swankivy: Not sure what Georgia meant by pointing out that "[I am] an editor!" (like, maybe this is a demand that editors are contractually required to answer all requests on the Internet?), but I never said "you have to know people" to be published. I said that Paolini DID. He got published with a "real" publisher after his parents published his book for him and took him around on parent-sponsored book tours, and the way he GOT his deal was that a published author happened to see him at a bookstore and was impressed by a teenager writing a book (hmm, sound familiar?), and so he bought the book, made his stepson read it, and then recommended it (WITHOUT READING IT HIMSELF) to his editor after his son said he liked it. Without that tip, he just would have remained a self-published kid as far as anyone knows. The rest of us who don't have connections or publisher parents have to submit queries and whatnot, and yes, the best ones of THOSE are rewarded with publishing contracts regardless of who we know. Those with connections often get to skip that part. That's all.

Anonymous: Although I do agree with much of what you argue re: parallel plots with Tolkien, SAT verbosity, etc., I would like to say that Paolini's second effort, Eldest, is a delight and shows a great deal of authorial growth.

swankivy: Well, I don't agree with this person's assessment of Eldest (it certainly wasn't a delight to ME), but some of the things that annoyed me in Eragon weren't present anymore in Eldest. I think Eldest was a better book. But I think it sucks too. This is an issue for my later rant about that book, though . . . eventually I'll write it.

Emeril: This is a very true review on Paolini's self-proclaimed "Book of the Year". The story has been so overdone it isn't even slightly funny. I can hear Brom saying "Use the magic, Luke- I mean Eragon." I'm not an ultra hip Tolkien fan, but really, SOME origionality would be nice!

Georgia: Hey again! I had a friend spend the night last night and i had eragon sitting on my computer room table. I picked it up and started reading it outloud. (My friend hadn't read it) After i read about a half of a page she was like "GEORGIA! Stop reading... what book is that anyway?" And i was like "Eragon" And then she is "It sounds like it was written by a twelve year old! Seesh!" I just thought i'd let you know that!!

nick g: i would like to say i hate what u say but i agree

Georgia: "nick g" Would it KILL you to use some punctuation? Anyway... i was wondering how you can hate what "You" (Question on who 'you' is) say, but still agree?

John: Dear Sir,

I'm sorry that your profession has cursed you with the inability to enjoy the simple things. I have read a lot of books, all those that you mentioned. However, I still enjoyed Eragon (and Eldest) immensely. I got through the entire book in a weekend and then went out immediately and got the next book. Dispite the similarites that you pointed out, I honestly did not think anything of it while reading (dispite being a big Tolkien fan) the books. I do share the same sentiments as millions of fans worldwide who have enjoyed the book.

Maybe it's a hobby of yours to criticize and insult the hard work of the Author but I do sense a bit of jealously too from your words. You mentioned luck in your essay, let me point out that luck also played a big part in alot of other people who succeed in what they do. (i.e being casted in a good movie, finding an operating system just in time for IBM, having your book read by a big time publisher on vacation). That being said, give credit where credit is due. Do not discount his ability to sell millions of books just because he is lucky. Given that luck, would you have been able to do any better?

Maybe it's time you stop and smell the roses, the world would really start to look better.

John

swankivy: I gave ol' John above a little tongue-lashing regarding the undeserved personal nature of his comment, and he ended up backing off and apologizing. However, for the record, I'd like to say that no one will ever know now whether Paolini would have made it on merit if he hadn't made it on luck--I vote no, considering the books he wrote AFTER Eragon continued to sport most of the flaws the first book did. I should also note that it's not a "hobby of mine" to be negative and just spend my time soothing my jealousy by shooting other people down. It's funny how people who say this haven't gone to my site at all to see that I'm an incredibly creative person who spends most of her time on her own writing, drawing, singing, and social life activities, and no one EVER mentions the fact that I have FIVE sites devoted to being a fan of certain book series (as balanced with ONE negative one about which I feel strongly). No, I am not a bitter, jaded editor who walks around with pursed lips and sees the world in shades of gray and brown. You're just going to tend to see me that way if MY CRITICISM IS THE ONLY BIT OF MY WRITING YOU READ. Thank you.

Adriano Farina: Nice essay, I totally agree. You should update it with data from Eldest.

Jimmi Boi: In regard to your Eragon hate essay:
Hey dude or girl- whatever, but yeah this is a intriguing book and your just hatin cuz ur jealous, but first of all you guessed that “he's going to somehow find his father, and his father will then give him up to the bad guys.”- ERRR- WRONG. You don’t know nothing– even I knew that wasn’t gonna happen. Secondly you said, “And as soon as those who killed his uncle are destroyed (robbing him of an immediate goal), just in time, he starts having convenient dreams about a woman in a dungeon--who he of course has to rescue.”- ERRR, guess what- wrong again. Those who killed his uncle are not destroyed in the first book OR the second book. So, you better get your facts straight b4 you start talking all this.

swankivy: Yeah so this dude's e-mail didn't work for whatever reason, so this is my response:

Hi Jimmi Boi, I'm writing you because you left a comment on my Eragon Essay, so here I will respond to you.

Hey dude or girl- whatever::

I'm a girl, just for your reference.

but yeah this is a intriguing book and your just hatin cuz ur jealous

Hmm, assumptions . . . not a very nice way to start off a critique.

I'll get this out of the way before I respond to some of the even ruder things in your response: My comments box wasn't for you to insult me or make dumb assumptions about me based on my opinions. I don't agree with you so I must suck and be jealous, and you know everything even though this is the only thing you've even read about me (that I hate the book). Sorry, but I'm not "jealous." I gave very good reasons for why I didn't like the book other than jealousy. And I don't have any problem with the thousands of other authors who have managed to have great success in the publishing world. The problem I have with Paolini is that his book sucks and he is still successful. That's all.

but first of all you guessed that “he's going to somehow find his father, and his father will then give him up to the bad guys.”- ERRR- WRONG. You don’t know nothing– even I knew that wasn’t gonna happen.

But you probably didn't say so in public. Of course it's easier now to say that you knew what was going to happen. That was my guess based on his blueprint (which is the same one Star Wars was based on). That's why I prefaced it with "my guess is." I wasn't that far off when the truth was that he found his *brother*, who joined the bad guys and came after him.

Secondly you said, “And as soon as those who killed his uncle are destroyed (robbing him of an immediate goal), just in time, he starts having convenient dreams about a woman in a dungeon--who he of course has to rescue.”- ERRR, guess what- wrong again. Those who killed his uncle are not destroyed in the first book OR the second book.

Yeah they were. The group he was chasing was taken out of commission. Yeah it wasn't by him, and yeah it wasn't the people who were actually responsible for his uncle's death, but his first goal was revenge and suddenly that was over and he started having dreams about Arya just in time so he had another motive. It's like some jerk with dice was playing D&D and they switched their quest.

So, you better get your facts straight b4 you start talking all this.

Dude, my facts are pretty straight, but don't go telling me I'd "better" anything. My essay is an opinion piece and it's backed up with a crapload of facts. I don't appreciate the personal tone of this comment. You can criticize whatever you want about my writing, but you don't have to be a frigging jerk about it. We don't agree on it being "intriguing" or whatever--I made that abundantly clear, and the book's sales make it equally clear that there are plenty of folks that don't agree. Entertainment Weekly gave Eldest the Worst Book of 2005 award, so it's not like I'm alone or something . . . lots of people who actually know literature think this thing is just silly and is an insult to fantasy. But what it comes down to here is opinions, and you can get off my butt.

Heather: Thankyou. I could add a lot of other things that bother me - one of the worst things is the militant fans who tend to burst into an otherwise civil multi-sided discussion and start throwing insults. There are far too many of them...

Incidentally, a lot of the other points I've seen and in some cases, argued myself can be found on the forum located at http://imdb.com/title/tt0449010/board/threads/ if you are interested.