Eragon (Inheritance #1)

Reader reviewed by pam

the book was great. it was full of action when eragon finds an egg and hatches as a dragon. also when eragon tris to go after the razac to avenge his uncle with the story teller brom who used to be a dragon rider. it's a book full of magic as eragon finds out about the riders and elves and dwarfs. also while training he learns how to speak ther language of magic.   

Reader reviewed by Banana Split

Eragon is a teenager when he comes across the dragon egg. He just thinks it might look good in his bedroom, but he gets a surprise that changes his life. The egg hatches into a dragon, and Eragon calls her Saphira. Once she is born Eragons life starts going downhill. Creatures come from everywhere to steal the egg and in the process Eragons uncle is killed. Fueled by the desire to get revenge and protect his village, he sets off with Brom, a used-to-be dragon rider. They go through many lands, while Eragon gets stronger. Then during his journey, while trying to save an Elf, Brom dies trying to save Eragon. They later meet up with Murtagh, who leads them to the hideout of the Varden. The Varden is against the evil rule of the monarchy. While there the Shade finds Eragon again, and they fight. The Shade dies but Eragon gets a large scar on his back as a reminder forever. Ayra then tells Eragon that he must complete his training in the land of the elves. Eragon agrees, for it was the only way to get his revenge. This book was full of suspense and I couldnt put it down! If you love fantasy, you will love this book.

Reader reviewed by Mason

A boy named Eragon is living a normal life in a small village called Carvahall. Carvahall is located in the Spine Mountain range. One day when Eragon was hunting in the Spine, an explotion rumbled through the mountains and a mysterious stone appeared with it. When Eragon tried to sell the stone, no one would buy it because they didn't know what it was. Little did Eragon know that inside the egg was a dragon that would change his life forever. Eragon soon found himself on a deadly journey with the village story teller and a newly hatched dragon.

I liked the book. The author uses some many details and describes everything so well. This book reminds me of Narnia because Narnia is about four kids who becomes friends with an animal and try to stop someone evil from righning over the land. I would recommend this book to any boys from 5th grade to 9th grade because it is a fiction book. I will read the second book in the series called Eldest.

Reader reviewed by Kaity

The book Eragon was absolutely amazing! I read it over Thanksgiving break in three days. The author makes parts that would usually be boring in a normal book be extremely exciting! It keeps you on your toes the whole time. I highly recomend you read Eragon then Eldest and Brisingr. Happy Reading!

Reader reviewed by Ommonite

I'd have to say that after a year of this on the bookshelves at school I finally grabbed it. I had absolutely no clue what to expect. Only that is was in a fantasy world where poor families eat chicken and spend money on treats.

Having no idea what to expect I was already hooked, but with every new revelation, kidnapping, sword fight, I felt myself drift back to a galaxy far far away raging a war for a ring.

Reader reviewed by EshInoBi

I fell in love with this book! When people describe this book, they usually complain about its length. I must admit, it was pretty lengthy, and started me reading longer books, but it's so worth it. I loved him as he got Saphira's egg, met Brom, and everything he did. I pity those who think that just because this book is long, they can't read a great story! So read Eragon, or you'll regret that you didn't read it in so long after I finally persuade you to read it!

Eragon is an extra-ordinary book, written by Christopher Paolini when he was 15 years old. That's young. I wish I could write like he does, with so much description, and such exciting plots. I love how he though up the name Eragon, from Dragon, and made the D E(the next letter in the alphabet), and I tried making short stories with words and changing the first letter with the next letter in the alphabet, and it really sounds good! Christopher Paolini is an excellent writer and I hope everyone in the world would please themselves and read this book!

Reader reviewed by EshInoBi

I think this book is BETTER than Eragon. Don't get me wrong- Eragon IS perfect, but Eldest... It's perfect! Wait, that's the same thing! Let's just say that they're both perfect, but Eldest has more amazing twists. Eragon is a rider. Murtaugh saves him, but later Galbatorix (the evil, wants-to-rule-everything-and-is-doing-a-good-job-at-it person) forces him to swear in the ancient language (which no one can lie in, or break a promise) to obey him. And, I'm sorry for spoiling it- Murtaugh is Eragon's older brother!

Believe me, or believe me not! All will be revealed when you read this longer-than-Eragon book. It's longer, but it's perfect-er, believe me, or believe me not, all will be revealed! Read this excellent sequel to Eragon (and I mean NOW!) ^^

Reader reviewed by Barrister

This review is going to be long, but if you persevere, I promise to be fair and honest in presenting my opinion.

To begin, I am an exceedingly critical reader with an eye for inconsistencies, both in grammar/punctuation and plot elements. I admit I have a hard time seeing merely the potential for entertainment of any book, and thus I can recognize that some readers enjoy Eragon despite the many flaws I found within its pages.

My first big problem (and I know a lot of people have already hit on this point and that a lot of fans have tried to refute it) is the obvious replication of aspects prominent in other famous works that runs rampant in Paolinis first novel. Im going to quote the review done by Kirkus Reviews of Eragon, because I think it effectively exemplifies the point Im trying to make. Kirkus refers to the reliable motifs of elegant immortal elves, mining dwarfs, a wise elderly man, and a hero of mysterious birth. No one can argue that these are original themes (hence reliable motifs), but its true that Paolini is not the only one to utilize these stereotypes. However, when used together in one work, it begins to suggest a severe lack of originality.

A multitude of people are raring to say Paolini copied from Tolkein, but not many are willing to take the time to provide the proof. Everyone knows about Tolkeins elves and dwarves and the wise wizard, but there are some very specific similarities in names between Eragon and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy that are too numerous to disregard as coincidence -- Tolkeins Imladris became Imiladris, his Valinor became Vanilor, his Isengard and Evenstar became Isenstar, and words such as Mithrim, Melian, and Turin were directly duplicated. In addition, the plot, though well-disguised by Tolkein- and Anne McCaffrey-esque settings, is practically a point-by-point imitation of George Lucas Star Wars. I wont begin on that, but if youd like to read a good article detailing the evidence of this, follow this link: http://www.anti-shurtugal.com/wordpress/?p=30.

On the other end of the spectrum, a multitude of people are eager to argue that Tolkeins and Lucas works werent completely original either, or that its alright to take other storytellers ideas as long as you are willing to tell the world that you did. Neither of these arguments is solid. As for the first, if you truly believe Tolkein and Lucas borrowed from others works (indeed, Lucas cites The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell as his inspiration for Star Wars, although this book, as quoted from its very own back cover, combines the spiritual and psychological insights of modern psychoanalysis with the archetypes of world mythology, and is clearly not a fantasy novel from which someone could steal a plot or characters), that still does not justify Paolinis doing the same; it does not make it right for him to take advantage of what they, or the predecessors from whom it is contended they stole, created. If in trying to defend Paolinis work you assert that his inspirations are in the wrong for being unoriginal, you are simultaneously placing Paolini in the wrong as well. As for the second argument, being willing to credit others for ideas he pocketed does not give him the right to utilize those ideas. If he went through every page of Eragon and specifically cited what he took, from whence he took it, and from whom he took it, he still would not have the right to utilize those things in his own novel. Without the original authors permission, doling out acknowledgments and making citations is useless; using another persons ideas without their consent, even in the absence of a profit earned, is, as the law says it, plagiarism.

The next major issue I had with Eragon was plain old poor writing. Again, I am an exceedingly critical reader (such is my profession), so errors will stand out to me more so than to a typical person reading for enjoyment. Nonetheless (and I will be using brief passages from the first chapters of Eragon as references here), words used incorrectly, such as precipitous in the phrase precipitous ravine, corpulent in the sentence the skin around his face was dry and corpulent, and prophecies in the sentence prophecies of revenge&rolled from his tongue; redundancies such as gauged its weight speculatively, a cloud of misfortune and bad luck, persistent vigilance, and a wisp of smoke&carrying a burnt smell; and contradictions such as shrank back, motionless, moonlight cast him in shadow, and a new familiarity, all cause me to believe that this book was, in terms of quality not popularity, premature on the market. Also, the impossibilities of a fifteen-year-old learning to read in a week, of someone determining another persons identity by having heard the persons fathers voice twenty-three years previously, and of a port city having a stone wall one hundred feet high and forty feet thick, make it very difficult for me to take this book seriously.

All in all, I give Paolini credit for writing something of this magnitude, but if youre anything like me in terms of what you look for in a literary work, Id pass this one up.

Reader reviewed by YouKn0wYaLuvMe

This book is awesome, not only for guys but for girls too (me being a girl myself).

There is action and adventure as Eragon proves himself to all those who think it is a tradgidy that he is chosen as the new dragon rider (because a human is too weak and betrayed them all) with Saphira (his dragon). There is also a small element of unrequitted love for Eragon.

Reader reviewed by Co-chan


A farm boy, who seemingly has NO talent, is -just admit it- plain stupid, is chosen to save the world. Now, I good go on about this, but I think it's pretty clear if you go to this site: http://anti-shurtugal.com
There are so many inconsistencies, and the characters are so forced and fake. They are subjugated to the authors will, acting out of character, appearing idealistic, or stereotypic.