Review Detail

The Inheritance Cycle certainly has a lot of pros and cons. But I think the pros definitely outweigh the cons. This is High Fantasy al la "The Wheel of Time" and of course, LOTR (in some cases quite literally so.) BUT, it is also a four book YOUNG ADULT series, each of a reasonable length. Inheritance does not require the huge time commitment as other similar fantasy series. It is an Epic tale for a YA audience and therefore it is a great segue for a young reader to emerge themselves into this amazing genre. I particularly enjoyed the dynamic between Eragon and his dragon, Saphira.
Bottom line: this first book was written by a very young author who was obviously deeply inspired by other works of the genre. But Paolini's version is meant for a young adult audience and shouldn't be compared to full epic masterpieces. Eragon is epic fantasy for a smaller appetite.