Eragon (The Inheritance Cycle) [Kindle Edition]

Christopher Paolini (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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

From Publishers Weekly

While exploring the forest, 15-year-old Eragon discovers an odd blue gemstone—a dragon egg, fated to hatch in his care. According to PW, "The author takes the near-archetypes of fantasy fiction and makes them fresh and enjoyable, chiefly through a crisp narrative and a likable hero." Ages 12-up. (Apr.)
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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 1284 KB
• Print Length: 528 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0375826696
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (August 26, 2003)
• Sold by: Random House Digital, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000FBJCK8
• Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3,015 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,568 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #36 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Action & Adventure
  • #54 in Books > Teens > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy
  • #67 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror > Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic

More About the Author

Christopher Paolini was born on November 17, 1983 in Southern California. He has lived most of his life in Paradise Valley, Montana with his parents and younger sister, Angela. As a child, he often wrote short stories and poems, made frequent trips to the library, and read widely. The idea of Eragon began as the daydreams of a teen. Christopher's love for the magic of stories led him to craft a novel that he would enjoy reading. The project began as a hobby, a personal challenge; he never intended it to be published. All the characters in Eragon are from Christopher's imagination except Angela the herbalist, who is loosely based on his sister. Christopher was fifteen when he wrote the first draft of Eragon. He took a second year to revise the book and then gave it to his parents to read. The family decided to self-publish the book and spent a third year preparing the manuscript for publication: copyediting, proofreading, designing a cover, typesetting the manuscript, and creating marketing materials. During this time Christopher drew the map for Eragon, as well as the dragon eye for the book cover (that now appears inside the Knopf hardcover edition). The manuscript was sent to press and the first books arrived in November 2001. The Paolini family spent the next year promoting the book at libraries, bookstores, and schools in 2002 and early 2003. In summer 2002, author Carl Hiaasen, whose stepson read a copy of the self-published book while on vacation in Montana, brought Eragon to the attention of his publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, which is part of Random House. Knopf published Eragon in August 2003. Eldest, which continues the adventures of Eragon and the dragon Saphira was published in August 2005, and in December 2006, Fox 2000 released their movie adaptation of Eragon in theaters around the world.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dreadfully Derivative, December 19, 2006

By 

David Baker (Phoenix, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Eragon (Inheritance, Book 1) (The Inheritance Cycle) (Hardcover)

Whatever editor green-lighted this book should never again work in the publishing industry. It was pure bloody-mindedness that allowed me to slog through this muddled excuse for a novel. I kept thinking to myself, "This has GOT to get better. It can't be as bad as it seems." I even went back and re-read the several chapters, thinking I'd somehow missed some spark of brilliance.

Fat chance. It's not there.

There isn't an original idea, a novel concept, a well-conceived plot line, or a nicely drawn character in the entire book. Lots of other reviewers have cited the author's various sources. I encourage you to read something from one of the authors Paolini ripped off and skip this miserable piece of fan fiction.

110 of 137 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Laughably bad, August 27, 2005

By 

kneazlegirl - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eragon (Inheritance, Book 1) (The Inheritance Cycle) (Hardcover)

Ah, Eragon. The book I love to make fun of. After reading this book and dismissing it as a terribly written, if amusing, book, you can understand my puzzlement at the number of devoted fans there are. And now with the next book coming out, I fear that more people will fall into the same trap of "Ooh, shiny dragon cover!" After that, they have no chance.

So, you might ask, what's so bad about Eragon? And why am I being so hard on the author, when he was only fifteen? Doesn't he deserve a little credit?

Paolini does deserve credit, but not for what most people give him. He has clearly read an impressive number of classic fantasy novels. What is not so impressive is how he blatantly rips off every one of them.

Yes, the stereotypical images of elves, orcs, and dwarves are a part of the fantasy genre. And I'm not saying, for example, that McCaffrey invented Dragons. But Paolini uses ALL the mechanics of her dragons in his book-- down to the smallest details like how potential riders stand in front of the dragon eggs, how the dragon chooses its own rider and name, the trauma associated with losing one's dragon, telepathic communication, everything. Try as I might, I could not find a single original idea that Paolini invented himself. And it's not like I've read every fantasy book in existance-- I'm only sixteen. But when I was reading Eragon, I recognized every idea and concept immediately. People having True Names and a language in which you can't lie? Wow, that sounds just like LeGuin's "A Wizard of Earthsea!" And I've heard people praise the originality of Paolini's werecat-- a talking cat that sometimes transforms into a boy. Well, it's odd, then, that I read about one of those just the other day in Garth Nix's "Sabriel." I'm not saying that he intentionally copied all these ideas (though, his characters would undoubtedly be more interesting and multi-dimensional if he had), or that these authors were the first to ever think of them. It's just that I've seen it all done before, by better writers, in my opinion, and Paolini didn't bother to change or add to it in any way. So, while it is a bit impressive for one of Paolini's age to have such a knowledge of fantasy concepts, any fifteen-year-old with half a brain could have stuck them all together and put their name on it.

And actually, he didn't even do a good job at that. The plot itself can be summarized by "Star Wars plus damsel in distress plus many, many inconsistencies." One example of the plot just not making sense happens about three-fifths of the way through the book. Arya is slowly dying of slow-acting poison and they need to get her to the Varden as soon as possible. Eragon suggests that he and Arya fly there on Saphira, thus getting there much faster than they would be able to on horseback. The only problem would be they'd have to leave Murtagh behind. But then-- get this-- Murtagh throws a tantrum because he doesn't want to go to the Varden. How does that make sense at ALL!? It completely ruined the whole "exciting chase scene" because the entire time they were slowly riding there I was thinking, "Why is Murtagh still with you!? Just fly there, already!" And, indeed, Murtagh complains the entire time because he wants to leave. Paolini gives no reason for him not to-- he simply doesn't, because it would ruin the big chase scene. Awful. Then when they finally get there, Paolini conveniently forgets about his ancient language (you can't lie, remember?) and makes a huge deal about how the Varden don't trust Murtagh and how he has to get his mind probed.

All the other plot elements and events are similarly contrived. When they have to cross an enormous expanse of desert, for example, Eragon makes a big fuss about how they can only carry enough water to last them one day, and it will take them two days to cross. This didn't make sense to me because they'd never had this problem with carrying water before. Paolini just creates a conflict where there logically should be none so Eragon can cleverly solve it with magic. And yet in other cases, when faced with a real problem, he solves it with unrealistic ease. In one scene, Eragon and Murtagh must break out of jail. Eragon spends more than a day trying find a way out of his cell. He finally manages it with magic. And the very second he breaks free, there's Murtagh, who conveniently happened to get out at the exact same second, without using magic, in time to shoot the guards! Whenever Eragon gets into any real trouble, he is conveniently knocked unconscious and the problem is solved for him by the time he wakes up. I just wish it worked like that in real life-- then I could have simply knocked myself out cold instead of having to finish reading the book.

Even with all these badly written scenes to choose from, there is one that really stands above the rest. The battle at the end of the book has got to be the absolute worst "big climactic battle scene" I have ever read. Paolini describes many Urgals (his version of orcs) dying. He describes Eragon and Saphira flying around blasting stuff. But not once does he describe-- or even mention-- anyone on the "good side" dying. You assume that everything is going well for them. But then halfway through he tells us that the battle is "going badly," and afterward, that "there were many casualties." Huh? Because of this, the scene was lacking any sense of excitement or concern for the heroes that it should have had.

Still, I might have been able to forgive most of these flaws, or at least gotten some small enjoyment out of the book, if it had other redeeming qualities. But here, too, Eragon fails in every respect. The characters are flat and lack realistic personalities. The only character who gets more than a line or two is Arya, the elf princess, and she is (of course) the embodiment of perfection. Paolini surrounds every mention of her with description of how shiny, perfect, and beautiful she is. After about the fifth description of how her eyebrows slant, it becomes quite irritating. All the characters speak in the exact same way, from uneducated farm boy Eragon, who can't even read, to old scholarly Brom. And don't even get me started on his "creative elven language." Taking a bunch of english, latin and greek words, adding extra consonants and accent marks and putting an "R" or "A" at the end of each one is not the same thing as creating a language. Example: "knife" becomes "knífr." "Their" becomes "theirra." And no, I don't expect him to be able to create a realistic language at the age of fifteen, but he seems to be given credit for having done so.

If you must read this book, read it for what it is-- something that should be parodied rather than taken seriously. This way, when you come across things like fifteen-year-old Eragon wielding a five-foot-long sword with ease and then storing it away in his pack, you will be as amused by it as I was. In that way, this book is priceless.

1,768 of 2,267 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars impressive for a 17-yr-old, clearly written by a 17-yr-old, November 14, 2003

By 

B. Capossere (Rochester, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Eragon (Inheritance, Book 1) (The Inheritance Cycle) (Hardcover)

What you almost always hear first about this book is "wow, it was written by a 17-yr-old". And the author is fully deserving of the respect and admiration he gets--it is indeed an impressive book for a 17-year-old to have written. What he probably should not have gotten was a publishing contract, since while it is impressive for a 17-yr-old, it is less than impressive for a published work of fiction.
If an adult had written and published this, I would have been disgusted (as I was with the Sword of Shannara) with the clear calculation that had gone into the work: "ok, I'll take a lot of Tolkien, a lot of McCaffery, a good amount of Leguin, some Dragonlance, some Star Wars, etc. It will be a can't miss book." Since it's the product not of an adult but of a teenager, it comes across much more positively--as a work of fiction by someone who has read lots and absorbed lots of fantasy and simply didn't have the experience (or the good editor) to take out all of his favorite parts of other works. How can I dislike or be too critical of someone who so obviously loved some of my own favorite authors, loved them so much that they simply took over his book through I'm guessing no fault of his own.
And that in a nutshell is the problem with Eragon. The story is cliched, formulaic and barely passable as are the characters and the language is simply what you would expect from a somewhat precocious teen fan of adult fantasy. If you have any experience in the field of fantasy at all, reading Eragon will feel like a visit to Las Vegas (though not so tacky)--sure you can see New York and Paris and Italy, but they are mere shadows of the real thing. So McCaffery's telepathic link between dragon and rider is here, but not the powerful emotionality of her (especially earlier) works. LeGuin's idea of one true name and one true language forming the backbone of magic is here, but not her masterful sense of order and balance and restraint, not to mention the sparse beauty of her language. And of course, the graceful, bow-carrying elves, the gruff and secretive mentor with magical powers, the withdrawn dwarves, etc. all show up in their correct place and time. As a high school English teacher, the story and characters are exactly what I would expect to see if I picked up one of my fantasy fan's personal notebooks off of their desks and began reading. Even the people and place names are far too imitative (as opposed to inspired by). To be perfectly honest, it was so much like my students' writings I had to struggle to continue past the first ten pages.
Does that mean nobody could enjoy this book? A quick look at the reviews clearly shows that many have (most of them young I'm sure). If you have read Tolkien, McCaffery, LeGuin, Jordan, Lewis, Pullman, Donaldson, etc., then I'd strongly suggest skipping Eragon. You'll not only be heavily disappointed by the weaknesses in plot, character development, and language, but you'll probably be annoyed at how often your favorite authors appear in borrowed and poorer clothing. If you have little experience in fantasy and so won't be bothered by the obviously derivative nature of this book, you'll probably enjoy it but there are far better works to begin a lifetime of fantasy reading with and even if you start with Eragon, I hope you quickly move onto them, beginning with the above list and adding for younger readers people like Lloyd Alexander, E. Nesbit, Robin McKinley, and many, many others. I'd like to see what this young author comes up with in another five-ten years, but for now he's still retelling the stories he liked himself, rather than writing down his own.