Impacting Works: Christopher Paolini
What comes to your mind when asked about dragon riders? Dragon Riders of Pern? Unfortunately Anne McCaffrey will be in a later blog. No I'm thinking about a more recent series, a series which so far has been the only thing this author has written. I'm thinking about The Inheritance Trilogy er I mean The Inheritance Cycle. With that let's discuss Christopher Paolini. If you have not read The Inheritance Cycle then be warned in order to give my complete opinion on Christopher Paolini there will be spoilers for his books.
The Trilogy began with Eragon, then Eldest and Brisingr should have been the conclusion but around the time Brisingr came out Paolini announced it was now going to be called The Inheritance Cycle. Curious as to how it ended we bought Inheritance. He wrote another book that was essentially a small atlas about his world which I have not read.
My feeling towards Paolini are mixed so I will start with the positives. I like that Eragon changes. There have been stories I have read where the character doesn't change at all. Things happen in our lives that change us. Eragon starts out as a boy who seemingly is unimportant but a dragon always regarded as a noble or at least powerful creature chooses him. Paolini creates his own lore for dragons. The idea that a dragon can control when they hatch is interesting though it does lead to the question of could there be dragons who like Sheldon from the Garfield and Friends cartoon never come out of their shell? *The spoilers start here*Also my favorite thing about the series is the defeat of the villain. He is made to feel the impact of his actions and it drives him insane. This is something that I have never read before. Normally villains have their come up-pence by going to prison or dying. This one scene made more of an impact than the rest of the series combined.
As for the rest... it drags. My husband and I wanted to see how it ended but at times I didn't want to read. I just wanted the story to end. There were many scenes and characters which didn't seem like they were needed. Some of the story arcs could have been their own books mainly the arc of his cousin. I think the most annoying part to me was the prophecy. I don't have a problem with prophecies in stories. My peeve comes in how it is fulfilled. In the Harry Potter Series there is a prophecy but it is fulfilled naturally. In Eragon... below is my paraphrase *Again Spoiler warning*
Eragon: Well this prophecy says I will travel far away and forever be separated from those I love. So Looks like I need to do that. Bye.
Arya (Elven love interest): I can come with you.
Eragon: No. The prophecy says I need to be separated from those I love.
Arya: Okay.
This is not a natural conclusion. This is beyond forced. I'm not sure what could have happened but something that would force him to leave alone. This just doesn't seem to have a point.
Christopher Paolini started writing Eragon when he was fifteen years old with the help of his parents he self published the book in 2001. He was picked up by the major publisher Alfred A. Knopf in 2003 and continued the series under them. His only other works are related to the same world. Perhaps he will write more eventually. I don't know. If he wrote more about different things I might read it. He has good ideas though his style could use some refining.
I have looked back at some of my own stories from high school and without some major revisions I would not be confident in publishing them. My opinion on Christopher Paolini is he's mediocre right now but there is potential for him to grow as an author. His story gives me hope in my own endeavors. I have kept my trilogy as a trilogy. The fourth book which should hopefully be ready next month is set in the same world but revolves around another character: Kel. I realized that she had her own story to tell that Miharena would not be present for so she gets her own trilogy. After that I don't know. My mind has been swirling with ideas as my darling rabbit Ivy reported last week.