Saturday, October 25, 2008

Can you recommend something to me?

Brisingr, by Christopher Paolini. I read the first two in the series before I started my blog so you, dear reader, have no idea how much I loathe these books. The underlying (deep deep down most basic underlying underlying) plot is actually good-- not just not bad, but actually something worth the effort. The writing, however, is terrible. This is precisely the kind of writing you would expect from someone with a high school education who only ever reads crappy fantasy. The author would definitely benefit from a few years in college. I could rant on and on about his guy, but one of the things that frustrates me the most was that it's obvious this writer hasn't experienced for himself some of the most basic things he includes in his writing. Of course, having not ridden on a dragon's back myself, I'm not going to contest his descriptions. But I can tell you that, based on how he describes them in his book, one would assume he's never seen the sun rise over the mountains, or watched a campfire at night. This author might actually have legitimate talent, but his website needs to stop rambling on about his tours and how these other accomplished authors love him, and talk a little about how he is applying to a university, and god grant him a professor who won't be impressed with this drivel. Ok, on to something a little less unpleasant... Mates, dates, and Inflatable Bras, by Cathy Hopkins. I didn't get quite an accurate picture of this before I had to quit. It didn't seem quite realistic, but it could have been that the author just needed a little time to work into it. I stopped at the bottom page 8 because pages 9 and 10 were missing, and pages 11 through 120 fell out. Obviously a well-loved book, although those first 8 pages weren't quite enough to hook me. There is a whole series, all in bright colors.

1 comment:

Ms. Yingling said...

Hooray! Finally, someone who shares my opinion! I have long said that Paolini was locked in a closet with nothing but Tolkien and just regurgitated what he read, but you're right-- he might have learned to write from Tolkien. The students love this, but it was painful for me.