Brisingr (Eragon 3) Spoiler

Kang227 wrote:"Villain who likes to laugh..."

Judging by Paolini's plagiaristic track record, this is the new villain:

The Joker. Wait--no, the Jokar. There. Now it's original. The Jokar is a laughing madman whose real name is...Keith Hedger.

Just so everyone knows, it is called apprpriation when you take a bunch of differnet people''s ideas and put them together. Also, I think he has enough originality that the story could be called "his." I personally enjoy his books immensely. Yeah, I'm 13 and actually intelligent.

Sonlen wrote:

Kang227 wrote:"Villain who likes to laugh..."

Judging by Paolini's plagiaristic track record, this is the new villain:

The Joker. Wait--no, the Jokar. There. Now it's original. The Jokar is a laughing madman whose real name is...Keith Hedger.

Just so everyone knows, it is called apprpriation when you take a bunch of differnet people''s ideas and put them together. Also, I think he has enough originality that the story could be called "his." I personally enjoy his books immensely. Yeah, I'm 13 and actually intelligent.

Um, no appreciation is this.



Main Entry:
ap·pre·ci·a·tion Listen to the pronunciation of appreciation
Pronunciation:
\ə-ˌprē-shē-ˈā-shən, -ˌpri- also -ˌprē-sē-\
Function:
noun
Date:
1604

1 a: judgment, evaluation; especially : a favorable critical estimate b: sensitive awareness; especially : recognition of aesthetic values c: an expression of admiration, approval, or gratitude2: increase in value


plagiarizing
One entry found.

plagiarize


Main Entry:
pla·gia·rize Listen to the pronunciation of plagiarize
Pronunciation:
\ˈplā-jə-ˌrīz also -jē-ə-\
Function:
verb
Inflected Form(s):
pla·gia·rized; pla·gia·riz·ing
Etymology:
plagiary
Date:
1716

transitive verb : to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own : use (another's production) without crediting the source intransitive verb : to commit literary theft : present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source
— pla·gia·riz·er noun

So, he never credits anyone but himself for his ideas, so that sounds more like plagiarism than anything else.

Vernon, I think Kang was intending to use the word appropriation (sp.?). If so, Kang; the ideas of appropriation and plagiarism are hardly mutually exclusive. The problem a lot of readers have with Inheritance is that in spite of the purple prose, 2d characters, blatant theft coupled with unoriginal though, andgeneral failures, Eragon is still a good read for the young teeenager.

But maybe this is just because I still hope that the flaws in Inheritance are intentional (read above post).

Rubric

Rubric, you hit the nail on the head. It's the fact that the story IS considered a good teen read that makes me loathe it. You just mentioned (let me quote you):

"purple prose, 2d characters, blatant theft coupled with unoriginal thought, andgeneral failures"

The fact that something this deeply flawed, unoriginal, and derivative can STILL be considered a commercial success makes me weep for the future.

Scratch that: I've seen the future, and it's not worth shedding a tear for.

Erm... that wasn't Kang, it was me.... Check the username....

flytodreams wrote:Awww..c'mon..don't you think you guys are being a little hard on Paolini?

Everyone KNOWS he's not even near being as awesome a writer as Tolkien, or CS Lewis.
But cut him a little slack, it's near impossible to write an original fantasy book nowadays.
I know I'm way younger and way less experienced than all you guys, but I like Paolini's books, and this kinda upset me:

People like Paolini because he functions at their mental level (i.e., zero).

Nobody's trying to insult you, flytodreams, and I'm sorry that people can be rude. I agree with you - I've read books much worse than Eragon. Personally though, the problem I have is the fact that his family published his novel, which strikes me as nepotism. Also, Paolini comes across as a little arrogant.

But if you like the books, please don't be upset by people's comments. I actually own Eragon and Eldest, and I'll probably read Brisingr. Most of us, I think, are just upset because we feel that we work hard trying to create original stories and working our butts off to be published, and then here's a kid whose novel is quite cliche, whose family works in publishing, and he's a "prodigy." It's just something that feels very unfair. I can name quite a few writers on this site whom I believe are much more talented than Paolini.

I'm totally one of them =p

But on a serious note, yes. Most of my frustration comes from the fact that something this flawed can be so popular. It's not just form a writing standpoint, either; I'm very cynical, and this adds to my world view of intellectual drain-circling.

I'm just throwing it out there, but do you think the book cops so much flak not because it's bad and commercially succesful, but because it's bad and still an enjoyable read?

Maybe people (myself included)complain about inheritance because they're a bit confused by their own response to it. Having said that there are a lot of people, who I also readily agree with, who claim it's just bad. These are of course of set by an equally large group who think it's just good.

Going back to that far more interesting group stuck in the middle (me), maybe we argue about it because we actually don't know the answer to whether this is a good/bad book. I wish the debate forums were actually driven by this kind of question; rather than two groups trying to bludgeon each-other with a thicker wad of referenced sources.

Oh and $20 says that the weapon under the roots of the Menoa tree is the Menoa tree itself, which contains enough magic to be turned into a weapon with the whole "energy-steal" thing that is in fact a total rip off of trudi canavan.

Tschuss

I have no idea what you guys are talking about with the hints about the third book, lol. Apparently I'm out of the Paolini loop.

Okay, everyone's been bashing Paolini, but here is one thing he is extremely good at (something we all should take note of): marketing. I mean, this punk 15-year old writes this mediocre novel and turns it into an international sensation! Granted, his parents "work in publishing," but so do mine; they owned a publishing company for fifteen years, but it was just a name and we had to print my mom's books with another company anyway.

My point is, study that kid's marketing plan: he hit the right market at the right time and publicized it in a way that won him millions of fans.

In that, at least, I hazard to say that Christopher Paolini is a marketing genius.

Actually, he published it at age nineteen. He says he started it at fifteen, but for all we know, that 'starting' could have been "Lol I lyk drag0ns". I started developing general, vague ideas for my book at fifteen and a half, but I wouldn't say that 15 is when I started WRITING.

Paolini probably started daydreaming up characters at age fifteen, sure. But I doubt he was writing anything remotely like finished product. If that was true, it took four years to write something like Eragon? You know the man is bad.

Well, he wrote it at 15, "edited" it, published it with his family company, and then was discovered during his promotional tour. The mainstream publisher then edited it extensively, and republished it, at which time he was 19.

Which makes you wonder, if it's still this bad now, how bad it was on first publication.

Writers of YWS, we must unite and bombard Christopher Paolini with letters. He shall assume them to be fan mail, but he will be... gravely mistaken. *cackles* Too bad the best I can find is his Publisher address.

Bluntly? I hate Paolini.

Wouldn't it be funny? We all make fake fanmail, e.g.:

Dear Mr Paolini,

I just finished reading "Eragon" I must say I am very impressed. I would like to know where you got your Tolkien encyclopaedia, and I must ask, may I borrow Star Wars 4-6? But then again, if you need them for the last book, no worries.

Reply and I shoot you,
Real Writer

Lol! Thing is, he'd probably only understand the first sentence, and then get all confused at the rest.