by Show on Thu Mar 12, 2009 3:19 pm
I read Eragon, but nothing after. That and it has been a while since I did read it. I remember enjoying it, but not being overly impressed. He was very good, but not great. I enjoyed the story but just didn't have the same desire to keep going as I did when I finished Return of the King.
While I haven't read the other books I hope it doesn't become Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. I'm currently at book 8 of the proposed 12 (Author died and 12 is still to come). Frankly, the story is great but it is starting to feel like he was trying too hard to make it longer and longer. It's still good, don't get me wrong, but enough already. He takes an entire book to kill one Forsaken, and half of them get resurected!
You want an excellent and short book that will make you wish he wrote a sequel. Check out Michael Stackpole's Talion: Revenant. I read and loved it. But that was it. He has written alot of other stuff, most notably alot of Star Wars X-Wing books. But this one was a unique fantasy adventure story. There are hints to a large history of the world but I don't think Stackpole ever really went back and fleshed it out.
I imagine that for some writers the hard part is knowing when to stop. And while Barrel may feel that Harry Potter 7 flopped at the end, I liked it. And what's more is she ended the story. Period. The end, you can all go home now. 7 years in Hogwarts, 7 books, The big bad evil wizard finally overcome once and for all. The only work she really has left now is to avoid the calls from fans asking for Harry Potter: The college years. Because if they convinced her to do that, I would read them, and cry myself softly to sleep for doing so.
I think that many confuse 'applicability' with 'allegory'; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author.