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Yes!

Quite.

Undecided.

No, they're pretty bad.

No, they're terrible.

Don't care. / View poll.

[Pathos]

So, yeah, I recently reread these books and dear god they're terrible. I don't mean Terry Goodkind terrible (no one can match him or Eye of Argon), but more terrible in a "why do these books sell well" way.

The prose is way too purple for my liking, the main characters regularly forget things that they should really remember, some of the main characters are the writer's family (as well as his author avatar being the main character), lots of the characters have informed attributes, most of the characters are complete idiots but no one mentions it etc etc etc.

It's just utterly terrible writing, and this guy (people still refer to him as a kid because he got the book published by his parents whilst he was 15) would never have gotten published except for his parents spending all their money to do it. It really saddens me to see him getting praised as a good writer "especially for someone so young". I could write better than this drivel and I'm not even that good.

Oh, and the community is amazingly rabid about the books. I don't know why.

So, what do you all think of them?

[postal83]

My Mom bought them for me like two christmas' ago, and I never even unwrappen the box set.  I like fantasy and stuff (mainly GEORGE R.R. MARTIN) and a lot of Stephen King, but after everything that I heard about the books, I decided against it.  I typically only read a book that someone I know recommends to me...

[Phmcw]

I tried them and has been forced to stop : Phmcw cancel reading book : trowing up.
Really awful, unnerving hero boy, stereotypical fantasy universe, silly story.
No really no. Not for me.

[Pathos]

I would recommend reading the books, just so you can read the Eragon Sporkings at the same time and lol at how true they are.

[Strife26]

Stereotypical story in a stereotypical universe with occasionally purplish writing. Paoloni isn't the spawn of Satan by any means. It seems that everyone gets super pissed off if a mediocre book get popular for some reason.

[Heron TSG]

It's pretty good if you don't have time to read the eight or so series smashed into it.

[smigenboger]

Eight series smashed into one? Could you explain that for me? I may of missed something.

I never read the third one, but I was probably around his age when I read the first one, so I didn't pick up on just how awful it was until I re-visited it.

After reading a lot of Dragonlance books, I understand the usual cliches, some of the books pull off the same general material really well, and others drag on like an 8th grade orchestra concert.

[Solifuge]

Though I didn't find the writing terribly compelling, I respect that he was able to finish not just one book, but three. Even if I think I could have written better, and I do, I haven't ever been able to stick with something for that long, and Paolini managed to create a moderately entertaining fantasy story.

My elder sister really enjoyed the series. I didn't care for it, and only got through the first bit of the second book before I had to stop. It wasn't bringing enough new material to the genre to hold my interest, and it was flowery.

On the plus side, it was nice to see some elements of mythology, like True Names, and Words of Power in the story. It was highy cliche, but was a reasonable enough story for younger readers, and would probably have made a nice D&D campaign if nothing else.

[Fossaman]

I read the first two, and they were decent. Not outstanding, not terrible. I'll probably get around to the third book one of these days.

Fun fact: You can make nearly a point-for-point correlation between the first book and Star Wars: A New Hope.

[Darkwind3]

Yeah, they're pretty bad.

I was on the anti-fan-site for a while, actually. It's pretty much gone now. As far as I can tell, it's just that no one cares enough that a mediocre author got sort of famous and continued to pump out mediocre books.

Another fun fact: I actually predicted Paolini's announcement of a fourth book shortly before he did on one of the anti-fan-sites(hatesites?)

To reply to smigenboger: It has elements of Lord of the Rings(some of the names, I believe, as wel as the setting and most of the species), Dragon Riders of Pern (this one should be obvious), Earthsea (the magic system in general), and Star Wars (many, many many plot points). Bid'daum is Muad'dib (from Dune) reversed. I'm sure there are some elements that I've missed, and it's quite possible some (or many) of these are unintentional or came from earlier influences themselves.

I find it scary that I remember this much

[inteuniso]

I think it's funny that everyone refers to Christopher Paolini as CP.

[qwertyuiopas]

Decent writing, however, anyone can write that well with some effort and plenty of time. Nothing really outstanding or new, so it really isn't that great of a series.

[Armok]

I think the books are getting a lot of undeserved hate.

If you read it as a FANTASY book it sucks, but it isn't a fantasy book, it's a book about politics and culture and linguistics which just happens to take place in a parody fantasy universe. Also, the writing is nice, and which the exception of the main some characters are really compelling.
_{^{... or maybe I just got a crush on Saphira...}}

[Pathos]

I think the books are getting a lot of undeserved hate.

If you read it as a FANTASY book it sucks, but it isn't a fantasy book, it's a book about politics and culture and linguistics which just happens to take place in a parody fantasy universe. Also, the writing is nice, and which the exception of the main some characters are really compelling.
_{^{... or maybe I just got a crush on Saphira...}}

Armok's almost mastered the subtle art of sarcasm. I'm impressed.

[ein]

They're fun books if you like terrible fan-fiction.