Tag: Dragons

Books

Book 77: Brisingr – Christopher Paolini

Geoff W

In what was originally touted as the final book in the trilogy, Brisingr neither disappoints nor impresses and serves primarily as a place-holder in the series. There are some significant plot moments and a plethora of new characters, but all-in-all the novel serves only to highlight the atrocities the Empire has committed and is willing to commit to remain in power.

It is in Brisingr more so than any of the other novels that readers see what Paolini is trying to do (whether he is successful or not I will leave to each reader). He has created a world and he now has to fill it. Not only is he writing the story of what is happening in the world, but he is attempting to enumerate the myths, legends, and histories of the various inhabitants of Alagaësia. Whereas in Eldest we learn of the elves, in Brisingr we learn of the Dwarves and Urgals (bipedal creatures with huge horns growing out of their heads, think minotaur, but less bull like).

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Books

Book 76: Eldest – Christopher Paolini

Geoff W

With Paolini’s second novel, Eldest, I begin to understand and even agree with some of the critiques people have of the individual novels. However, I remain disappointed in the generic critiques of the writing and the author, with disregard to the merits of the story.

This does not excuse the editing issues, or the monotonous detail driven paragraphs. In this day and age a book is no longer created by an individual. The myriad editors and staff (and Paolini’s parents) involved should have caught most, if not all of these mistakes/passages. To be fair on the publishing industry from what I learned in my copyediting class, they may have made the suggestions and Paolini rejected them, but who knows. Regardless, the story is a moving and fast paced epic which if you allow it draws you in to events bigger than any individual.

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Books

Book 75: Eragon – Christopher Paolini

Geoff W

Just a warning, this is more of a rant about other readers than a review of the story. It is hard to review a continuous series with very little break in action between books especially if you’ve read them as many times as I have. Let’s just say I’ve loved these novels since I first read them and I’m excited (and sad) for the final novel’s release, but it will be a fitting 50th book this year!

When I went to Goodreads to mark I was re-reading this book, some of the vitriolic responses to the book and the author truly surprised me. It quite upset me how rude and caustic people were being with their claims of copying other stories.

Has Paolini borrowed from other fantasy authors? Yes, but haven’t they all? Is his writing perfect or on par with the HG Wells and JRR Tolkien? No, but what were they doing when they were 19-years old? Does Paolini stretch to far and occasionally end up with awkward dialogue and too much description, yes of course he does – but did you read The Two Towers? I’m fairly certain Tolkien tells you how many leaves are on every bush in the swampland. Is The Inheritance Cycle story worth reading and does he bring something new to the fiction/fantasy genre? Yes.

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Quotes

Quotes from You Shall Know Our Velocity – Dave Eggers

Geoff W

“They were dressed magnificently, one in the yellow of a rose, one in a rich and ancient orange, the third in a late-evening blue–three queens sitting on folding tables…” – 50

“He wants to make sure God wants him to live. So he spends a lot of time asking. He brings himself close to the edge and he feels God’s breath on his back. If God wants to take him, all he needs to do is blow.” – 72

“They were busy devoting their attention to traveling, to watching the progress of the boat–instrumental in traveling is the witnessing of passage. And I was traveling, too, I was serious about it.” – 160

“I grew up obsessed with dragons, knew everything, knew that scientists or people posing as scientists had calculated how dragons might have flown, that to fly and breathe fire they’d have to be full of hydrogen, at levels so dangerous and in such tremulous balance that– I wondered quickly if I’d give my life so that a dragon could live. If someone offered me that deal, your life for the existence of dragons. I thought maybe yes, maybe no.” – 180

“Her English was seamless. Everyone’s was. I had sixty words of Spanish and Hand had maybe twice that in French, and that was it. How had this happened? Everyone in the world knew more than us, about everything, and this I hated then found hugely comforting.” – 220

“We knew nothing; the gaps in our knowledge were random and annoying. They were potholes–they could be patched but they multiplied without pattern or remorse. And even if we knew something, had read something, were almost sure of something, we wouldn’t ever know the truth, or come anywhere close to it. The truth had to be seen. Anything else was a story, entertaining, but more embroidered fib than crude, shapeless fact.” – 238

“To travel is selfish–that money could be used for hungry stomachs and you’re using it for your hungry eyes, and the needs of the former must trump the latter, right? And are there individual needs? How much disbelief, collectively, must be suspended, to allow for tourism?” -253

“There is a corner of the sea that is deep but not so deep that it’s black. It’s the blue of a blueberry, violet in its heart, though this blue allows light through its million unseeable pores. The hue is evenly painted but electric, a klieg light pushing through a gel of cyan.” – 310