Eragon (Inheritance, Book 1) (Hardcover)

by Christopher Paolini (Author)
Key Phrases: Dras Leona, Eragon Brom, Saphira Eragon (more...)

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.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 544 pages
• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers; First Edition edition (June 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375826688
• ISBN-13: 978-0375826689
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.1 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2,846 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,429 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #3 in	Books > Children's Books > Series > Fantasy & Adventure > Inheritance
  #6 in	Books > Children's Books > Authors & Illustrators, A-Z > ( P ) > Paolini, Christopher
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• This is item 1 in The Inheritance Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars belongs in the category of fan fiction, November 23, 2003

By	Zan (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

Eragon belongs in the category of fan fiction. No wonder reviewers are dazzled: so many fantastic events and wonderful ideas in one book. Tne only problem is that the events and ideas come from other authors. Christopher Paolini has systematically raided great fantasy writers, pilfering their ideas right and left, right down to the names he gives places and characters (though sometimes he changes a couple of letters). If you don't believe me, read Anne McCaffrey's DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN, Robert Jordan's EYE OF THE WORLD, and JRR Tolkien's LORD OF THE RINGS. The so-called professional critics who have given this book the nod should be ashamed. If they bothered to educate themselves about the fantasy genre, they'd recant the glowing praise they've given this book and bestow it on the ones who actually deserve it--the authors I've mentioned. This book has a beautiful cover, but what's inside is cheap imitation. Christopher Paolini may be excused due to his youth, but if he's intelligent enough to assemble such a long piece of fan fiction, presumably he can grasp the concept of stealing.

54 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	kneazlegirl - See all my reviews

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.

87 of 101 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Wow... just... wow..., November 29, 2006

By	C. R. Swanson "wilybadger.wordpress.com" (Phoenix) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If someone had assembled a checklist of every fantasty cliche ever used in any work of fantasy ever written by anyone anywhere, it would've turned into this book.

1. Elves are noble, wonderful, beautiful and wise. CHECK!

2. Dwarves are hardworking, strong, loyal and wise. CHECK!

3. Dragons are magical, powerful, impressive and wise. CHECK!

4. Evil is evil for its own sake and can never be redeemed. CHECK!

5. E'xtensi'vê üse' õf 'åpros'tro'phês áñ'd aççent m'ãrks în wð'rds, nämës a'nd pla'cès. CHECK!

6. We Are All Shaped By A Greater Destiny! CHECK!

7. One ring to... well, ok, he left that part out.

My point is that if you're looking for well done, intelligent, nuanced fantasy, look elsewhere. Christopher Paolini has, I am sure, many fine virtues, and given enough time may end up being readable. That time has not yet arrived. If you had told me before I picked up the book that the author was 19 when it was published, I would've said, "Really? He was that old?" I know when I look back at what I wrote when I was younger it was... not great. Now at 34, and published, I can see the flaws in my earlier works. I'm sure Mr Paolini will do the same as he ages.

For those who want good, smart fantasy for themselves, and even for kids, I HIGHLY recommend the works of Terry Pratchett, particularly Discworld. He truly deserves the title "wordsmith". In his world elves are mean, dwarves are fractous and religious and dragons tend to explode if they eat too much, get too excited, sneeze, etc.

It's "real" fantasy. Eragon is "real" bad.