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@Anna-Brie So does one of my brothers! (I would go with him, of course. 🙂 ) He really likes marine biology, and he wants to build the first aquarium with a live sea dinosaur exhibit.
@kate-flournoy So I’ve finished book two now. I know you said it get’s better, but how much better? You see, I’ve almost lost interest in the series at this point. I know, I was just saying how I planned to finish the whole thing, but I guess I can change my mind quickly. One reason is that the books would take me a while to get through, but I’m itching for a masterpiece at the moment, and I doubt Paolini would serve on that level. Now, I wouldn’t say I dislike Paolini. I’ve mildly enjoyed book two. I guess the main thing that’s making me indifferent is his worldview. I mean, it’s so pathetic I hardly even care anymore. He’s basically given me a nihilistic view of his world, and being gullible, I’ve accepted that and it’s left me with very little concern over whether Eragon wins or Galbatorix wipes out the whole world. I mean, at this point, if the whole world ended in flame, I would almost like that. When there was the Murtagh reveal at the end, I was excited at first, but then it just left me feeling more cynical than ever. And I like Roran even worse now.
But the one reason I do want to keep reading is to find out how Eragon wins, because I imagine that would be an interesting process. The intellectual side appeals to me I guess, even though I’ve almost ceased to care about the characters.
The one positive side is that now I know more about what it feels like to be a nihilist, which I could end up using in a book someday.
So the question is, do you think 3 and 4 are that much better that I would enjoy them? I know I sound totally set against them, but I’m wording this stronger than I intended to. I’m still willing to consider continuing. The other option is that I could just ask my brother who has read 3 and 4 to tell me how the plot goes, so then I will satisfy my intellectual side, but won’t have to read the books.
What do you think? Honestly. You can completely ignore my cynicism.
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@Daeus yes, I know. Eldest was by far the toughest to get through. Thematically wishy-washy and not accomplishing much of anything. It’s been a while since I read Brisingr, but I do seem to remember it being a lot more interesting and a lot less eye-roll-worthy when it came to the worldview, probably because it didn’t say much of anything about it (except some weird argument Eragon and Saphira had over the dwarvish ‘gods’, which was… just… no). 😛 But for me, yawning through Eldest and Brisingr was totally worth it to get the most out of Inheritance. I would definitely recommend you keep going, if only for Murtagh’s sake. I won’t give you any spoilers, but his arc is really, really good.
Also, I don’t know (in fact I highly doubt) if Paolini did this on purpose, but once we actually meet Galbatorix he’s much less one-dimensional than he seems, and actually adds a fair bit to the practically non-existent theme. In fact, if the battle had been determined on strength of worldview alone, Galbatorix would have beaten Eragon hollow, because even though he was wrong, he firmly believed what he believed. With Eragon, everything is relative. Thanks to Oromis’s won-der-ful teachings. Never trust an elf. 😛
The climax actually hinges on the choices of three characters (not telling who) and of the three only one made what I would call a ‘good’ choice for the ‘right’ reason. Not quite all the way true, but close enough that there was hope for him.And at the very least, if you get nothing else from this series, you can have fun pulling it to pieces and thinking about how much better it would have been if you could have talked to the author, or better yet written it yourself. 😉 😀 A great deal of my learning curve as a writer came from picking the Inheritance Cycle apart.
@kate-flournoy Hmm, sounds better. Maybe if I’m feeling less cynical tomorrow. Or maybe I’ll flip a coin. I really don’t know. I seriously might just flip a coin.
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@Daeus I’d be the last person to judge you.
@kate-flournoy Wellll… I flipped a heads, so I guess I’m gonna keep reading it unless I stop.
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@Daeus gonna keep reading it unless you stop, hm? *chuckles* Glad I have you here to explain these things to me. 😀
In all seriousness, okay. Let me know what you thought once you finish.
Except now I feel like stopping again. Is there an emoji for this situation? Is it worth keeping me from reading cry the beloved country or the brothers karmasomethingorotherrussian?
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Haven’t read either of those but probably not. If you’re not getting anything out of it, stop. 😛
@Daeus@Kate-Flournoy But—Murtagh. *sniff*
@Daeus Okay though, I don’t blame you if you want to stop. If you do that you may as well skim through the rest and read the Murtagh scenes at least. 😛 Your brother can tell you where they are. The Inheritance ones.@daeus @emma-flournoy @kate-flournoy @mark-kamibaya @warrioroftherealm
I’m sorry everybody, we were having a really good discussion and then I got it all sidetracked on dinosaurs. So, Jackson brought up a really good point about the magic being influenced by a cult. Since everyone seems to agree that the series was influenced/ inspired by the cult’s New Age beliefs, I was wondering what you all think about it still being okay to read them.
Not at all, @Sarah-H. Writers ramble. It’s part of the job description. 😀
That’s a great question. As far as reading books with a bad worldview like that, in the end they’re just books and no one who reads them with their head screwed on straight and their eyes on Christ is gonna get burned. In fact, I read the IC at a point in my life when I was just really starting to form my worldview strongly, and reading that series helped me hash through quite a few different things that were wrong— situational ethics, for one. I don’t think it’s bad to read books whose perspective you disagree with. Untruth is untruth, whether a blatant lie or a twisted worldview; influenced by deliberate deceit or deception of the author. And if you have God’s truth in your heart no untruth can ever deceive you.
For the Inheritance Cycle specifically, the theme was so sloppily handled it was glaringly obvious what was true and untrue, even to me who hadn’t really thought through such things at that point. One of my little sisters read it before I did on recommendation, and I wish she hadn’t because I probably wouldn’t have let her read it at that point if I’d read it myself (because of some of the really graphic stuff and a minor subplot) but she loves them for the action and the story and completely ignores the pitiful attempts at theme. If the theme had been masterfully handled and was a point I disagreed with strongly, I would probably be worried and have a talk with her to make sure she understands what’s true and what’s not. But the Inheritance Cycle’s ‘theme’ wouldn’t even deceive a two-year-old.
@sarah-h Well, Kate’s right, the book was a thematic flop. Not that I think it’s harmless. He does use a little bit of subtlety with his situational ethics which might trip up someone who’s not very used to the tricks of expressing worldview
I think you were specifically asking about magic though. Well, to start off, his magic system in the book wasn’t quite new age. Or maybe it was, but at least it didn’t have any feel of the occult. The magic system was supposed to be “scientific” in the book. Exactly how that worked was never fully explained, but the author stuck to it and presented it as were natural and governed by natural laws. Now, I don’t like that system. It’s not even symbolic and I think it’s bad to present magic as scientific when it is spiritual. Nonetheless, I can’t say there was anything about the magic system that seemed to have any spiritual power over me in any way, that is, except this one scene. It was basically an occultic rite which I really wish I hadn’t read. It was about 24 hours before my mind felt clean again. I’m not sure if it was because of that, but after that point, I started to get more and more depressed about the book. I ended up stopping. Though this wasn’t specifically on my mind when I put the book down, I should have noted that Philippians 4:8 would not have me reading anything that would depress me like that.
So I don’t think the magic system alone made it wrong to read, but mainly because of that one occultic scene and also because of the growing dark feel of the book, I wouldn’t read it or recommend it. If his worldview had been a little brighter, I might have been able to finish the series, but even if I had, I wouldn’t want to read books like that very often.
Does that answer your question?
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Just like what Kate Flournoy said:
“As far as reading books with a bad worldview like that, in the end they’re just books and no one who reads them with their head screwed on straight and their eyes on Christ is gonna get burned.”
I wholeheartedly agree. Just because the author presents a certain worldview (author bias) doesn’t mean that you have to believe it. When I read it, I took the magic with a grain of salt, and kept on reading for the story itself, not the magic in it. As long as you have the truth in your heart, and you pray for guidance, you should be ok.
However, if you think that the magic is too distracting and evil to you, then you don’t have to read it. Nobody is going to imprison you or anything. 🙂
Jackson E. Graham
http://jacksonegraham.wixsite.com/jackson-e-graham@Daeus I feel really bad I didn’t remember that scene and warn you about it. I’m sorry.
@Sarah-H this just goes to show that different people can read the same book and be affected in completely different ways. That scene was so minor and unimportant to me it didn’t even stick with me five minutes. So it’s kinda difficult to lay down exact guidelines for every reader, because every reader is different. Certain material may be horrible for one reader and fine for the next. Granted, graphic and occult-ish material is bad no matter what your weaknesses are, but it doesn’t affect us all in the same way. I forgot it. Daeus had a major problem with it. So if you pick up a book knowing it contains a lot of stuff that makes you struggle personally and read it anyway and violate your conscience, it was a sin to read that book. But it wouldn’t be a sin for someone who didn’t have those problems because it wouldn’t touch their conscience. They don’t struggle with that particular issue.7 However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse. 1 Corinthians 8:7-8
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