The new Eragon book came out today...?

[rpgdemon]

So, I walk back to my apartment, bump into my roommate, and he's got the new Eragon book. It's green.

Apparently it came out today? That's straight out of left field.

[Bells]

Indeed! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inheritance_(book))

Aw man i just bought the first 3 in a set... now i have to wait for this one.

[Kerensky287]

Can I just go ahead and hate on Christopher Paolini for a second?

Because Eragon is right up there with Twilight in the books-that-prove-popularity-is-inversely-proportional-to-quality category for me. At least Twilight made way for Luminosity (http://luminous.elcenia.com/chapters/ch1.shtml) and gave me plenty of fuel for any Vampires vs Werewolves argument. Eragon is a Star Wars ripoff (in the plot and characters, I mean) written by a guy with a leather fetish and parents rich enough to buy publicity.

[rpgdemon]

Well, from what I understand, he actually tried to get better as time went on, and that's why the last book took so long? I thought he was re-writing it all or something, and was completely surprised that it came out.

I actually don't dislike the series though. I mean, they're not great, but they're not horrible, and they definitely did get better over time. Though, I haven't reread them for years, so I could be wrong.

[Arcanum]

I read the first book and found it... decent, I guess. I've never had the urge to re-read it though, and usually I judge how much I like a book by how many times I've re-read it.

[Magus]

I'm always depressed when I run into an Eragon fan. Like my one friend got this book today, pretty sure, or was reading Brisingr or something, and I've told him a hundred times to read things like Wheel of Time, Song of Ice and Fire, Elric, Dragonlance, whatever, and he never does...like I think he hasn't even read all the Harry Potter books and he's making time to read these things.

Then again this was the guy who refused to play Final Fantasy VI, VII, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy Tactics, etc. I in lieu of replaying Legend of the Dragoon back in the day, which yeah is a pretty okay game I guess if you ignore the boss-battles that take forever, but DUDE.

Just DUDE.

[Locke cole]

I liked the first one, struggled through the second one, and then I discovered forums and had my opinions colored, and have since been too embarrassed to read the third one, despite owning it. And now I'm very much doubtful as to how much I'd like the first one, if I re-read it today.

Besides, I've been way too busy with A Song of Ice And Fire (and occasionally Discworld) in recent years.

[Oron]

I'll get the fourth book eventually and read it simply because I want to call the series finished and be done with it. And I will read it while ignoring the pile of other books I still have not read.

[Viridis]

My only exposure to this series has been someone critiquing how bad it is, so I guess I'm with Kerensky here.

[pochercoaster]

Everything Wrong With Eragon. (http://impishidea.com/criticism/8/everything-wrong-with-eragon) This sounds like the kind of book that would drive me nuts because I would be correcting every sentence as I read it. I could not stomach this kind of writing.

[walkertexasdruid]

I liked the first three books, though the ending of the third was basically a rewritten version of the endings of the first two books smashed together. And they are not as good as The Wheel of Time, Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, The Winds of the Forelands, The Belgariad, Lord of the Isles. Still, I will check out the fourth book. Anyone know when the next Wheel of Time is coming out?

[Azisien]

and I've told him a hundred times to read things like Wheel of Time

Look man, I tried, but sometimes I just need to do other things. Like eat, and sleep, and sit on a rock and try to figure out why there's less protagonists in every book!

On the topic of Eragon, I read the first book and decided that was about it. Even years ago when my fantasy tastes were notably worse, I found Eragon to be mediocre at best.

[DarkDrgon]

A memory of light is scheduled for between March and november. kind of a big window there...

[Kerensky287]

Anyone know when the next Wheel of Time is coming out?

....Didn't Robert Jordan die at some point?

[Mr.Bookworm]

....Didn't Robert Jordan die at some point?

Yep. Brandon Sanderson got contracted to finish writing it based on Jordan's apparently pretty extensive notes.

I haven't read any of Sanderson's Wheel of Time books, because I still need to finish the rest of the series, but all of his other stuff is pretty good.

[Magus]

The Sanderson Wheel of Time books are surprisingly good, in that there are events that occur in a linear order that culminate in a climax, something Jordan had seemed to have forgotten how to do before his passing...I think they call it a "plot"?

Alright, alright, Knife of Dreams (book 11) wasn't too horrible, as it finally tied up about sixty plot strings that had seen no movement for two books, but still. If you ever get far enough to read Winter's Heart or Crossroads of Twilight, books 9 and 10 respectively (or what we call Jordan's "Molasses Period"), I'd recommend you just read the last 1/8 of Winter's Heart (or perhaps it is only the chapters involving Rand? I forget, but it had a good ending, just not a good beginning or middle) and just read a synopsis of Crossroads of Twilight (as absolutely nothing happens in it), you will save yourself hours of wasted time.

And yes, there are a couple of slight negatives with Sanderson, in that his writing style is different and even his characterization/dialogue for the characters seems a bit off. But this is a wonderful trade-off to 1. actually get an ending to the series and 2. actually read a book where something happens for the majority of its length. The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight are surprisingly entertaining despite Sanderson's inferior writing style, because stuff happens.

All of that said, they are better than Eragon. Like seriously if Jordan had written an entire book relating only, and I mean only, the intricate design of each female protagonist's riding dress and what they ate for dinner (something which normally he would only spend half a book doing), it would still be far superior writing to that of Paolini, at least in Eragon. I'm glad to hear (well, I think I've heard this), that his writing style at least has gotten better, even if his plotting hasn't seen a massive amount of improvement.

[walkertexasdruid]

I agree about Winter's Heart and Crossroads of Twilight, very hard to get through. I have enjoyed Sanderson's contributions, nicely paced, though some of the characters get a brief mention and then are not heard from again. So sometime next year between march and november? That is worse than waiting for the cable guy to show up. Has anyone read The Omen Machine by Terry Goodkind? I am a little cautious because The Law of Nines was not very good.

[Magus]

I agree about Winter's Heart and Crossroads of Twilight, very hard to get through. I have enjoyed Sanderson's contributions, nicely paced, though some of the characters get a brief mention and then are not heard from again. So sometime next year between march and november? That is worse than waiting for the cable guy to show up. Has anyone read The Omen Machine by Terry Goodkind? I am a little cautious because everything he has ever written was not very good.

FTFY

Well, I am mildly biased against war criminals masquerading as heroes, lol. Like if Goodkind had just been all like "RICHARD IS TOTALLY BADASS" I could have gotten behind it but the long-ass speeches justifying why it is totally okay to butcher peace protestors and torture people to death were just silly.

Like if you've ever read Elric of Melnibone by Michael Moorcock, Elric of Melnibone is the type of guy who will kill entire populations with his soul-sucking hellblade, but he doesn't like feel the need to be all preachy about why it is totally a great thing.

[Jagos]

Everything Wrong With Eragon. (http://impishidea.com/criticism/8/everything-wrong-with-eragon) This sounds like the kind of book that would drive me nuts because I would be correcting every sentence as I read it. I could not stomach this kind of writing.

I got through TWO sentences of that and my nerd rage boiled over... Yeah, not messing with this one.

[Viridis]

For a longer read, everything else wrong with Eragon (http://eragon-sporkings.wikispaces.com/eragon_sporkings_page) (they also go through the sequels).

[walkertexasdruid]

Yeah, the preachy speaches got to me a little as well. The Legend of the Seeker may have gotten it right by keeping Darken Rahl as the main villain, forgetting completely about Jangang and the Imperial Order. Though you got to admit that The Law of Nines was really bad compared to the rest of his books.

[Jagos]

Yeah, the preachy speaches got to me a little as well. The Legend of the Seeker may have gotten it right by keeping Darken Rahl as the main villain, forgetting completely about Jangang and the Imperial Order. Though you got to admit that The Law of Nines was really bad compared to the rest of his books.

Help remind me why Goodkind took the time to monologue about capitalism in one book, get them through the fall of Jagang's home town, then go right back to monologuing in the next book?

I couldn't get through the Sword of Truth past the 7th book. It just utterly defied logic that the stories started so well with the great characters who degraded to the same Goodkind made cliches. I enjoyed watching Richard progress, along with his followers. Then he took that away for this Jagang battle. His sister *barely* did anything, and the entire "evil" brother thing just kind of pissed me off.

[walkertexasdruid]

Another question, should I read and watch Twilight? Some people really like it and others hate it. I stuck with Harry Potter until now, are there similar works that I should be looking at? As for Goodkind, it is really hard for me to defend him, and I was one of his biggest fans. The Sword of Truth was really good until Faith of the Fallen, after that the reader gets treated very lengthy speaches by Richard interspersed with some good stuff from earlier books. Oh well, there are other authors that I really like.

[rpgdemon]

For good fantasy book, read The Name of the Wind. The sequel was less good (Just a really annoying bit in the middle), but I'd still suggest the series.