On Second Thought...

good morning.

WARNING: the text below contains spoilers for the second Inheritance book, Eldest, so if you haven't read it, ye be warned.

So, George pointed out awhile back that in light of Eragon's father, the whole story is just like Star Wars. "Yeah, I guess..." I hesitantly agreed. Recently, though, in some online reading, I cam across several other people who called it a total Star Wars ripoff. So I thought about it a little more. And....yeah, it isn't just like Star Wars, it is JUST LIKE Star Wars. Observe, and see if you can tell if I am sumarizing Star Wars or Inheritance:

In book one, a young farmer boy living with his uncle comes to own something that will help to destroy the evil Empire. The Empire finds out and subsequently sends grunts to burn the boy's house down and kill his uncle. The boy goes on the run with a crazy old man from the same town who always told old stories about a slect group of people who used to fight for justice and peace using extraordinary powers. The crazy old man teaches the boy the ways of these people, and turns out to have been one himself. Old man dies, quirky side character joins the cause, together they rescue a princess and return to the rebel base from which they plan to use the thing the boy has to fight the Empire.

In book two, the young boy goes to complete his training under a crippled old elf, and later discovers his father is the right hand man of the Empire's leader, i.e., one of that select magical group that turned evil, and now both the Empire leader and father want to recruit the boy and turn him to their side. Book two ends bittersweet with quirky side character in the hands of the Empire.

Oh, one more thing: in book one, crazy old man bequeaths a glowing sword to young boy, which used to belong to his father.

So, yet another "dude. What is THAT about?!?" to add to my list of things to say if I ever meet Paolini. For now, Paolini, you have lost major points. I'm winning. Granted, my own books draw from other stories, but always a crazy combination of various plots, and never intentionally. Not Star Wars inserted into the Lord of the Rings world with so much accuracy no one can deny the connection.

Despite all that, however, I still admit I have enjoyed the books greatly so far, and would, in fact, be willing to read them again. If the third book starts with an attempt to rescue quirky side character, however...*cough*. I mean, good grief.

later.

cHANGES

goodmorning.

On the new layout of Xanga:

I don't like it. It's too complicated. It took me awhile to find the "new weblog" button. This is ridiculous!

News:

News?!? Since when have I written any news on here? Well, it's been a long time, at any rate.

So I've finished three books since my last review, and I haven't reviewed ANY of them (*gasp*). They are

Sole Survivor, by Dean Koontz: my first (and prolly last) Koontz book. I bought it at the library for a dollar (hardcover!!!!) because it was cheap and had a good first sentence. Interesting thoughts on that...my brother hated it more than I did...

The Prestige, by Christopher Priest: yes, the book the Christian Bale/Hugh Jackman movie was based upon. This was a long time coming. Took me forever to finish because the middle was depressing and I stoppped reading it for awhile. But after I got over that hump I couldn't put it down. Not even to study for finals!

Persuasion, by Jane Austen: if you haven't heard of it, it's the book they mentioned in The Lakehouse (Keanu Reeves/Sandra Bullock). The girl has no clue on first and last sentences, but frankly, it was a good book. Captain Wentworth writes one heck of a letter.

So that's the quickreview. Maybe you can vote on which one I review first (or at all). Yeah, the one person who comments...*cough*

*crickets*

The news news is, now that I am on break from school (debating whether to go back in Fall...), I've been writing!

*gasp*

Not just writing...now prepare yourself...writing The Weary!

Yes, a rewrite, of course! What else have I ever done with The Weary? I am actually no longer sick of the main story and have been making significant progress (I think)...even unto Chapter Five! Skipping chapters two and four, of course. They hopefully don't need much work.

The question remains, a farmer, a lumberjack, a welder, an oil rigger (rigger? Is that the right term????)

later.

fire, ice, rage

goodmorning.

the angels have taken the phone box.

bad wolf

America's Next Beef Tenderloin

goodmorning.

We were flipping channels and came across this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLqnCpMSmIc

ADVISORY WARNING: this is Next Top Model, people; they're not wearing a lot. Also, it's really gross.

...

Okay, so now that you've seen the latest fashion horror show, let's see what we can learn from it.

Firstly, yes, that's meat they are wearing. Notice phrases like "That makes her look really beautiful" and "She really stepped up today"

It was probably only meant as sensationalism, what-will-they-have-to-do-next kind of a thing you always see on reality shows. But it just goes to show you what filth these poor women will sink to just to be called beautiful. Total nudity wasn't enough to wake them up and neither was raw meat. There is no level too low for fashion. But the image of a half-starved woman, hair sticking out in all directions like an old broom, eyes lined in black for a diabetic, rather than the intended debauched--as Bruce Bliven noted back in 1925--look, wearing a flesh bikini (not flesh colored, mind you; flesh) is not just disgusting; it is poignant.

Those women are nothing but slabs of meat now.

Not one of the women objected, not one refused to do it. There were disgusted remarks, of course, but it was a problem when they didn't look comfortable in their little meatsuits, when they looked totally disconnected from their raw and refridgerated surroundings. Praised for straddling trash cans full of animal flesh and posing in the blood on the floor. Not one even considered if it was degrading. You do what the man with a camera tells you to do.

And what started it all? Nothing less than the liberation of women! Read all about it:

http://faculty.pittstate.edu/~knichols/flapperjane.html

So we need to ask ourselves; is this the kind of stuff we want to represent America? The American Dream is now twenty half-naked women in a meat locker?

There's a reason it makes us sick.

later.

still yet another review...

goodmorning

I have three tests next week. I should be studying.

But who wants to do that? Besides, I've only got thirty minutes before I have to leave so I figured I'd use this time to write my review of Eldest, book two in Paolini's Inheritance trilogy (which is apparently changing to a cycle instead, with four books…what’s with that?!?).

Ah...letsee

First sentence/last sentence- I gotta say, not impressed. But Paolini's not really one for dramatic statements in the narrative, so it's not terribly missed.

Plot: quite good. Not very complicated, but not simple either. I made three predictions throughout the course of it and they all came true, which I attribute to my intuitiveness as a writer rather than Paolini's failure to hide key elements. Really, it was quite well done. Most of it. He did absolutely shock me at one point (okay, maybe not absolutely, but enough that I hadn't remotely seen it coming and did let loose an 'omygosh'). Half the shock was severe disappointment and anger because hi!, this was my favorite character, and I did not like where he was going. Paolini did make it evident, however, that he is on his way to redeeming himself (himself being the author: I felt he had betrayed me).

Now, throughout the whole middle of the book, most of the action was carried by Roran, rather than Eragon, but it was no less interesting. A little slow, in parts. How it ended, revealing meaning behind a couple of seeds Paolini had planted along the way, the book title(s) in particular, certainly had a touch of brilliance. I had wondered in the back of my head why in the world it was called 'eldest', and now I know. Quite good, really. Now I want to change the title of the third Amisresai'n (currently The Weight of the Veil). Anywho...

Characters: Eragon deepens, which is good. Saphira, not so much (although I was somewhat pleased with her flirtacious behaviour to Glaedr; it showed a certain immaturity that hadn't really been brought out before and I thought was important to note. He played the dragons well). I was most pleased with Roran, I think. His character deepened by leaps and bounds and I think it was a great move. I really like him, he's so dark and troubled (still, not my favorite character).

It seems to me, however, that Paolini has but a weak grasp on his female characters. He has not tried much to deepen them. Nasuada is more a figurehead than a person, and Arya is so distant and reserved there doesn't have to be much to her...yet (although it would be wise of Paolini to reveal something of her deeper character, or else give up Eragon's tumultuous feelings for her altogether. Really, it's starting to irritate me, what would really rock the readers would be to do a little spot on Arya, revealing some of her inner feelings, not just by proxy through Oromis explaining why she's behaving the way she is, and so on...). The one female character that shows real spunk is Angela, who is interestingly modeled after Paolini's sister. He ought to do that more often. Angela is different, lovable, and realistic.

::EDIT:: I forgot to mention Elva! Dark and creepy! I liked the fact that everybody shuddered the first time they heard her voice. Very affective. I don't like her; not hardly at all, but she's a good character, and the reason she is the way she is is pretty cool. ::EDIT::

Setting: same as Eragon. Umm...he didn't seem to spend as much time describing in this one, but maybe I'm just getting used to it. I got a fairly good mental picture of Ellesmera, so I'm happy.

Theme: um. Well, the 'religious' beliefs of the elves I found alarming. Paolini left room to redeem himself but does not show much sign of doing so.  I'm not particularly fond of Paolini elves. They're kind of like...I don't know, zen materialists, if such a thing is possible. New Age atheists. Stuck-up, soulless artists. Yes, I think that describes them well. Perhaps a bit too harsh?

He touched on the purpose of war and why it is sometimes necessary, which I appreciated, but he did not argue it as eloquently as I think I would have preferred.

I'm still impressed at his keeping Galbatorix, the antagonist, at a distance. You never see or hear from him directly, so he simply grows in this cloud of unknown maliciousness. We become slowly aware of how powerful he really must be, and still retain the feeling that once Eragon meets him we will find we underestimated the king's power. There's a certain...I don't know, wisdom in keeping the enemy distant, as that is often how we view enemies in the real world. 

Ending: sufficient bang and doubt. Could not at all stand alone and I’m glad that it won’t. I kind of sat around in my head after finishing it going “what am I gonna read now?”, despite the fact that I’m currently reading Out to Canaan and The Prestige, because once you get a taste of pure adventure you want to stick with it forever. Thusly, I’m reading the Disappearing Dwarf (sequel to Blaylock’s The Elfin Ship), which is insanely delightful and promises to make me crave cheese.

Style: same as before…which I suppose shows consistency. Used a few fancy, really vague words that I could only hope, for his sake, were used correctly. I could’ve looked them up but I’m never near a dictionary when I’m reading, and it would waste valuable reading time… Got a bit modern with a few things…some of the dialogue seemed to me a little juvenile (reminded me of my stuff, haha), and he had one huge ‘no no’ that provided wonderful entertainment for my entire family and (one) friend, who I read it to specifically to get a laugh. (I refer to a line of dialogue having to do with barges). I mean, this thing was painfully bad. But since, on the whole, the book was good, I guess it just goes to show what kind of ridiculousness you can get away with if you’re a good writer.

Overall: then, of course I have good things to say. Eldest revealed that Eragon was actually better than I thought. The two together are much better than the one; I only hope the third (Brisingr) and fourth (?) do the same thing for Inheritance.

Well, Paolini, does this count as round two? I haven’t yet gotten anything published, but I think, despite your talent, the barges have fallen such that it is yet another draw.

Until next time, my worthy opponent.

later.