A few weeks back, I completed the first book in Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle, Eragon. If you read that post, you know I did not find Paolini's work as anything more than entertaining. He has not changed my mind on that front. I teach an Introduction to Humanities course at the university where I work and we spend a lot of time with those students discussing the difference between fine art and entertainment. One activity we have them do is compare and contrast works in the same genre that they deem to fall on either end of the spectrum. To me, the Inheritance Cycle contrasts perfectly with Harry Potter or Hunger Games. As proven recently by The Girl Who Was on Fire, Suzanne Collins' work has depth and countless layers to examine. Paolini, on the other hand, continues to present a story with little character development and a predictable plot.
Eldest, the second book in the series, did have some marked improvements over its predecessor. For one thing, Paolini's parents either bought him a thesaurus or his vocabulary dramatically improved through SAT prep courses (he wrote these first few books while still a teenager). This, for me, was an important improvement and did a lot to enhance the book. I even found myself using the dictionary provided in my Kindle app to get a precise definition from time to time, which is extremely rare for me. I love new words and am always on the lookout for ones that will be useful in conversation or writing. Did you know there are more than a million words in the English language? And most of us know less than half of them. Ok, soapbox over. My point is that Paolini's increased vocabulary was a selling point for me. Of course, I suppose it could be argued that Paolini was hiding a mediocre novel behind big words.
