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Dec. 15th, 2010 03:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pebblerockerI started reading Eragon by Christopher Paolini. A friend lent it to me PROMISING that although the movie fulfils all expectations and is amply as bad as reported, the book is actually all right. I heard the same about Twilight and got a few chapters in before the story made me feel so physically sick I couldn't keep going, so I went into Eragon with similar expectations and in contrast I'm being pleasantly surprised in some ways.
I intend to go on at some length, so a cut goes in about here. All spoiler-free.
Having very low expectations means the bad aspects don't surprise me and any good bits are exciting in comparison. Yes, the writing is exactly what you'd expect from a 17-year-old imitating the trappings of Tolkien. But on the other hand --
No, scratch my compliment, after re-reading that bit. I was going to say YAY, the author is not so lacking in imagination as to write his characters eating Standard Adventure Fantasy Fare, which in almost every book of this type goes:
bread and cheese
meat
meat
meat
salted meat
roasted meat
meat stew
meat
bread and cheese
Because on page 21 they're harvesting ACTUAL VEGETABLES of several different types, along with grains and legumes: the last of the barley...prickly vined squash, rutabagas, beets, peas, turnips, and beans... and over the page there is the smell of roasted hazelnuts in the marketplace. Wow, I thought, some variety! However, on re-reading, there's no mention of anyone eating any of these things; they may be storing them to feed the horses, cow and hens, which "live in a barn" as in Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls, and all anyone is shown eating in the story so far sticks firmly to the meat, bread and cheese rule. Half a point for mentioning the existence of veges, another half a point for once mentioning the type of meat being eaten?
(I come from a different point of view here, being a vegetarian -- but surely people don't eat like this in the real world! If we're taking Farmer Boy as a model, Almanzo put away TONS of vegetables, described in mouthwatering detail, along with his sausages and pork cracklings. I love fantasy stories where food is described: Paksenarrion loving mushrooms, your standard Level 1 Commoner eating actual peasant food instead of a steady diet of steak. I reckon this meat/bread/cheese thing is due to the authors' impoverished imaginations. And it would lead to a lot of severely bunged-up adventurers, but we don't talk about that in epic fantasy.)
Back on track: with the exciting and varied food descriptions in the story being due to a misreading by my own insatiable desire, what ARE the good points? Well, there's plenty to laugh at! Want to meet our hero? Eragon was fifteen, less than a year from manhood. Dark eyebrows rested above his intense brown eyes. [...] Eragon stood with quiet assurance in the dusky moonlight, then strode into the forest... In personality he's a whinging self-centred tosser who throws tantrums whenever life doesn't go his way, screaming and kicking things and punching trees. He's as much of a twit as Garion, only David Eddings knew that Garion was really thick and annoying and wrote him that way on purpose.
The main enjoyment I'm getting from this story is the happy feeling of being capable of writing something just as good myself. Really I should get out the pen and paper and get started -- I couldn't fall far short, and I'd get a story out of it that hit all MY buttons rather than being teenage boy fantasy. Hmmm, first I'll draw up a menu, then create some characters to eat it...
I intend to go on at some length, so a cut goes in about here. All spoiler-free.
Having very low expectations means the bad aspects don't surprise me and any good bits are exciting in comparison. Yes, the writing is exactly what you'd expect from a 17-year-old imitating the trappings of Tolkien. But on the other hand --
No, scratch my compliment, after re-reading that bit. I was going to say YAY, the author is not so lacking in imagination as to write his characters eating Standard Adventure Fantasy Fare, which in almost every book of this type goes:
bread and cheese
meat
meat
meat
salted meat
roasted meat
meat stew
meat
bread and cheese
Because on page 21 they're harvesting ACTUAL VEGETABLES of several different types, along with grains and legumes: the last of the barley...prickly vined squash, rutabagas, beets, peas, turnips, and beans... and over the page there is the smell of roasted hazelnuts in the marketplace. Wow, I thought, some variety! However, on re-reading, there's no mention of anyone eating any of these things; they may be storing them to feed the horses, cow and hens, which "live in a barn" as in Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls, and all anyone is shown eating in the story so far sticks firmly to the meat, bread and cheese rule. Half a point for mentioning the existence of veges, another half a point for once mentioning the type of meat being eaten?
(I come from a different point of view here, being a vegetarian -- but surely people don't eat like this in the real world! If we're taking Farmer Boy as a model, Almanzo put away TONS of vegetables, described in mouthwatering detail, along with his sausages and pork cracklings. I love fantasy stories where food is described: Paksenarrion loving mushrooms, your standard Level 1 Commoner eating actual peasant food instead of a steady diet of steak. I reckon this meat/bread/cheese thing is due to the authors' impoverished imaginations. And it would lead to a lot of severely bunged-up adventurers, but we don't talk about that in epic fantasy.)
Back on track: with the exciting and varied food descriptions in the story being due to a misreading by my own insatiable desire, what ARE the good points? Well, there's plenty to laugh at! Want to meet our hero? Eragon was fifteen, less than a year from manhood. Dark eyebrows rested above his intense brown eyes. [...] Eragon stood with quiet assurance in the dusky moonlight, then strode into the forest... In personality he's a whinging self-centred tosser who throws tantrums whenever life doesn't go his way, screaming and kicking things and punching trees. He's as much of a twit as Garion, only David Eddings knew that Garion was really thick and annoying and wrote him that way on purpose.
The main enjoyment I'm getting from this story is the happy feeling of being capable of writing something just as good myself. Really I should get out the pen and paper and get started -- I couldn't fall far short, and I'd get a story out of it that hit all MY buttons rather than being teenage boy fantasy. Hmmm, first I'll draw up a menu, then create some characters to eat it...
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Date: 2010-12-15 08:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-16 07:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-16 08:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-15 10:35 pm (UTC)I keep thinking about reading Eragon as there is a copy at my local op-shop, but I watched the first half-hour or so of the movie, which was terrible (but I know it was condemned for being an insult to the book - so I remain undecided).
I'm reading <http://www.amazon.com/five-twelfths-heaven-melissa-scott/dp/0671559524>Five Twelfths of Heaven at the moment, which I quite like.
And yeah, write a novel! :)
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Date: 2010-12-16 07:43 am (UTC)I thought treacle tart sounded yummy until I found out that it's made with golden syrup, not treacle, and wouldn't taste of anything but sweet.
Thank you, I will put Melissa Scott on my to-read list :o)
Novel would be pushing it, but I can at least start trying to write something.
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Date: 2010-12-16 08:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-17 09:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-18 12:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-16 05:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-16 07:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-16 08:39 am (UTC)