M.D.: It's funny. Paolini has the most insane fans, I think. I was talking to this one fanboy, and showed him a few urls on hatelistings, and one of his arguments was: "This is only two sites. There are like 5 sites that like Eragon."

Wow, right?

On another note...that same fanboy told me, when I told him it was a Lord of the Rings ripoff:
"No! I mean, if it had 'Legolas' in it, then I would understand."
Me: "Dude, a ton of the names are taken and a few letters are switched."
Him: "What, so 'Eragon' is from the Lord of the Rings?!"
*headdesk*

Brandon Berry: I just wanted to let you know that these two essays you wrote are dead on. I've read both books and can't for the life of me figure out why they sell so many copies. The only people who could possibly think that Paolini has any talent at all must not have read any previous fantasy at all. And the the best thing about your essays is that you don't simply rip on Paolini, you back it up with facts and examples. Good work.

Christina: I just wanted to drop you a line to tell you that I completely agree with your criticism for Eragon and Eldest. I have to point out, however, that Urgals have turned to be more than Orks were: some of them have turned to allies and we are, finally, given reasons for their behavior. They are still basically a copy of Orks, even having higher ranks, the Uruk-hai-ooops, sorry, Kulls, but I think CP's trying to fix this as much as they can, presenting them somewhat differently. Well, it worked, for me at least-meaning I disliked Eldest a bit less than Eragon.
With that being said, I shall depart, and if I will talk to you again I know not... ;)

Dai: I find myself agreeing almost whole-heartedly with your critique of Eragon, though I perhaps would have been less charitable to Mr. Paolini. There was one point that you raised that I feel has to be clarified: one can use the title 'King' if one rules an empire, but this is only the case if the Head of State originally ruled a kingdom and the title is retained due to custom. For example: all of the British monarchs who reigned during the existence of the British Empire, who used the title king (or queen) due to custom, and then had Emperor or Empress as part of their 'royal style'. But unless the king (I forget his ridiculous name) already ruled a kingdom, this will not apply.

Josh: Everyone thinks that the Forsworn are the Ringwraiths, but I think they resemble the Forsaken from Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series

Travis Looper: Thank you so much.
I have never read the book but i was not a fan of the movie. My cousins think this is a great book and now you have supplied me with the tools of argument to strike there opinions down. The thing that they said that encouraged me to seek out this review is that they compared Paolini's Eragon series to Card's Enders Game series which just frankly set me over the edge.

Once again thank you so much for this review.

Crystal: Loved your Eraon and Eldest essays. I couldn't have said it better myself. They are so better written than those books that if they were published I wouldn't be surprised if they outsold those books. Much applause and thank you for sharing.

Ari: Hey there, Ivy,

You know me from the AS Livejournal, so I won't introduce myself. :) I loved both essays; they were funny and well thought out, and I enjoyed reading both. I was simply wondering if you'll ever post one on Brisingr?

Thanks,

-Ari

Glorfindel: I recently bought the full set of the Inheritance Cycle, mainly because the hardback set was goin' cheap at BIG W. So I burrowed in and pushed myself through the cloyingly damp soil of Paolini's transparently derivative imagination. Oh dear. This guy sure deserves a medal for being so young and so full of excitement about what he's read; you can tell which titles and authors are his faves by page 10 of book 1. But either he doesn't deserve to get published OR his editors deserve to be put through a meatgrinder. This young guy's story would be interesting and racey enough if he didn't trip over himself to bring the exhausted reader an endless parade of names and languages(?) which add absolutely nothing to the story. Couldn't his editors simply tell him it is just too dumb and tedious? And why did there need to be a TRILOGY"? The essential stuff of this dull creation could have been comfortably fit into about 800-1000 pages maybe leaving me enough interest to want to read the final instalment of what now promises to be at least a QUARTET. Gods below, Christopher! Just kill off the GalBATorix character that never appears and get on with a real life, unless you choose to get yourself mauled by the Ra'zac that is!

Glorfindel