NL placed second in top 5 children's books

[TianNing]

found out that Eragon is actually 4th, after Northern Lights.

Well, that's a relief. But I still can't believe it came in at #4.

Not to dis' anyone here, but I'm with moonflash.

I read Eragon, and I even the sequel because I wanted to see if it got any better. (It couldn't really go the other way.) The only thing that distinguishes those books is that the author is so young. But as literature....I'm sorry...it stinks.

It's got every cliche in the book. The prose is pedestrian. You can practically write the next line as you're reading it. And it's full of ridiculous grammatical errors. (Doesn't this kid have an editor who knows proper English? Or do they think that good grammar will "turn off" today's young, illiterate readers?)

If you haven't read it, I wouldn't recommend you waste your time. It's one of the few cases ever in which the movie was actually more entertaining than the book--maybe because there was just so little in the book that it was easy to adapt to the screen.

(Boy, and you thought YOU were venting, eh, moonflash?)

[Somewhat]

found out that Eragon is actually 4th, after Northern Lights.

Well, that's a relief. But I still can't believe it came in at #4.

Not to dis' anyone here, but I'm with moonflash.

I read Eragon, and I even the sequel because I wanted to see if it got any better. (It couldn't really go the other way.) The only thing that distinguishes those books is that the author is so young. But as literature....I'm sorry...it stinks.

It's got every cliche in the book. The prose is pedestrian. You can practically write the next line as you're reading it. And it's full of ridiculous grammatical errors. (Doesn't this kid have an editor who knows proper English? Or do they think that good grammar will "turn off" today's young, illiterate readers?)

If you haven't read it, I wouldn't recommend you waste your time. It's one of the few cases ever in which the movie was actually more entertaining than the book--maybe because there was just so little in the book that it was easy to adapt to the screen.

(Boy, and you thought YOU were venting, eh, moonflash?)

Hello, new best friend!
I just want to quote a little thing I wrote on another forum here:

Please read this small synopsis:
QUOTE
Farmboy lives far away from civilization with his relatives. He finds an object which could save the entire world from the evil of the Empire. However, servants of the Empire come to his house and kill his relatives. Taking the weapon with him, he finds an old hermit. This hermit later reveals himself to be a powerful swordsman and the last of an ancient lineage. The farmboy learns many important skills from him. Then, they are attacked and the hermit dies. However, the farmboy meets a wandering rogue who accompanies him on his adventure to escape the Empire and find the Rebel base. Then, the farmboy sees a vision of a princess in a prison. The farmboy and the rogue rescue her and they all escape. Running to the Rebel base, they get there just in time. There is an enormous battle, and with the help of the skillful farmboy and the rogue, the Rebels win the battle and crush the force of the Empire. The farmboy finally embraces the fact that he is the only member of the hermit's ancient lineage.

Eragon? No, it's Star Wars of course! In nearly every detail except for some reshuffling of events.

[zemarl]

oh good, now i don't even need to read it to find out what it's about. ^.^ thanks moony!

[Beausabre]

Yes, One boy, One dragon, A world of adventure.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but I actually hate it myself. I think it's the most pathetic imitation of LotR ever written, base, cliched and certainly not gripping. If books that are better than Eragon by far would be given a space on the market, we wouldn't have to search to find good fantasy.
The same goes for Harry Potter: although it is well-written and much more imaginative than Eragon, kids just read it because it's Harry Potter, not because it's a good book, and this blocks the market for other smaller books that aren't even given a chance.

Phewf. That was my rant for the day.

Actually Eragon, Potter, HDM and LotR are all aspects of a universal human mythos, Joseph Campbell's “Hero with a Thousand Faces”

From Wikipedia:

“The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949) is a non-fiction book, and seminal work of comparative mythology by Joseph Campbell. In this publication, Campbell discusses his theory of the journey of the archetypal hero found in world mythologies and religions.
Since publication of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell's theory has been consciously applied by a wide variety of modern writers and artists. The best known is perhaps George Lucas, who has acknowledged a debt to Campbell regarding the stories of the Star Wars films.

Campbell explores the theory that important myths from around the world that have survived for thousands of years all share a fundamental structure, which Campbell called the monomyth.

This fundamental structure contains a number of stages, which include

(1) a call to adventure, which the hero has to accept or decline (NL),

(2) a road of trials, regarding which the hero succeeds or fails, (NL/TSK)

(3) achieving the goal or "boon," which often results in important self-knowledge (TAS),

(4) a return to the ordinary world, again as to which the hero can succeed or fail, and finally, (TAS)

(5) application of the boon in which what the hero has gained can be used to improve the world.(TAS)

In a well-known quote from the introduction to The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell wrote:

“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man."
”
The classic examples of the monomyth relied upon by Campbell and other scholars include the Buddha, Moses, and Christ stories, although Campbell cites many other classic myths from many cultures which rely upon this basic structure.

http://www.amazon.com/Hero-Thousand-Fac ... 0691017840

[Somewhat]

All that is undeniably true. No book can really be truly original because all books are based on human experience, and the myth of the hero has existed since the very first ape went and found a better tree.
But it is much harder to write a synopsis for both Star Wars and Lord of the Rings that could be read event-perfectly for both. Or Lord of the Rings and Beowulf, even. You could do it, but it would be vaguer than connecting Eragon and Star Wars. That's all I'm saying.

[Australis]

I suppose nobody missed the fact that NL won the "Carnegie Of Carnegies" for best children's book for the past 70 years, but it's worth putting it on record here anyway (if someone else has already done this then I missed it!

moonflash, did you get through all seven of the Tomorrow books, and the three Ellie Chronicles books that followed? My son and I have read all of them, and to me the best volume was Third Day, The Frost. Remember, when they blow up the ship and escape to New Zealand. I find the end of that book the most moving part of the whole series.

Getting (sort of) back on topic, I heard somewhere that NL (or HDM) was extremely popular in Scotland, easily beating HP. Anybody got any more info on this?

[shady]

Yeah,really NL won so many awards,i never heard of any for Eragon(not when i read it)

[tyche]

I can’t really remember them now but when I was about 12 the tomorrow when the war began series were, like, my favourite books ever. Chinese Cinderella is also awesome.
That is all.

[tellthemstories]

I know this is an old thread and I doubt any of you will read this, but I'd just like to point out how heavily Eragon 'borrows' the plot-line from the Belgariad from David Eddings. Paolini (the author of Eragon) actually says its his favourite book and then decides on an almost identical storyline and executes it poorly, I can see how its done well but it is nowhere near the league of TNL. However I will still be reading Inheritance now matter how much of a copy and how badly its written, I've gone this far and I'm not stopping now.

[Jaya]

It might interest you to read this thread on Eragon in our Other Books board. I'll leave that link here for others stumbling into here as well.