Official Book Club Thread 3/17/04Follow

Yeah yeah, I haven't finished it yet, it's not that I don't like the book, I'm just still having trouble sitting myself down and making time to read it, but once I do start reading it, I usually keep on looking forward to the next chapter, I like the book very much so far.

I'm not too far from finishing it; I just wanted to comment on Saphira, I like her.

Parts that made me laugh were her snide remarks to Eragon, like when he attempted to climb up the cliff she was on, and got stuck, her remark was something like "out of the thousands of possible ways to climb up, you have the ability to find the one dead end".

I like that he (the author) is taking the time to develop her (the dragon) into not just something he (Eragon) rides on, but another main character in the story.

Another amusing part I remember was when she became angry with Eragon for not wanting to ride her, there she showed signs of jealousy (he was riding an "ugly horse" as she put it), along with concern for her rider, and just a sense of wanting to spend time with him. Snapping at him and pinning him down with her claws might have been a bit much, but it sure got her point across, and really helped in defining her as a true co-star to the story.

Although this is fantasy, I see the author really trying to make sense of it all, and really offer great ideas as to how all this magic and dragon-lore happened.

How magic is used in this book is very "believable", if you get what I'm saying. Eragon doesn't just shoot out fire from his hands unexplainably, there is a process, and limit to his magical powers, all carefully explained, and the reader grows and learns along with Eragon just exactly how magic is used and when and where it should be used.

Your thoughts?

(I'll try to hurry and finish this so we can move on to another book)

Actually the first time he uses magic fire it is on the arrow that he shot from his bow , killing 3 (i think) urgals in that alley. this massive use of magic knocks him out.

after they leave the town, Brom then chastises (sp) him and told him he would have been better off useing the pebble levitation magic.



Edited, Wed Mar 17 13:55:16 2004 by Aadynn Litefoot

ahh ok point taken.

I enjoyed the book immensely, but it is clear it this is a young writer who is still polishing his skills. What this means is (hopefully) each book will improve and grow on the foundation of each previous book, much like Tolkien transition from The Hobbit to his trilogy.

I'd like to see him embelish on the details of the action in each scene, although I was pleasantly surprised to see him develop the main character's personalities so well. I confess I was startled to see what appeared to be jealousy of Saphira for Eragon-- a dragon-human love relationship is what he seemed to be aiming for initially, but then it resolved itself as an aspect or facet of their professional lives, in that she wanted him to become a better Dragonrider.

I'm looking forward to the second book to see if this is the real deal or if he got lucky as a first time storyteller.

Totem