The Inheritance Cycle: A Critical Review
At the age of 15, Christopher Paolini began writing a novel. Many teenagers do so, few succeed. What set Paolini apart was his devotion to his universe and the happy coincidence that his parents were rich enough to make the book self-published. At 19, Knopf Publishing House picked up Paolini and Eragon and began an aggressive marketing campaign, touting him as a Child Prodigy like Mozart, and the 21st Century Tolkien. When he was only 19, Paolini became a New York Times bestselling author.
This would all be well and good if the Inheritance cycle wasn't the sub-quality product it is. I'm sorry diehard fans, but you must admit that Paolini is not the new Tolkien many have hailed him as. Nor is he a new Lewis, or a new Jordan, or a new Howard. This is a critical review of the Inheritance cycle, and I intend to bring its flaws to the surface, in all their unseemly, gawky, raw glory. Let us begin with a quote:
"Layer upon layer of pregnant clouds blanketed Palancar Valley, clinging to the mountains with tenacious arms and filling the air with heavy, cold mist. From inside, Roran watched as cords of gray water pelted the trees with their frothing leaves, muddied the trench around Carvahall, and scrabbled with blunt fingers against the thatched roofs and eaves as the clouds disgorged their load. Everything was streaked, blurred, and hidden behind the torrent's inexorable streamers,"
That, my friends, is how to say it rained in the longest possible way. Readers are "treated" to passages like these all through Eragon and Eldest. This opens up on the first of my three primary criticisms.
PURPLE PROSE
What is purple prose you may ask? It is defined as: "Writing full of ornate or flowery language" Unfortunately for the reader, Inheritance is full of it. Purple prose often encumbers and chokes out any plot to be had in a book.
"The sandstone around her nose shimmered like gilded dew, turning clear with dancing silver highlights. Eragon watched in wonder as tendrils of white diamond twisted over the tomb's surface in a web of priceless filigree. Sparkling shadows were cast on the ground, reflecting splashes of brilliant colors that shifted dazzlingly as the sandstone continued to change"
There is another example of purple prose. Completely unneccesary and complete overkill. That's more adjectives than should possibly be used in connection with human communication. The big, pompous, needlessly archaic words come thick and fast. Hemingway's "I Love You" principle, which I happen to agree with wholeheartedly, states that oftentimes it is the simplest words that have the most profound emotional effect. Paolini takes this principle and murders it brutally. And that leads me into my second criticism:
THESAURUS ABUSE
Paolini loves the thesaurus. That can be considered his trademark: Big, heavy-handed, complex words that make the book seem emotionless and the reader bored. Here is a rather helpful chart of words he could only have found in a thesaurus, that I found on Anti-Shur'tugal. Read it and weep:
May I ask, what sort of medieval-style character would EVER describe ANYTHING with the word: "Hyperrealism" What's more, what sort of 8-10 year that would conceivably be reading Eragon or Eldest would know what "Hyperrealism" means? On continuum, fecund, tenebrous, acrimonius, effulgence, etc, the list goes on and one. Eldest is the primary offender in this category. It's as if Paolini has become self-aware in his writing. In Eragon you really got the feeling that Paolini just loved his world to bits, and didn't care what people thought, he was writing with reckless abandon. He tried to make Eldest more 'mature' by using more 'mature' language, and in doing so he unneccesarily burdered his prose with words like widdershins.
Finally, there is my last criticism for today:
ERAGON HIMSELF
Luke Skywalker, Frodo Baggins, Daenerys Targaryen, Shea Ohmsford, Eragon Shadeslayer.
All of these characters are heroes. They strive against overwhelming odds to bring justice and peace back to their shattered worlds.
All except one...
That's right, my last criticism is of Eragon himself. Honestly, he is one of the most despicable, dislikeable, unoriginal, annoying characters ever. Quite simply, he's a Mary-Sue (or Gary-Stu in this case). What is that? In fanfiction, a Mary-Sue is an internationally reviled character, often a stand-in for the author, that serves as a 'perfect' idealized version of the writer. Paolini has admitted that Eragon is a stand-in for himself. And if Eragon is not idealized, I do not know the meaning of the word. Look at him, he becomes literate, a competent swordsman, a powerful mage and a skilled rider in just a few months. In Eldest, he becomes "more beautiful than any man, but more rugged than any elf,". If you do not admit that Eragon is a Gary-Stu, you must not understand the concept.
His emotional shallowness is one of my primary concerns. At the beginning of Eldest, he is anguished by Murtagh's "death" for a few paragraphs, than promptly moves on to other things. When he accidentally curses a child that he was trying to protect, he is anxious for a few sentences. Hell, when Murtagh comes back at the end of Eldest, Eragon has NO emotional angst at all. This is a person who is Eragon's brother (literally and metaphorically) and who is working for the side of "Evil" . Unlike Luke Skywalker's famously emotional reaction to the revelation that Darth Vader is his father, Eragon is emotionally shocked for a few sentences then promptly begins to spout verbal abuse at Murtagh as he attacks him. The reader has NO sympathy for this character, and when Eragon has his ass so rightly whooped by Murtagh, we don't feel bad for him at all. In fact, the supposed 'bad guys' of this book, The Empire, comes across as just a government trying to put down a terrorist group rather than any sort of tyrannical regime.
Eragon is also a blatant ripoff of better characters. Take a look at this plot summary:
A young man, heir of a hated lord and destined to lead his people against an evil overlord, falls in love with a dark-haired princess of aching beauty. But he can never be with her, for he is Man and mortal and she is an immortal Elf who will forever be beyond him. Despite this, the man seeks her love, and is willing to fight all the evil the world can muster for her hand in marriage
Now, is this romance of Aragorn and Arwen or Eragon and Arya? You can't tell the difference can you? Eragon, down to his name, is blatantly deriative from Aragorn. But with the youth and inexperience of Luke Skywalker and Harry Potter thrown in for good measure. Both the Shadeslayer and the King of Gondor are heirs to reviled traitors of the side of Good (Morzan and Isildur), both wield hereditary swords forged by Elves (Zar'roc and Narsil/Anduril) and both are the last, best hope of good in their world. Hell, Aragorn was even named 'Estel' (Quenya for 'Hope') when he was young. The only difference is that Aragorn is noble, likeable and an interesting character that is the granddaddy of entire literary conventions (The Ranger/Lost Heir to the Throne). Whereas Eragon is annoying and shallow.
The Inheritance cycle would've improved itself immensely if it had foregone all this Eragon, Gary-Stu nonsense to begin with, and focused on Murtagh or Roran as the main character.
