I liked it. I understand that many of the characters have been written about before in other books. I also think that people seem to complain about the writing more just because he is a teenager. Tell me how many people could have written this book? Give him a break.

If you just enjoy the story for what it is worth, then you will like it...

I liked it. Yes, at times it may be cliche. If you just enjoy the story for what it is worth, then you will like it...

Paolini has a fabulous story in the Inheritance series, and Eragon is largely devoted to setting up questions that are to follow the reader through the later books. While Eragon does drag in a few places, I liked it well enough to read the later books, and this is an excellent series. If you enjoy fantasy like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, or Harry Potter, these books will be right up your alley.

I enjoyed listening to this book as I worked. The writing is descriptive and allows you to lose yourself in the story. After watching the movie, I recommend listening to these unabridged cds. The reader has a wonderful, clear voice that gives life to all the books characters.

I was recommended this book by a friend who had read it. I saw the movie first (I don't recommend that one) and wanted to know what the story was really like. I bought this one and consumed it in five days. My imagination was going wild as I read this, fueled by Paolini's vivid descriptions.

About a year ago, I read Dracula, and since then I haven't read a book that had me as gripped as this one did. I definitely recommend this one to all.

It is a good book to sit down and read as a family. My 6 year old boy got a little bored if we read it for longer than 15 min. But my 8 year old girl didn't want me to stop.

Eragon's story is basically a Star Wars narrative set in a Tolkien fantasy world, while ripping off other fantasy elements from other works (and I'm only a very casual fantasy reader).

Indeed, Eragon is so lacking in originality that it is remarkably predictable; I ended up predicting almost all the plot twists, including the end of book two - before I even finished book one (just add the Star Wars like narrative with Eragon's accurate, not-ambiguous-enough Prophecy scene and you can figure out the rest).

Eragon's success lies partly with its hype but mostly with the public's (mostly the youngsters) apetite for fantasy, which has escalated thanks to Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings films.

While many may think Eragon is impressive for a 19 year old, it really isn't once you're aware of the multitude of teen fantasy nerds writing their own fantasy epics - two of my friends are among them, and you can find their works on the internet (granted, most of them are utter garbage, but the better works are as bad as Eragon). The only reason Eragon got published while being so unpolished is because his parents own a publishing company.

All in all, Eragon isn't terrible, just lengthy, mildly entertaining fluff for those who like anything fantasy and have time to kill.

I happen to be a reader that saw the movie before I was aware there was a book. I then read the second book Eldest first which I enjoyed a great deal and recently read Eragon (Book 1). The movie was alright but I don't think it does the book justice. The movie is like a short condensed to fault version with a different ending. All in all, I say Eragon was a good and interesting book.

While it's fine that it was written by a kid, the writing is painfully bad. If you want to read good writing rather than a gimmick, try another book.

The story is enjoyable enough in a skim-through, don't-pay-too-much-attention, don't-think-too-hard sort of way. Yes, it is extremely derivative of older and much better literature. But IMHO the real problem is the awkwardness of the prose. I can forgive a lot of literary thievery, if it is done with grace, but grace is sadly lacking here. This book reads as though it was written by a teenager -- guess why.

Paolini needs to mature, go to college, see the world, and take some creative writing courses. Unfortunately, his current success may convince him that he doesn't need to improve. And that would be a shame.

When Eragon, by Christopher Paolini, first came out, I refused to buy it. It was a story about a boy learning to ride dragons - a long lost art - which seemed to be cut-and-paste Dragonriders of Pern. It came out right when Lord of the Rings was turning into movies. The name of the lead character - Eragon - seemed to me a direct rip-off of Aragorn's name. Eragon was written by a teenager whose parents both worked in the publishing industry. It seemed clearly a case of publishing parents who had reworked their teenage boy's fan fiction words in order to make money for themselves.

Eventually when teenaged friends of mine began talking about it, I felt I should read it to at least participate in their conversations. After all, I adored Lord of the Rings, Dragonriders of Pern, Dune, etc. growing up. Surely I would find similar themes in this work that I could enjoy, even if the writing style was a bit unkempt.

I read the book through in two days. It was, as I had figured, rough in style. Despite his many kudos to his publishing team for helping him craft the beginning, the ending, the middle, the dialogue and the grammar, there were numerous problems in there that acted as roadblocks. Still, that was not the real issue. The real issue was that in pretty much every chapter I felt as if I'd read the story before.

A boy living with his not-parents. The boy happens to be away, returning to find the smoking home? Star Wars, check. The long-lost dragon egg that happens to open up to him? Pern, check. Just about every scene involving orcs, elves, dwarves and wraiths? Lord of the Rings, check. Desert scenes and "Bid'daum" (c'mon, Maud Dib backwards???) check. Epic battles and Hrothgar from Beowulf. The "true name" concern from Earthsea.

Just about every name used seemed to call up other books. Isenstar? Vanilor? Mithrim? Also, you get a token female near the end - and a token black person - but other than that the book is all about white guys. I realize you can have that complaint about JRR Tolkien who was born in 1892, and I do very much have that complaint. But it's an issue that should NOT be appearing in a book written in 2003.

Finally, many of the plot situations simply make no sense at all. He is learning to read in ONE WEEK? Looking at the map, distances that are covered are randomly long or short in time. Characters do things which make no sense at all but fit into the required plot line. You hear what they are planning to do in a given situation and think to yourself, "What in the world are they doing??" There were many times I could pretty much recite the dialogue along with them because it was so clearly lifted from book X or Y.

I am very much a person who likes fan fiction. I have read a lot of it! It is great for teens to have that creative outlet, to begin building up their skills. It is just like having a crush on a movie star before graduating to a real boyfriend or girlfriend. But nobody would call a crush a "real relationship". I would never dream of publishing fan fiction as an "original story". It really seems to me like Christopher's parents - being book publishers - took advantage of him and put his book out there without the thorough editing it needed in order to make money off of him. What if, instead, they had spent a few more years actually homeschooling him and teaching him how to write more independently, and let him make his OWN novel? Think of what he might have achieved! Instead, we are left with these obviously fan-fiction, derivative works, and the controversy that has ensued.

This really does GREAT harm to the many high quality teen authors who DO exist out there. Now they will be judged with the Christopher Paolini stigma, as in "well, only plagiarists exist in the teen writing world." Kaavya Viswanathan caused equal harm when her novel, written when she was 19, was found to be full of duplicated material. We then forget about REAL teen writers who created inspirational, unique works such as Mary Shelley and Frankenstein (age 19) and S.E. Hinton and The Outsiders (age 16). Even one of my favorite novels of all time - Pride & Prejudice - was begun when Jane Austen was 14. Please, let's not let Eragon spread the assumption that all teen writers can do is regurgitate the things they've read.

For people who say "I enjoyed the story" - I really encourage you to read the original stories by JRR Tolkien, Anne McCaffrey, Ursula K. Le Guin, etc. Those stories are also great for teenagers and are much more eloquent and rich in meaning. To have teens reading this instead is like reading "novel lite". Why listen to a tinny AM version of a song when you have access to the full, rich high quality MP3 of it?

Finally, the copy I picked up is the paperback with the movie cover. It has movie photos WITHIN the book - meaning even though I deliberately tried not to look at them, the "final scenes" images were right next to page 373 when I tried to keep reading. Talk about WRONG! What's next, a cover blurb that reveals the ending twist?

Very disappointing.

THE BOOK HAD TO ARRIVE THE NEXT DAY BECAUSE MY DAUGHTER TOLD ME LATE THE NIGHT BEFORE THAT SHE NEEDED A DRAGON-LIKE BOOK. AND IT ARRIVED THE NEXT DAY. HER TEACHER WAS SURPRISED THAT SHE HAD HER BOOK THAT FAST.

I've read many of the books which are obviously the inspiration for this work. It is formulaic and not very original as others have said. However, it is also a very absorbing book, an easy read which I can enjoy at the end of a working day even when I'm very tired, and it is simply a lot of fun to read. Many give this book 1 star and I think it's jealousy that a book with not much originality and a relatively simple storyline gets so much attention, but the success of the story is in the author's talents to capture some of the best elements from popular works and blend them together well. Yes, it is quite formulaic, but it is a formula that works and has worked for other books. I would give this book 3,5 stars as I've read better fantasy (but also much worse), but I round to 4 for the pleasure of reading it.

I have to admit that I was a bit reluctant to read this book due to all the bad reviews I've read about it. But by granddaughter wanted to read it, so we started plugging away at the story, and I'm actually glad we did. This is a wonderful story, and even though it follows the traditional epic characteristics, it still feels fresh and unique. It's definately worth a read. By the way, if you enjoy this genre, you should really check out T.H. Ferrell's new release The Pages of Tamenara. It's amazing!

This is a marvelous book that my son and I read for one of his school projects. By the time we finished with the book, virtually the whole family was wrapped up in it. We watch as a small town boy finds himself the chosen one of a wonderful but very dangerous item. When this item turns into a "pet," things get really exciting... and Hazardous. Read as Eragons life is torn apart, and his very life is linked with a dragon. This book (an the next) are books that will have you reading well into the night with anticipation. The characters come alive in this wonderfully creative book. Best of all, if you have young writers in your home, this is especially a must read because if you check out the age on this writer, you will find he was quite young when he wrote it... proving our point that kids can do great things!

I was excited to read this book, what with all of the praise I had heard for the 17-year-old that had written. How disappointed was I. This is, without an ounce of doubt, the most poorly written book I have ever regrettably paid money for. Shoddy characters, a splotchy story, and an over all plot that seems to pull from other fantasy writers that are much, much better than he is. Honestly, I cannot believe how many mistakes he made while writing his story. I just wanted to take a red pen and scribble out whole pieces of useless details.

If you want to read an adolescent fantasy novel, go read The Golden Compass, or a Wrinkle in Time. Don't even bother touching trash like this.

The lazy, hazy, crazy days of Summer, a great time to lounge in the shade, sip a cold lemonade, and lose yourself in a good book-Ahh, so many books, so little time. Yep, it reminds me of those carefree days of youth. And for the young reader, or the child in you, I very much recommend Eragon , a first novel, and first in a new fantasy trilogy by young author Christopher Paolini.

Eragon is a classic coming of age story, with fresh writing, and new perspective. Yes, there is magic and dragons, and a young hero coming to terms with responsibility and adulthood, and an evil, corrupt king to trust his growing powers. All classic elements of the fantasy genre, but the story and the characters drive the tale, giving solid footing to well-worn foundations.

Eragon is a solid first novel, and there's great promise in Christopher Paolini. He was only sixteen when he penned this novel. If you are a reader of fantasy, you'll see influence from masters of the genre-such as Tolkien, and Ann McCaffrey, and even elements of the Star Wars saga. But I like to think good story telling transcends the boundaries of genre, and this is a book with sound plot, good character development, and an epic tale to lose yourself. I found Eragon to be one of those rare books I never wanted to end, but luckily the next book in the trilogy, Eldest, has been released. So, you know what I'm reading next!

Author "Hobo Finds A Home" and editor of "Of A Predatory Heart"

This book was ok. The story was pretty good. I really liked the characters, but I wish there was more information about their personalities and backgrounds.

My 12 y/o son loves this book. He cannot put it down and has read it several times. He cannot wait for the next installment to be published!

Novice readers of fantasy love this book. To anyone who has read a lot of fantasy, including young adult fantasy, it is instantly forgetable.

Young people should be directed to role models like Christopher Paolini or S. E. Hinton of authors who were published when they were still teenagers, but if you are looking for a better young fantasy writer, introduce them to Amelia Atwater-Rhodes instead. She signed her first publishing contract when she was just 13, I think.

Dragon lovers love dragons no matter what and any young fantasy reader who is not already deeply steeped in Tolkien, Feist or McCaffrey will probably love this book.

I'm a professor of literature and language. From all that I have read, even on the dust jacket of this first book in Paolini's series, nobody, including the author or the publsher, makes a secret of the fact that he was heavily influenced by Tolkien, Lucas, McCaffrey, and most likely other readers.

In fact, good writers are always influenced to some degree by those whom they have read. That's usually how they end up becoming GOOD WRITERS.

Now, take a look at this very sentence in the prologue. This is the first introduction we have to the writing style of Paolini:

"Wind howled through the night, carrying a scent that would change the world."

That is powerful. That has nothing to do with Tolkien or Lewis or anyone. That has to do with individual writing voice, and an extremely good one, at that.

When you read this book, or re-read it - look at it with an eye of examining how the words are put together. It's masterful. I've seen numerous examples, published and unpublished, of authors old and young(er) who were quite obviously influenced by any number of writers. Unfortunately, those writers, and I use the term as a point of reference only, did not choose to, OR HAVE THE ABILITY TO, string together words in such a way that was masterful. Or, for that matter, in any way approaching logic or sense or really, just sort of thrown in together in a way that made me quickly get to my used bookstore to trade in the item as fast as I could get rid of it. I'm talking about published writers who couldn't string together simple sentences and throw in an adjective or two along the way, without getting twisted up and falling over their own ink. And I've seen experienced writers do that, too.

Anybody can use their love of certain written works to come up with similar plot lines.

Plagiarism, as I saw a couple of reviews in here glibly toss out (and I am certain that means that you, of course, never plagiarized any of your reports in high school or college, yes? of course it does :) - is when someone steals another's words and claims them as their own.

Paolini doesn't do that. The dust jacket, all press that I've read about him and his book, the publishers, his parents - everything I've read that promotes his book acknowledges in a broad metaphorical flag-waving right up front, Hey, Paolini was influenced BY - and gives a short list. That's not plagiarism.

Also, ideas are not copyrighted. Words are. Ideas are not. Gilgamesh had an epic journey of good and evil. It's been going on for thousands of years in the written world. If we are going to start pointing fingers at who copied whom, or who had the original idea, I'm afraid you're going to have to point a finger at Tolkien and Lewis and McCaffrey. No writer for centuries has been able to avoid being influenced, to some degree, by those who have gone before.

It's why writing is considered to be immortal, in a sense. Your words live on.

And the words - oh my, Paolini's words. Look at how they are put together. Look at the rich description. That's not plagiarized. That IS original. Look at how he puts together ideas and plots and describes emotions, characters, colors, scents, the change of seasons, the change of terrain - that is all original. The WAY in which he put together his words, is original to him. It's his personal writing voice. Everybody has a writing voice. Some voices ought to be quiet, frankly, because they are that bad. Some voices should be trumpeted.

Paolini's should be trumpeted.

Gosh, you picked up a book that clearly, upfronts notes that Paolini was influenced by Tolkien, then you sit there and smugly type "Hey, ooobbbbbviously he was influenced by Tolkien" - well, gosh. You're like, Einstein. Of course, that would mean you got the idea of being Einstein, from Einstein. :)

Look at the words. Look at how they are put together. Look at how Paolini crafts - yes, he crafts, he's an artist in the most precise sense - the words.

Can you do that?

Because I'm not seeing it in the evidence of some of your reviews. Or perhaps it was an off-day.

Look - really look - at how the words are put together. It is art. It is truly art.

I read this a few years ago because it was the latest craze. A fifteen year old (who finished it when he was 19) wrote a 550 page book! Most teenagers aren't exactly great writers, so I felt I had to check this out.

The book? 550 pages of derivativeness, pointless description (especially that of a certain elf's cleavage), and a carbon copy of Star Wars. For starters, 80% of the book is description of either the terrain or of hot elves, and yet I have no idea what the main character looks like. Not to mention the fact that Paolini obviously wrote it with a thesauras by his side. Machicolated?! We have no idea either. I'm not sure whether that was in Eragon, or Eldest, but what the hey?

And then the plot. Yaargh. Take Star Wars, set it in medieval times, replace robots with dragons, and take out any originality. That's basically the plot. And as for Eldest, take everything I said here and multiply it by 5. Yup. It's that bad.

Ah, the first of the Inheritance Trilogy by Paolini. I grabbed this book in it's original edition (when Paolini first published it himself) at a used bookstore. Why? Because I enjoy fantasy and am completely fascinated by different people's takes on dragons. And I don't regret for a minute picking this book up. There's a reason Paolini was picked up by a major publisher and they re-released this book - it's just plain good.

Some might criticize his classic themes of good and evil, but I think those themes are classic just because they're so basic and foundational to mankind. And Paolini is just starting something in this book. The cliff-hanger at the end is one of the most abrupt I've encountered, and it really left me thirsting for more. I'd suggest at least getting your hands on the second before starting the first, that way you can just read them back to back without ever having to stop (like I did - it was two years before I got my hands on the second book!).

So if you're in the least bit intrigued by or enjoy fantasy, pick this up. Paolini obviously has read and enjoyed Tolkien - and if there's an influence I'll never argue with, Tolkien is it. Enjoy!

Actually, I misspoke: there is nothing that is original in this book. The plot is taken from StarWars (or if you want to get technical, it is a by-the-book rendition of the Hero's Journey, something any fantasy reader has seen a billion times.) The characters are flat--even the main character, Eragon, tastes like the paper and ink he's made of, and he is moved through the very rigid plot through deus ex machina, more often than not. His relationship with the dragon Saphira is very hollow, and she "flies overhead" throughout most of the book, relegating her to the status of a nothing character. Brom is the typical "Wise Old Mentor" TM, and Arya...well, Paolini TELLS us that she's able to take care of herself, but she spends most of the book as the "Damsel In Distress" TM. Speaking of the telling and not showing, more often than not the book will TELL us what's going on rather than SHOWING us, TELL us what the characters are thinking and feeling rather than SHOWING us, and it starts to rankle, oh, about five chapters in. Now, one can put this up to the fact that the author never took a college (or even real high school) writing class, but it cannot be excused: it's simply lazy writing. Speaking of the writing, or more specifically the prose, it varies between short, stiff sentences with very little flow, and utterly purple prose remniscent of Tolkein at his utter worst. Then there's the fact that just about every ingenious part of this book came from someone else: the telepathic dragons and their riders from Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series, the world of Alagaesia from J.R.R. Tolkein's Lord of the Rings (although it was called Middle Earth then) complete with orcs (Urgals) and Uruk Hai (Kull) and nazgul (Ra'zac), gruff, earth-dwelling dwarves and graceful, long-lived, sylvan elves. There's also the transplanted magic system of Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea and the werecat from Garth Nix's Abhorsen series (Mogget, as opposed to Solembum). I would recommend every single one of these books over Eragon. Don't even read this on a rainy day; it would be a better idea to go catch pneumonia as you stand in the rain and watch the pages of this book disintegrate instead.

First off I just wanted to comment on the readers who felt that this was just another Star Wars/Lord of the Rings type of ripoff. The battle between good and evil has always been pondered upon since the BIBLE was written! Do you know how many ideas/inspirations for books/pulishings/movies, etc., came from this one book? Ask yourself. There are many Christian undertones in Star Wars and in LOTR as well as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe just the same and I am a huge fan of all of them. Not once did you catch me maing comparisons amongst those works. Just letting you know since its not like I do not have knowledge of such writings.

As for Eragon? The book was passed along to me by my 15 year old daughter and Eragon has been in my hands ever since (I actually finished reading it half an hour ago) and I enjoyed the escape very much so. I suggest that one who reads this to stop making judgements as you read on and just enjoy the journey. The Author did a great job and it was nice to see how his work actually graduated into something more advanced as the book goes on. Oh, and I'm starting book two tonight.

Ugh...
What can I say? The plotline is cliched and boring, the writing isn't memorable in the least, and yes, a lot of it is borrowed from other series.

I think a lot of people give Eragon a good rating simply because the author is young--or at least, this influences their review. To tell the truth, I've seen 12-year-olds that write stories that are much more captivating and well-written, and original. They just never get 'em published, which is why a lot of adults are surprised to see a book with 'such good writing for someone his age'--they don't have enough basis for comparison.

I don't want to sound like I'M being biased because of Paolini's young age, either (I'm several years younger than him, actually--13) :). Truly, it wouldn't make a difference if he was 5 or 50 to me. A bad book is a bad book... And, well, Eragon is a bad book.
I didn't enjoy reading it at all.

Eragon wasn't bad. It just wasn't creative or original. Every concept was one I'd read before. I would suggest this book if you have nothing else to read, and time to kill.

p.s. The movie was horrific. Even if you have time to kill, find something else to watch.

Finally finished "the dragon book" as my friend keeps calling it and, looking back, I cannot believe I made it all the way through.

Nothing surprising happened from start to finish, plot and character entirely predictable.

Characters are uniformly Good or Evil in uniformly dull ways.

Every chapter is written like a Q&A. Eragon endlessly asking questions and getting answers. The author cannot stage a dramatic exchange of dialog.

Gah.

...there are several things that are incredibly irking to me when I read Paolini's work. A) the plots of Eragon and Eldest are predictable and overused, B) his characters are stuffy and suspiciously resemble Mary Sues (Gary Stu?), C) most of his ideas are not new, and D) this book was spotlighted merely because he was relatively young. The most irritating are the last two points, so I'll elaborate on those.

There have been multiple reviews by both amateur and professional reviewers alike that have expanded upon Eragon's remarkable tendency to show parallels with large-name fantasy books (e.g. LeGuin, Tolkien, Star Wars, etc), so I really won't elaborate too much.

Admittedly, the world of fantasy fiction *is* going to have cliched ideas. For example, sword and sorcery novels are going to have some recurring themes shared between most of them. The key to making this okay, in my opinion, is that this theme or idea is recycled between each book -- reused but remade with the author's own variation.

It seems to me that Paolini sifted through the trash cans of the best-known fantasy authors, uncrumpled their ideas, and used it straight from the wastebin. Following this analogy, he has made a collage of the different ideas from these authors in his book. Needless to say, it was not a fresh read nor creative and new.

Because Paolini was 15 when he began Eragon and 17 when it was published, most critics have responded positively to this work. If there had been no mention of his age, the book's popularity amongst reviewers would probably have been drastically different: most adults are amazed that a teen has the attention span to write a novel, let alone a full trilogy. (Then again, as I'm still not yet able to drink legally, I can't be sure.)

There *are* kids out there who can write well and have dedicated themselves fully to literary arts. My friend's younger sister has written a full-length novel, which she started when she was 11 and finished at 14. Several of my friends have written works that are incredibly innovative and wonderfully written -- maybe not with the life's experiences an adult could put in, but certainly with a fresh voice that is, in my opinion, good enough of a replacement and without a doubt better than Eragon's.

I have to say, Paolini was lucky in his popularity because he was at the right place in the right moment to get a major publishing company interested in his work. If other teenagers got this same chance, I think the general population would be impressed with what kids can churn out -- things that are fresh, creative, and a plain good read.

If you like original novels with innovative ideas, skip this book. If you're looking for something to waste your time away with, this is probably amusing enough to read.

I just like the book, well written and intersting, read the second book too.

This book is really just formula fantasy. There is nothing really new or original in this book. The language is stilted at times and forced. Similes are often "off." The book is "unrealistic" at times - and by that I mean given its own frame of reference. For example, Eragon becomes a world class swordsman in a couple of months?! Saphira is depicted as a powerful dragon and displays this at times, yet cannot carry 3 people?! There are other little errors as well that just show the superficiality of the book; for example, the weather is described as cloudy then moments later, they are viewing the stars for navigation. Eragon himself is a superficial character: I never got to actually care what happens to him. I love fantasy so I read the entire book, but I have no interest in reading the subsequent books.

Good story, although not particularly original. MUCH longer than it needed to be. I found myself skipping page after page because the author was describing something mundane and unimportant in excruciating detail. It IS a really good story, though and that alone makes one want to finish the book. I just think it would have been better if it was just a little shorter.

Need I say more? I dived into this book eagerly expecting epic tales in proportion to its length, and all I got was cliched, ripoff (Star Wars, anyone?) vaguely entertaining stuff.

There is no graceful writing here, folks. Nope, it's not reminiscent of Tolkien. Rather, it conspicuously reeks of the plotline from Star Wars (I could make a loong, long, list of rip-offed plotlines, scenes, characters, etc.) which continues into Eldest.

While the author manages to keep our attention from sliding off most of the time by inserting a dragon here, an orkish creature there, some swords, etc., must of the time I am stunned by the stoicism, the awkward and heaving writing (does it feel like to anyone else that Paolini wrote this with a thesaurus by his side?) The uneven flow and the tedious one-dimensional characters, especially that irksome Eragon is enough to make anyone cry.

"Hey, he was seventeen, give him a break," you guys argue. You know what? There are a great deal of 17-year-old writers with vastly more impressive material, with greater depth. Just look at a few annual Scholastic Writing winners. Apparently their only shortcomings are no publisher-parents or an attractive book cover. Look at others near his age - from S.E. Hinton to Jane Austen, overall, Paolini's work is tolerable but certainly does not deserve all this hype or fame.

I advise him to read some more literature, go to college, take some classes and buff up his skills, and come back with a little less atrociously prominent plagiarizing and better writing skills.

If you read in order to better yourself, don't waste your time. The only ones who like this garble seem to be: kids, inexperienced readers, and people with low literary standards. As time goes on, these books are going to fade away.

(If you want a good customer analysis of Eragon, see Capossere's review.)

It is so well written that you just cant but help and love it! The story line is awesome and it is well executed. And anyone that is a fan of J.K Rowling should surely check out this book!

My nephew Nathan says: "I think that the dragons and the dragon riders were cool. I also liked Durza. Overall, it was a really good book. I highly recomend it if you're really into magical beings".

This book was excellent. It's a mixture of Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Harry Potter. Very exciting and fast paced.
The movie was terrible. If you liked the movie then you will love the book.

The prose may be obnoxious when you read it, but when you listen to an audiobook of the story, you really start to have respect for Paolini and his endeavors with words. While some of it drags on, the storyline is reasonably paced. The characters are two-dimensional and flat, but the action-packed storyline helps to alleviate this crime.

Overall, I enjoyed it. I would have given it a 3 or 2 had I not listened to the book on audio-tape. However, having done that, I have more respect for the detail in this book.

I agree with B. Capossere's lengthy and thoughtful review. This was a 17-year-old fantasy book written by a 17-year-old. My 12-year-old son loved it, and that is to be expected. But where was Paolini's editor? For my part, I felt like the work jerked me back-and-forth, as the author would run deep for a bit, then shallow, then back and forth. While I enjoyed the story as a reflection -- as Capossere points out -- of greater fantasy writers, with some tighter editing, this could have been even better.

Still, hurrah for Paolini for self-publishing and believing in his work enough to see it through! I'll look forward to reading his works in 10 years or so ....

When I started reading Eragon It wasn't as good but once I read on I was totally pysched about it. I friend had gaven me a review of the book so I wan't to read "Eragon". My favorite part was at the end when there was the big battle in Tronjheim. My favorite Character was Brom because then Eragon would be a dull Dragon Rider. I would rate this book a 5 out of 5. YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK!!

Well, I have grown to become a fantasy fan, thanks to J. R. R. Tolkien and was interested in seeing the movie.

Plot:
Eragon lives in the mountains with his uncle and cousin until he finds a mysterious "stone". He quickly discovers this stone is an egg when it hatches to reveal a dragon he calls Saphira. However, Galbatorix's agents are searching for the egg. Eragon's uncle dies, and Eragon leaves his home with a mysterious storyteller, Brom, and his dragon, Saphira, for revenge. During their travels, Brom teaches Eragon about the legacy of an order called the Riders, they battle beings called "Urgals", and Eragon searches for his purpose.

Good:
I am impressed at the quality of this book (considering the age of the author). The pacing was pretty even and kept me on the edge of my seat in numerous places (the flight from Gil'read and the end battle are particularly intense). Paolini does a pretty good job of detailing a battle (instead of copping out and saying "and they battled" or some other gibberish) while not getting so locked into it that there are pages upon pages of detailed battle maneuvers, ripostes, parries, etc. Paolini also handles magic relatively well, although he brushes it off towards the end (you stop feeling Eragon using the magic and are instead told how he uses the magic).
Eragon is a very dynamic character that I felt was real and authentic. Saphira was convincing as an intelligent dragon; Brom was a great mentor. I even liked Murtagh.

Bad:
Probably my biggest complaint with this book is what many others have complained about: how similar it is to predecessors. I have not yet had the chance to read any Anne McCaffrey's books, but I have read Lord of the Rings and many of the Star Wars books, and the similarities are obvious.
Elves, dragons, dwarves and the like are commonplace in fantasy. That's not a problem. But Elves that come from the West in silver ships? Hmmm...I think I read about that in "The Silmarillion". The last battle sequence on Tronjheim (which could have been Tuna from "The Silmarillion") felt almost exactly like the Battle at Helm's Deep from "The Two Towers". The chase from Gil'ead could almost be mistaken for either the flight from the Nazgul or the flight in Khazadum from "The Fellowship of the Rings". Urgals and Kull are most definitely "Orcs" and "Uruk-hai". And several names are incredibly close to LOTR ones (Eragon for Aragorn, Arya for Arwen--kinda a coincidence Eragon is a human and Arya is an Elf--Turin for Turin, Beirland is similar to Beleriand and so forth).
In the beginning, when Brom is relating the history of the land, he talks about Galbatorix's rise to power. Or was it Palpatine/Anakin-Darth Vader? Hmmm... The Riders could have been the Jedi plus dragons. Also, as I look back, one could confuse Arya's rescue from Gil'ead to be Leia's rescue from the Death Star. Two men (Eragon and Murtagh in "Eragon", Luke and Han in Star Wars), one doesn't want to save her (Murtagh, Han, respectively), and both from a prison where she is close to being destroyed/killed. We even have our dear Obi-Wan Kenobi in Brom, who dies saving Luke...I mean, Eragon. I am still waiting for him to show up later as a ghost.
Christopher Paolini had some of his own original ideas, but he obviously took (a little too heavily in places) from Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. I am surprised that the Tolkien estate and George Lucas aren't suing for rights.
Some of the characters (Ajihad, Orik, and the like) are rushed in at the end and not given much time. However, this may be remedied in further books, so I won't hold this item against it.
Also, I found the languages spoken in "Eragon" had more in common with baby talk than an actual language. I mean, "ono un atra ono waise"? I guess I spent too much time in Tolkien feeding off his knowledge of languages.
Lastly, while this is impressive for a young adult, some of the conclusions are weak and the plot tends to be connect-the-dots or to skim over stuff. And Brom didn't think to trace the agents through the poison they used? That sounds completely out of character.

Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:
The term "ba*****" is used, but I think that pretty much is it. Other colorful language is tastefully alluded to but not mentioned. Sexual situations are probably nothing compared to the Gossip Girl series, but I was a little disconcerted reading about "bedding the wrong woman" and how no one has a clue about his parentage in a book targeted to tweens and teens. Violence is a little more than I would have expected. Yes, swordplay, fist fights, and battles are the par and I expected that, but mention is made of "brains on metal" that completely grossed me out (and I felt were unnecessary).

Overall:
A good effort, but as I read certain parts, I was thinking, "Haven't I seen this before?" It will be neat to see what this young man comes up with as he grows older and develops his own ideas. I liked it and don't regret reading it, but this is definitely for those who are still on milk when it comes to fantasy. Hard-core fantasy lovers will get very upset.

Disappointing, but interesting. The youth of the author is evident,his story lines are provocative,but do not develop enough, and his characters are not drawn in enough detail.There is a lot going on in this story,but it comes over as too facile. The film makers concentrated on the best bits and made it visually spectacular. All in all, an excellant start for a young man who could grow into a first rate writer.

The book has great detail. It shows everything that is important in the book! When it starts getting unintresting, something exciting happens. I can't wait to read Eldest! Eragon has been the best book I have ever read!

I love this book! It is sooooo cool! I highly recommend it to people who like good books!!!!!!

I read this book without knowing anything at all about the author and not having read any of 'The Lord of The Rings' novels, which some of the content has been suggested most similar to.

I was recommended 'Eragon' by a friend and frankly I put off reading it as I'm not really a fantasy reader...and the dragon on the front just put me off...in a 'Never Ending Story' way. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The story grabbed me and I looked forward to picking it up to read.

I referred to the map at the front quite a lot and just enjoyed travelling and learning with Eragon and Brom. My own opinion is that the author got the balance just right. Including; family loyalties, mystery, a hint of romance (but only a hint), magic, history, honour and battle (again not too much though) woven through the story.

I was surprised to see in the Editorial reviews that "...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..." as I am most definitely a casual fantasy reader!!

I would certainly read the second book, 'Eldest'.

I love this book! It's strongly reminded me of the Tolkien trilogy, "Lord of the Rings". It's very fast paced. Full of action. I found it hard to put down. I can't wait to get to the next book in the series.

This book rocks!!! It is amazing that an author so young can write such a great book. I rate it up there with The Lord of the Rings, it's that good.

This is a great book. Sure, it's Star Wars and Lord of the Rings put together, but still. This guy (Paolini) is on a great start to his career. I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!!

This book was the best book i think i ever read! I cant wait for the third to come out! I had SO much fun reading it!
Thank you Christifor Poilini for making such a wonderful and interesting book for me to read!

I'm going to be honest from the get-go: I have never read any J.R.R. Tolkein, nor Piers Anthony, nor any other writer of what I would call "classic fantasy," meaning pretty much anything to do with dragons, magic, elves, orcs, demons, and so on and so forth and blah blah blah yackity smackity. I've seen bits and pieces of the "Lord of the Rings" movies, and I read a tiny snippet of one of the Pern novels in middle school as a class assignment, but by and large, classic fantasy just isn't my thing. So when I first picked up Eragon on a hunch and started reading, and my first thought was that this was the most derivative book I'd ever read, I took that as a very, very bad sign. Eragon is, to put it bluntly, such a blatant ripoff of such a large number of works that even people who would rather hang themselves than have anything to do with Frodo and his ilk will find themselves shaking their head and wondering how anybody could have read this book and found it worthy of a publishing contract. Of course, the jaded part of me can't help but notice that the gamble apparently paid off, and the world has laid immense riches at the feet of Christopher Paolini in spite of his work's flaws.

To be sure, there are glimmers of talent here and there; Eragon is, after all, quite a complex novel, and not the sort of thing that the majority of mid- to late-teenage aspiring writers would be capable of producing. (It's worth noting, though, that the author also graduated from high school at fifteen, an achievement which already places him on a tier significantly above most fifteen-year-olds.) Now, if that was the context in which I had read this novel--if, for example, I was a high-school English teacher reading this as the work of one of my students--it would be fine. I would probably give it a B minus, in fact, maybe appending a note reading "Develop your own voice!" or something along those lines. But that's not the context in which the reading public is asked to view Eragon, and that's where it all falls apart. We're asked to view this not as a mildly impressive but far-from-perfect work by a young wannabe writer, but as a professional work by a professional auteur, and I'm sorry to say, it's just not. The story is patched together--and pretty roughly patched, at that--from the most recognizable parts of other, more well-known works, the dialogue isn't particularly well-written, and the whole thing just comes off as silly. Even the constructed languages, such as they are, are ridiculous; a quick glance through any language's primer (average length: half a page) reveals that there's no real structure at work, no identifiable syntax, merely a pastiche of nonsense syllables that, when strung together and said aloud, sound kind of cool. Eragon's saving grace, it seems, has been the fact that it was marketed largely to an audience that knew nothing of Eragon's source material, and frankly, I'm baffled that any adult could read Eragon and not laugh or groan out loud. My advice: Give Christopher Paolini another decade or so in which to develop his own style, then come back and see what he can give us. As for Eragon, the only advice I can give is to just leave it alone and go read something else, because if you're even tangentially familiar with anything connected to the word "fantasy," you're in for a massive disappointment.