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Product Description
Fifteen-year-old Eragon believes that he is merely a poor farm boy—until his destiny as a Dragon Rider is revealed. Gifted with only an ancient sword, a loyal dragon, and sage advice from an old storyteller, Eragon is soon swept into a dangerous tapestry of magic, glory, and power. Now his choices could save—or destroy—the Empire.

“An authentic work of great talent.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Christopher Paolini make[s] literary magic with his precocious debut.”—People

“Unusual, powerful, fresh, and fluid.”—Booklist, Starred

“An auspicious beginning to both career and series.”—Publishers Weekly

A New York Times Bestseller

A USA Today Bestseller

A Wall Street Journal Bestseller

A Book Sense Bestseller

Amazon.com
Here's a great big fantasy that you can pull over your head like a comfy old sweater and disappear into for a whole weekend. Christopher Paolini began Eragon when he was just 15, and the book shows the influence of Tolkien, of course, but also Terry Brooks, Anne McCaffrey, and perhaps even Wagner in its traditional quest structure and the generally agreed-upon nature of dwarves, elves, dragons, and heroic warfare with magic swords.

Eragon, a young farm boy, finds a marvelous blue stone in a mystical mountain place. Before he can trade it for food to get his family through the hard winter, it hatches a beautiful sapphire-blue dragon, a race thought to be extinct. Eragon bonds with the dragon, and when his family is killed by the marauding Ra'zac, he discovers that he is the last of the Dragon Riders, fated to play a decisive part in the coming war between the human but hidden Varden, dwarves, elves, the diabolical Shades and their neanderthal Urgalls, all pitted against and allied with each other and the evil King Galbatorix. Eragon and his dragon Saphira set out to find their role, growing in magic power and understanding of the complex political situation as they endure perilous travels and sudden battles, dire wounds, capture and escape.

In spite of the engrossing action, this is not a book for the casual fantasy reader. There are 65 names of people, horses, and dragons to be remembered and lots of pseudo-Celtic places, magic words, and phrases in the Ancient Language as well as the speech of the dwarfs and the Urgalls. But the maps and glossaries help, and by the end, readers will be utterly dedicated and eager for the next book, Eldest. (Ages 10 to 14) --Patty Campbell

Get the Eragon (Inheritance, Book 1) at Amazon!

Eldest (Inheritance, Book 2)
Amulet of Samarkland, The (Bartimaeus Trilogy)
The Ultimate Unauthorized Eragon Guide: The Hidden Facts Behind the World of Alagaesia (Inheritance Trilogy)
Golem's Eye, The (Bartimaeus Trilogy)
Dragon Rider

Excellent
When I bought this, I was looking for something to fill my fantasy void (especially in Audio CDs). The book was outstanding. Yes, its wrapped into the whole Tolkien genera, but it does a nice job of having its own style.

Highly recommend the Audio CDs. The narrator was not as good as Jim Dale, or some others, but nonetheless does a great job.

This book helps your self esteem!
No, really, it does. First off, I'll say it was a simple read. I didn't have to constantly grab a dictionary and wonder what on earth a word meant. However, that doesn't excuse the Gary Stu (Eragon) or the Mary Sue (Arya) who are pretty much just cardboard cutouts with some pretty wrapping paper. The hero was so stupid. If a ROCK begins cracking, shaking, and making noises in the middle of the night, why would you fall back asleep? The plot was horrbily predictable.

*SPOILERS*

Gasp! Arya's a princess! Did anyone NOT see that one coming? Gasp! The stone is an EGG! Really? Imagine that.

Even worse in audio
I wanted to like this book - I really did! Despite being gifted with two hardcover copies, I put it off until listening to the audio version. Sorry - I can't make it past Disk 4 of 14. All of the monochromatic storytelling in print sounds even worse, aggravated by the Gerard Doyle's ever-breathless, semi-falsetto voicing for Eragon. As an audio production, this work fails compared to the unabridged CDs of Rowling's Harry Potter series or Pullman's His Dark Materials.

Eragon
This book is amazing. I love the expression shown and how you can easily visualize everything.I couldn't wait to read the sequal. Now that I read Eldest, I'm even more interested and I feel that I want Brisnger to come out now.

Had he been much older, I doubt this would have been published.


Sure, it's good for a 17-year-old, but that doesn't make it good literature. I've personally seen better Fanfictiction than this.

So many elements of the plot, locations, even names are almost shamelessly derived from other works of fantasy, such as 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'Star Wars'. I read this in 6th, and, of course, loved it. Now I've gone back, re-read it, and it's almost painful, how so much of this over praised purple brick is clearly written by a kid. It's good for a 17-year-old, sure, but to me, that doesn't save it from still being bad.

Nonetheless, if he keeps this up, Paolini shows great promise at an older age. But for now, I'd much rather read Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials', or anything by Tolkein, rather than this overrated hunk of a fantasy novel. Lil' kids'll probably love it, but anyone older will probably be able to see exactly how poor and clichéd this writing is.


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