Eragon - By Christopher Paolini

Eragon is the first book in the Inheritance Cycle (originally the Inheritance Trilogy, until the author...15 at the time he wrote Eragon...felt he couldn't fit everything in to the third book and had to write a fourth one).

I am not typically a reader of fantasy stories. I like fantasy movies. Loved Star Wars, loved The Lord of the Ring, etc. But, I tried to read TLOTR and after the first few pages had to put it down. Granted, that was several years ago and my patience has gotten better, so I might be able to read it now...but my point is that I would typically not go looking for fantasy. I don't know much about fantasy. But, I'm liking young adult series, and this is a series that many people have read.

Eragon follows the story of a young boy, Eragon, who lives with his uncle and cousin, and who are not of a very wealthy family. They live in uncertain times, the glory of Alagaesia (the country in which the live) long past with the rise of Galbatorix, and the destruction of the Dragon Riders (who once helped keep peace in the Empire). Eragon happens across a dragon egg, which ends up bringing great change to his life. After the egg hatches, and he becomes linked to the dragon, Saphira, he is eventually forced to leave his home in order to protect himself and the other villagers, but also to exact revenge on agents (the Ra'zac) of the Empire who destroy his family's land. He is accompanied in his quest for revenge by the town storyteller, Brom.

The story follows Eragon as he begins to learn about what it means to be a Rider. He is the first rider in almost a century (that does not serve the King Galbatorix). Brom teaches Eragon about magic, the ancient language, swordmanship, and the different races that live in the empire (the main ones being Humans, Elves and Dwarves). They come across interesting characters who I believe will be important in the following books. Eragon is eventually forced to make the decision as to whether he wants to join the Varden (a group who opposes Galbatorix). It is obvious this book is a set up to more in the future, as this is the book where Eragon is beginning to learn and understand what he is taking on.

And, I'm not going to write more then that or go in more detail in case you decide to read it. I don't want to give anything away. But a few things I will mention. This is actually a fantasy book that I feel is easy to follow. There is the ancient language as well as Dwarf language to have to work through, but there is a guide in the back, and most of the time everything is explained. It reads quickly and is not difficult to follow.

In reading reviews about the book after I read it, I saw that people really slammed it. Felt that it copied too many other storylines, etc. Also, they did not really like the writing. I didn't mind the writing. I'm not picky, but it made sense and it was easy to follow. I could see that yes, it perhaps did follow the plot of Star Wars. But that didn't make me enjoy it any less.

If you are looking for another series to start since both Harry Potter and Twilight are over, this one seems to be a good one to pick up. I'm already almost done the next book and will post about it soon as well.

If You Could See Me Now --- By Cecilia Ahern

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As part of my New Year's goals, I am going to start keeping tracks of the books I read. The reason for this...well, it just so happens that I have read so many, that I sometimes forget which ones I have read...and buy them and midway through realize that I already know what happens. I figure that this blog is a good place to keep track, especially since it seems that so many of my bloggy friends love to read, just as I do.

If You Could See Me Now (from here on out IYCSMN...too long to keep writing out!) was not a book I went searching for. I recently joined the library in an effort to curb the massive number of books I have been buying (bad for the bank account, and bad for our poor house which currently doesn't have a place for all my books because we haven't finished our library yet) and was disappointed to find that all of the books I were looking for were checked out (yes, I have that kind of luck!). I started to go through the authors whose books I have read in the past that I have liked. Several years ago (before the movie), I read P.S. I Love You. I thought it was an amazing book. I fell in love with the characters and the idea. So, I decided to give Cecelia Ahern a try. Lo and behold, the library had one of her books! I grabbed it and ran.

IYCSMN is about an uptight woman (Elizabeth) who has struggled her entire life with her relationship with her family. Her mother left when she was young, her father wasn't affectionate and pretty much shut down when her mother left, and her sister, whom was born when Elizabeth was 12, grows up to be an alcoholic. Elizabeth is raising her sister's 6 year old son because her sister is flaky and doesn't want a child. Elizabeth seems to think that imagining and letting yourself go is a bad thing...because hoping, dreaming and imagining got her nowhere when she was young. So, imagine her distress, when her nephew suddenly has an "imaginary friend" named Ivan.

The book is told from both Elizabeth's and Ivan's point of view. It is quite interesting to hear the point of view of an imaginary friend. :) The story follows the transformation of Elizabeth, who is helped on this journey by Ivan, whom she does not realize is an "imaginary friend." It is about love, but also about forgiveness, letting go and moving on.

It was a good, easy read. A little hard-pressed to "believe," but that is the nice thing about books...they don't have to be able to take place in real life (who knows though, maybe there really are imaginary friends out there...I was never lucky enough to have one though). I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a good "beach book."

Twilight

Ok, ok. So, I finally gave in to the whole Twilight phenomenon. I must admit that I went for a LONG time without ever hearing about Twilight or even knowing it was some extremely popular series. I found out about it mostly through Facebook when I got a flair board and I saw all these "Team Edward," "Team Jacob," and "Twlight!" buttons. I asked my friend what it was and she told me it was some young adult vampire romance type thing. Not my typical cup of tea, so I never thought about it again.

Now, I must admit that the bloggy world seems to be full of Twilight-ers. It seems a lot of the people I read loved it and were counting down the days until the movie came out. I asked another friend if he thought I should give it a read and he told me no...that he had heard it was poorly written and didn't have a lot of depth. But around the same time the movie came out, and B wanted to go see it because he loves vampire movies.

I was NOT impressed with the movie. I didn't like the changes made to how we have defined vampires for forever pretty much...and I just felt it lacked a lot of plot and explanation. B was disappointed at the lack of vampire action (guess we should have done more research into it), and on a whole we were both underwhelmed. But, I decided since I had seen the movie, I'd get the book to see if it was any better (and really, we all know that typically books are better then their movie counterparts).

So, I read Twilight. It was definitely better then the movie. But in my opinion, it wasn't AMAZING and didn't capture me the way some books have (you know when you absolutely cannot put the book down at all, and you feel sad when you are done because you have grown so attached to the characters?). I was disappointed with aspects of the book...the editing was atrocious, and there were many parts that were just plain confusing. But, I decided since I started the books, I might as well finish the series.

With each new book, I felt as if the writing got better, even though the editing it seems, did not. I was disappointed that in all, the series covered just about 2 years. I felt it could have been longer, and how much bad stuff can really happen to one girl in that short span of time? I don't understand all the Team Jacob and Team Edward people out there...I felt as if there was never a competition...we always knew where Bella stood...but maybe that is because I had the luxury of reading all of the books at once (and I did read them pretty fast if you think about it...).

Overall, I am glad I read the books. Would I read them again? Probably not...there just isn't anything there that makes me want to go back...everything was wrapped up and so straightforward...it isn't like the Harry Potter series (which I have read numerous times) where every time a new book came out, it answered mysteries from the first book (some of which you didn't even know were mysteries!) so that you could go back and look at the earlier books with a new light.

It seems, as I have done a little online reading about the series, that Stephenie Meyer got a lot of flack for Breaking Dawn. I laugh at that. Was it the perfect book? No. Nothing in the world ever ends as easily as she made it end. But it was her series, her characters, and she wanted them to go a certain way and that is her right. I guess I don't get people who would attack someone for not writing a story the way they wanted it written...if that is the case, write your own dang series. Maybe it is that the series had so many young readers, and they didn't understand the changes and growth the main character went through. Who knows? But still no reason to trash an author.

It wasn't a bad series. I'm glad I read it. I love entering new worlds and meeting new characters. And now I am left wondering what my next book will be since the Twilight series was a part of my life over the last 20 days.