A long long time ago, originality was original. (By Caiphas)

It has been brought to my attention recently that people are unimaginative.

Truly, there is need of a story that has an original idea in it, not just a re-doo of a world that has been exploited many times before. Books such as the “Alex Rider Series” are good because they are original. Every other story that has followed this idea (“Mini-Bond”), even the movie of “Stormbreaker”, has been a disappointment that warrants some attention from the intelligent.

Take Eragon, for example. On closer inspection, it turns out to be nothing more than “Star-Wars” in a sheep skin cloth, with a sword of steel, a horse of flesh and a force of magic that can actually be seen. In the words of a friend of a friend of mine: Farm boy gets magical powers, adoptive uncle is killed by evil empire on the orders of the evil emperor (Who was once a rider but turned dark and overthrew the country to seize power for himself, then destroyed the riders/jedi), boy flees with old hermit (who was once a member of a magical peace-keeping organisation, who ride dragons), meets gun/bow-and-arrow toting, solitary guy, rescues princess from the heart of the Evil Empire’s base, old hermit teacher is killed by empire, boy goes to find a hidden, rebel alliance, meanwhile the ‘ultimate destructive force’ is coming towards them to destroy the rebel base, boy defeats army, leaves to learn magic from a mysterious forest-dwelling crippled elf, discovers that his former companion has turned against him and that evil apprentice/second in command to emperor was his father. Coincidence, I think not.

When you look at it from my perspective, All things in this world are very unoriginal. The head of American Intelligence being called the “Pentagon”, The current “Bond” film being called “Quantum of Solace”, People dying for true love, it’s all just been put into a different uniform, then told in a slightly different way. I believe that Originality is dead. All I need is your approval.

“Brisingr.” Politics, Gore and Politics (By Caiphas)

As well as doing movie reviews, I have started to do book reviews. Obviously they will get better as I learn more.

After three weeks of reading, I have finally finished Brisingr. For those not in the know, Brisingr is the third instalment in the Inheritance Trilogy (Now the Inheritance Cycle) which is essentially the “Twilight series” for guys, not story wise, but success wise. Unfortunately, for the unwise, this book tries to be too wise most of the time and looses the true flair it had when “Eragon” first hit the shelves.

The story begins with a synopsis of the previous two books, which should be the make or break point for any reader that has no patience. The synopsis actually makes it possible to start with “Brisingr” without reading the other books, but then you loose the true power of the story, which is what makes the third book interesting.

When I say interesting, I don’t mean interesting to people who aren’t into that sort of stuff. The series relies on a LOTR style backdrop, with magic, dragons, a lost race of super heroes, a mad evil king, elves, dwarves, mountains, swords and politics. Yes, there is a hell of a lot of politics in this book. These encounters with the structure of all the races leaves very little time for exploring the world or for any real action.

All the action in the book is gory. That is the book’s greatest flaw. Its action relies on the readers ability to visualise decapitation, evisceration, mutilation and all three at the same time. But even this action is sparse. With in 750 pages, not a lot of action is put down. Most of the time is spent on the politics. In fact, the book follows a pattern. The pattern goes:

politicspoliticspoliticspoliticspoliticspoliticspoliticspoliticspoliticspoliticspoli

ticspoliticsGOREpoliticspoliticspoliticspoliticspoliticspoliticspoliticspoliticsGORE

politicspoliticspoliticspoliticsTRUTHGOREDEATHEND.

But for those that have read the other books, the last few chapters really have a profound effect on the reader. Pity there are so many chapters.

Rating: 3.5/5. long but rewarding. plus Chris has a way with his stories that you never really can stop reading, no matter how soporific.

Despite all I have said about how bad the book is, I still enjoyed it. Just not as much as I had hoped I would.