haven't read much fantasy (such as Mr. Tubbs and many younger readers) won't have seen it all before (and better written) and will probably enjoy it much more.

Another vote for Diana Wynne Jones.

Third vote for Diana Wynne Jones. Howl's Moving Castle is one of my all time favorites, along with Charmed Life and Dogsbody. Although I picked up a reissue of Dogsbody recently and I'm about 75% certain they've changed the ending slightly.

You could also try The Dark is Rising sequence, by Susan Cooper. I hear a movie is in the works.

Christopher Paolini is definitely to be credited for being so accomplished at such a young age, but the books aren't quite my style. Personally, I like books by Shannon Hale (not sure if that's how you spell it, but I haven't got any of her books handy at the moment) and the obvious JK Rowling.

And yes, Paolini's books are YA. Good luck with your book as well, Brian! Fantasy is SO the best genre. *Ducks as mystery, sci-fi, chick lit, and literary novels begin throwing knives my way*

Grrr...I hate it when people bring age into the equation. Younger people shouldn't be measured by a different yardstick--even if it was good for a 19-year-old, it wasn't really good enough for traditional publishing (going solely by quality here--obviously publishing is a business, and if it's already making money of its own accord I don't blame Knopf for picking it up).

Most books, I think, will sell well enough if you have the time to go to hundreds of schools and pitch it personally.

I liked Eragon, but it really was very Tolkien-esque. Didn't make it any less enjoyable for me though. I have Eldest, and someday I'll get around to reading it. I have a big pile of books to get through first.

Age really doesn't have anything to do with good writing, butI'd say that most writing by unseasoned writers is NOT good. (of course, most writing my most people isn't good either, which is why most are rejected.)

Paolini

Niesta said:

Paolini is boring to some fantasy lovers because it's very derivative. But folks who haven't read much fantasy (such as Mr. Tubbs and many younger readers) won't have seen it all before (and better written) and will probably enjoy it much more.

Another vote for Diana Wynne Jones.

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He's not only derivative, he's also not a very good writer. It's pretty poor stuff all around.

He shows signs of getting better with age, but he's got a long, long way to go.

Let's do the math here. Say he went to 200 schools. Say he spoke to four classes at each school. That's 200*4=800, and then multiply that by 30 students per class to get 24,000. Now let's say we tack on the extra 6,000 from bookstores, talking to writers' groups, ect. That's 30,000 people that he met personally to pitch his book. Remember also that it would be a high-pressure sale (I'm not saying that Paolini was being overly aggressive, but remember: this is a book they think their teacher is recommending, they've met the author, which makes it more difficult to say no, and--this is the clincher--it's self-pubbed, so there's a "buy it now before it's gone" mentality).

As I've said, I think that any book of average quality would become a very good seller under this marketing campaign.

I stopped reading after about the second chapter. I don't recall it being bad, but it just didn't hold me--it's probably a case, as said above, of being very familiar with the genre, so it wasn't anything I hadn't seen in infinite variation before. This wouldn't bother me, done well, except that between Jordan and Goodkind, if you show me a poor but noble/competent/pensive young ranger about to be thrust into adventure, the odds are good that the book will be thrust into the "Sell to used bookstore" pile.

Nice cover art, though. John Jude Palencar's one of my favorites.

I enjoyed Eragon. Not great but a fun read.

However, I didnt care for Eldest at all. There were a few parts of Eldest that were okay but too much that didnt work. At one point I just had to force myself to slog through it and see how it ended.

My biggest gripe with Eldest is that the events and outcomes in several of the key battle scenes were just too improbable.

I think he should have just stayed with the Eragon storyline.

hmm, this isn't amking me want to rush out and pick up the book. I've got to many things on my want to read lists. I think I'll hit some of those first. Thanks for taking one for the team (me) on this Brian

I'm 64 and I've read it and the sequel, Eldest, both fantastic books. I'm waiting to read the thrid, due soon.

I suspect it's a bit of a marmite book. Many people who know a lot about writing think he doesn't do it very well. However, he's clearly done a lot of hard work in publicising it and it happened to catch people's imagination. The same could be said for JK Rowling, about whom many writers are scathing, and Dan Brown (whose 'Angels and Demons' is the only book I have ever literally thrown across the room in disgust. However he's made millions, so what do I know?)

I have 'Eldest' on my bookshelf but haven't dared open it yet. I haven't read 'Eragon' - is it necessary to start with the first?

(No one has yet recommended William Nicholson's excellent Wind on Fire trilogy on this thread, or the equally wonderful Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix.)

Diana Wynne Jones wrote a rather good review of Eragon. She said, yes, of course it's derivative - he was sixteen (or thereabouts) when he wrote it, so he reproduced what he personally enjoyed reading. She also said she could forsee him getting a lot better at writing, and doing something that wasn't derivative - but he's under a lot of pressure now because the first book did so well.

I imagine some of it is envy (speaking for myself only, that is ). It's not so much the fact that he's been a bestseller before the age of 20 (more power to him, frankly), but rather the knowledge that if I wrote in that overwrought, tell-not-show, tedious, infodump style, no publisher would touch me with a ten foot pole. You can get away with a LOT, being "really good for your age".

That said, I do think he'll improve. There are enough flashes of brilliance that I suspect some day he'll be wonderful. He's got the time, talent, and money(!) to do nothing but the work he loves, and to get really good at it. I will look forward to his later books. You know, the ones that don't have Muad'dib spelled backwards anywhere in the text (that DID make me laugh out loud... but not in a nice way).

moondance said:

I suspect it's a bit of a marmite book. Many people who know a lot about writing think he doesn't do it very well. However, he's clearly done a lot of hard work in publicising it and it happened to catch people's imagination. The same could be said for JK Rowling, about whom many writers are scathing....

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Wow. I found at least the first three Harry Potter books pretty good, but I could not read Eragon. Felt guilty, 'cause it was a gift, but the prologue had so many clunky-writing cringe points to it that I just couldn't continue.
Can't say anything about the book overall, because of that, of course.

I second (or third, or fourth, or whatever) DW Jones! And Nix! And Cooper! Though with the Cooper, do bear in mind that it's written in the 70s, so the protagonists, at least at first, are real dated British schoolkids.

Hm. I'd also highly recommend Megan Whalen Turner, The Thief and sequels. And almost anything by Robin McKinley (Though Deerskin is Not happy fluffy YA, it is a truly harrowing book). Pamela Dean, Secret Country trilogy, for a literate and truly weird spin on the classic kids-going-between-worlds theme. Anything recent by Patricia Wrede.

I, um :blush: am kind of a sucker for YA fantasy.