Customer Reviews

Eragon: Inheritance, Book I

5 star:		(509)
4 star:		(122)
3 star:		(88)
2 star:		(66)
1 star:		(137)

 

 

If you are considering buying Eragon right now but are not sure if it's quite what you are looking for, I am writing this review
to tell you it is definitely well worth the read (and purchase)! I'm a very picky reader, as I truly enjoy fantasy novels but have a clear idea in my head of what one entails. Paolini truly captured the essence of this in his first book by including maps, languages, and plenty of adventure in what's sure to be an unforgettable trilogy!

I must say, this kid's work is as good or better than any adult's novel. The imagination it must have took to come up with this story. I loved the friendship that Eragon and Saphira have. This is a thrilling book that everyone should read. You'll be lost in the book till the very end.

Eragon is an awesome read for people of all ages, ecspecially those who enjoy fantasy. Eragon has managed to hold my attention better than many fantasy books including the Lord of the Rings series. It's a fantastic story about a boy that enters the ranks of the legendary "Dragon Riders". I don't want to give too much away so honestly if you have a chance read Eragon it's incredible. Just one warning start early in the evening, if you don't you'll find it's well past midnight before you manage to find a good place to leave off.

"Hmm...I've read this before..." is the thought that plunges into the readers mind as he begins to read Christopher Paolini's novel, Eragon. The name sounds familiar, and so does the story. The characters and even the world of Eragon feels vaguely familiar.

This may be so because, as stated by a previous reviewer, Eragon is not an original recipe. The novel seems to have been derived from more classical fantasies such as Lord of the Rings. Even the name "Eragon" cannot be read without the remembrance of the noble character "Aragon" from LOTR. (similar names, both in love with some sort of elf princess, both are excellent swordsmen....)

Paolini, however, did a fairly-good job weaving different fantasy novels into his own. The plot development is quite steady and is an overall, interesting read despite his awkward style and disablitiy to maintain a character with a stable personality (one moment the character is exceedingly wise and the next moment he is a reckless fool).

In conclusion, the novel was enjoyable in its own way. I wouldn't recommend buying the book (unless you have an affinity for beautifully designed hardcovers, which Eragon is) but I would definately recommend borrowing it.

Let's just hope that Paolini's style and characters will improve in Eragon's sequel, Eldest.

anyone who says this book is a rip off or not his own idea is wrong im 13 ok and i have read this book many times...the names are hard to remember or prononce but it definatly is a whole new look on the dungeons and dragons idea book. Every book like this is based on d and d so the story is yet another d and d book good for anyone who likes to read long books because it is a very long book but it is amazingly well written and being a d and d player i can see where some of the ideas came from...the author played d and d most likly and read a whole lot of tolkien and played a lot of rpg's to get an idea so intense...when you think of it all of these storys could end up meeting...crazy...lotr,bulders gate,evercrack(everquest if you are not a player) and ff series all brought together to make a great series...yes this book is a little like others but the launguges and spells and detail is great it is trully amazing..read it if you have time or just read during free time (try not to over use your work breaks *Laughs* seriously try not to you wont be able to put it down)

I read this book because it was well reviewed by many people, and I must say I was disapointed. This book lacks everything that is vital to a good fantasy novel: Original plot line, strong characterization, gender balanced cast, and decent dialogue.

Paolini uses far too many adverbs, as do many other amateur writers, and he cannot write a good action scene to save his life. The characters were very weak with minimal personality, and none of them were memorable.

Also, most of the plot and setting of this book was stolen from a) Tolkien, b) Ursula K. Leguin, or c) Anne McCaffrey. Many of the names of places or people were far to easy to trace back to their sources. Am I the only person who thinks that 'Eragon' sounds suspiciously like Tolkien's character 'Aragorn'? And once that link is established, it's not difficult to see that 'Arya' is an adaptation of 'Arwen'.

But what really enraged me about this book was the blatant lack of female characters. In a five hundred page book, only three non-male characters have more than two lines each, and one of them is the dragon. The other two are Arya the elf and Angela the witch. There is nothing wrong with Angela, but Arya is another matter entirely. If she is such a powerful mage and skilled swordswoman, why did she need to be rescued by a fifteen year old by with an enlarged ego? A villan who defeated Arya in about two seconds was later killed by Eragon. I think this is disgusting (...). Maybe I'm just biased because I'm female, but personally, I hate books where the male characters are the best at everything.

In conclusion, don't read this book. (...)

The fanfare and general idolation of this novel is decidedly undeserved. Why? At points it can be entertaining (though it drags on in description far too often) but it is not long before an odd sense of familiarity sinks in: a sensation of deja-vu begs you to find its source.

And find it you shall. Nothing in this book is original, each idea a poorly manipulated classic akin to what you would find in a slightly better than average fan fiction.

What results is a kid trying to achieve the level of literary finesse that his presumed idols have achieved and abandoning the most important element of the writer's craft: creativity. By borrowing upon these well-known themes, characters, elements Paolini is only hindering the success of fantasy and other genred fictions. Instead of evolving these now overused and cliched ideals of magic and fantasy, he has left them unchanged.

There is plenty of quality fantasy stories available that do not blatantly (no, it is not a cutesy homage to his favourite writers) steal the most recognisable elements of popular literary achievements.

I can only hope that his next book will truly be his own and not just a compilation of the ideas of others.

I'm a 13 year old boy who likes fantasy and i can see how this sort of book is supposed to appeal to someone like me. i wrote a very long review but decided not to post it mostly because i felt it was, well, just too long. so i'll try to make it short and sweet.

this book reminds me of the kind of fiction i used to do when i was in elementary school for creative writing. to me that sort of says that this was published because his parents owned a publishing company, not because it was exceptionally well done considering the author's age.

the story, setting, development, characters, etc. are nearly all taken from some place or another, given new names or details or something, and shuffled around. i won't nitpick over this because a lot of other reviewers have but some of the elements of this book seemed to be ripped straight out of LotR, Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea Cycle, Anne McCaffery's Dragonriders of Pern series, and Star Wars. (all of which i have seen or read) other reviewers have talked about numerous other books that the author has taken things from. its one thing to be influenced by other stories and show those influences in your writing. in fact, its a good thing, it makes your writing better. no book is totally original, and many classics are made because the authors took things that influenced them and that they liked and incorporated them. but is this different. nothing new is done with these ideas or characters, and it all feels rehashed and kind of boring.

and the writing isnt so great either. yeah its his first book but that doesn't give him a blank check. the descriptive writing was pretty good but even that got kind of overdone.

and this is sort of a stupid thing to say but the names in this book annoyed the hell out of me. Brom, Farthen Dur, Isenstar, Ayla, Eragon, Saphira or whatever her name was. Gahh.

So in the end what I'm trying to say is this:

Don't bother. This book has a lot of hype mainly because the author is so young. its not Totally awful or anything but there are a huge deal of things in it that come straight from other stories. the author will probably turn into a better writer i think, and maybe the other books will turn out to have some more quality to them. after all, this is only the first third of a series, things could improve a lot. but for now, just look for something else besides eragon.

The Book I like to talk about is Eragon it is a mirale and stupendous it has imaginative Creature, Action, and Fantasy. The Book is exciting and adventurous for kids to read.

The Creatures in the story are intresting because they are creative. The Dragons are giant lizards that can breathe Fire, Fly, and companions to the Dragon Riders, but People believed that the Dragons are extinct, but three eggs were saved, and one of the eggs, a blue egg was teleported to the Spine mountains and a Boy name Eragon found the egg and thought it was a blue stone, when the egg hatched it came a blue dragon hatchling, and servants of the King who was evil was sent to look for the egg and Eragon fight them and other servants to the King to save the Kingdom. There are monsters like Werewolves in movies, but what about a werecat, it a combination of a werewolf and a cat creature, Eragon had met a werecat in the city of Teirm, that is near or in the Spine, and in the city he met a witch named Angela who had met his fortune. There are servants to the King that arem two Ra'zacs, and lots of Urgals that are hideous creatures that do as the King told them to do. And finally there are Dwarves and Elves who have Magic, and lead a group called the Vardens. The Creature in the book has a huge imagination.

There are lots of heroically action in the book. There are lots of battle against the King and his servants. Brom gave Eragon a sword called the Zar'roc and fight the Ra'zacs in Carvahall and again in the city of Urubean. There is also the battle against the Shade Durza and fought him in Gil'lead and escape and fought him again in Farthern Dur and use magic to slay him. The actions in the Book is superior heroic.

The book has incredible Fantasy for people to read. The world where Eragon lived in, is magical with magic, the ancient words in the Book that can form spells like fire, psychic powers, a ability to move rocks, and other magical spells to use against the King and his servants. Eragon use magic to slay the Shade Durza who works for the King. After the Battle, Durza turned into a swirling vortex of Darkness tha his entired memories flashed to Eragon. The Book has lots of magical Fantasy.

The book is amazing and it is a adventure itself to the reader that is me and some other of my classmates who are my friends had read it, and said it was very good book.

I thought that this was an excellent book, and I cannot wait to read the second one. Sure, it's not Tolkien, but it was never meant to be. I think it should be taken as it's own story and style and reviewed as such, not held up against the idol of LOTR. Does every book with dragons and heros now have to be judged against Tolkein's works?! I feel that the characters were well developed and believable, and I found myself happily swept away into a world of dragons and destiny. It was very entertaining, even though my "12-year-old" years are far behind me. I highly recommend it to dreamers of all ages.