Eragon

Rating:
Summary: A waste of time and paper...
Review: This is a horrible. Do not waste your time. It is contrived to the point of being not interesting and adds nothing to the breadth of fantasy literature or even childrens literature.

It is difficult to read as you feel the writer struggling with the thesearus button on his computer.

Mr. Paolini may be a writer one day, but this one should not have been published and will plauge him throughout his professional career

Rating:
Summary: Another Triumphant Fantasy Series Begins
Review: Aside form the generic criticism of hardcore fantasy fans, this book has recieved much praise across the literary world, and with good reason. It is straigthforward, easy to read, and entertaining. Who could ask for more?

Essentially, Paolini takes other elements of fantasy (i.e. dragons, magic, princesses, evil kings, etc.) and piles it all into one sleek book. The pace is enough to keep you reading, but it never gets too fast, and Paolini does an excellent job of exploiting the core plot elements.

The characters themselves are well developed, and highly intriguing. Saphira, the dragon, makes the story. With her keen wit and brash attitude, she becomes perhaps the most well rounded personality. Eragon is very brave, but often thinks before acting. All other characters are less significant, but they are well developed and worth the words taken to portray them.

Overall, the book is a must read for almost anyone truly intrigued by fantasy or even just partially intrigued by it. Eragon is a perfect example of what literature is all about. Experiencing an adventure that you can't experience in the real world: a perfect application of the imagination.

Rating:
Summary: From Gil'ead to the Beor Mountains, an All Around Great Book
Review: Wow!!! This was an excellent book, and all you people saying it has been influenced by Tolkein, yes, it has, but in a good way! From the first paragraph, "Wind howled through the stormy night, carry a scent that would change the world. A tall Shade lifted his head and sniffed the air. He looked human except for his crimson hair and maroon eyes", I was hooked, and I couldn't put it down until I had finished the book. I loved the description and the excitement. I mourned and rejoiced with the characters and was caught up completely in the story until the last sentence, which left me begging for more. Gosh! Can you believe that this guy is only eighteen? Can't wait until the next one! Good job to Christopher Paolini!

Rating:
Summary: Eragon
Review: i thought this book was okay, because it sounded a lot like Lord of the Rings, with elves, dwarves, and names, such as Eragon to Aragorn. Brom seemed okay, but his having a white great horse was like Shadowfax, and there was a lord of horses in the book. I thought it wasn't bad, but it was just a little too similar to Lord of the Rings.

Rating:
Summary: The force be with Eragon...and pretty much everyone else too
Review: Wow, this book has everything! A slight allusion to the big picture as a blue stone which contains an infant dragon is jettisoned from an elvish caravan pursued by the Empire. The caravan is destroyed, but the stone makes its way into an uninhabited region called the Spine. A farmboy named Eragon who lives on the outskirts of town stumbles on the stone, but he can't sell or trade it. He then finds out that the stone contains a dragon, and the Empire (Paolini uses the Empire!) is looking for it. Eragon hides his secret until the Empire destroys his farm and kills his family, then sets on a quest with a mysterious stranger, thought to be an old crazy stroyteller. The stranger (Brom) trains Eragon in sword play and gives him a sword once owned by the legendary Dragon Riders. As Eragon and Brom work their way around, we discover Brom has a secret "plan" for Eragon.

What to expect from The Empire Strikes Eragon:
1. Eragon is living with his uncle, has no recollection of his parents...therefore, Daddy could be Darth Dragon Rider
2. Brom has a mysterious sword with no origin...could be Darth's sword before he turned to evil
3. Eragon, don't kiss the princess, she may be your sister!!!

I wasn't impressed with the writing style of this book. Motives (like when the dragon told Eragon it was mad at him for always getting himself into trouble), and writer's conveniences (despite dying arts and languages surrounding the Art of Dragon Riding, everyone Eragon meets can talk telepathically, and speaks old elvish) made it terribly obvious that we are dealing with a fifteen year old writer. And don't overestimate the fact that he got published at such a young age as any sort of measure of the novel's greatness. Check out the back cover: his parents owned the publishing company. If you're looking for a good Fantasy novel, try Lord of the Rings. If you want a good Fantasy novel for a younger crowd, consider Harry Potter or the Chronicles of Narnia. If you liked this story, climb out from under your rock and rent Star Wars.

And Paolini, next time try logging every event of your next D&D tournament and making that the story. It'd probably be more interesting and have more flow. And it'd be yours!

Rating:
Summary: Good, but far from unique
Review: While I enjoyed the story, this book had an all too familiar ring to it. I'd say that the first four or five chapters definately bordered on plagerism, due to the uncanny parallels they shared with Robert Jordan's fantasy series. Even after those first handful of chapters, I kept having this feeling that I had read this story before. Why? Because it was obvious where the author got his ideas - and, unfortunantly, they were not from his own head. They were from the minds of many great authors, but certainly not Christopher Paolini's.

The other problem that I had with this book was that the characters lacked unique voice. Each individual sounded like the next, and their personalities were difficult to find. In other words, the characters felt flat, uniform and indistinctive.

Aside from the negatives, it is still a fun and quick read. Especially considering that this book is written for children.

Perhaps the young and inexperienced author, Paolini, will greatly improve over the years. And hopefully, find a voice of his own.

Rating:
Summary: this book was amazing
Review: I absolutly loved this book.
even if you already read it buy it!!!
everyone says it's exactly like lord of the rings but it's not!
its an amazing book!!!!!
buy it.
and to all you haters: shut up because this book may have been "copying" lord of the rings but so what??? its a good book any ways.
and shut up about it because just cause u didn't like it doesn't mean u have to ruin it for other people who haven't read it.
ok i'll stop rambling now.

Rating:
Summary: great book for beginners in fantasy genre
Review: OK everyone has been comparing this book to all the other books of the past. I say that this book may not be as great as the all time bests but it is a FUN book to read. I dont care if there are some mistakes like the first review said. I just read to have fun and ENJOY the book. This is a great book for the beginners, and if your just starting up with the genre it is a great book that you will have fun raeding for a week. For experts great book just to sit down and read it when you want to be in a good mood.

Rating:
Summary: C'mon people
Review: For all of you who are down on this book, let's keep in mind that this is a CHILDREN'S book. Kids tend to turn off their minds and just enjoy a good story, which all of us could learn from. You don't have to compare it to the classics. Let it stand alone. Sheesh.

I thought this was a very well told story. For a young author, this guy did a very good job.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyed it
Review: All in all, Eragon is a good story that held my attention from beginning to end. There are good points to this story as well as bad and I will do my best to explain both without giving the story away.

First the good. I felt that the dialogue between the characters was well written. Better than most I've read recently and that is saying a lot. What I am finding more and more, with both new and well-established writers alike, is the inability to correctly match their characters words and emotions with the situation. Characters seem to get angry over nothing and the anger is never explained. This wasn't a problem for Paolini. If his characters get angry, you know why.
Another aspect of the story that I really enjoyed is Paolini's cities and towns. They were well described without, in my opinion anyway, being over-described and they seemed diverse enough for me to discover something new with each new city.
There are also the fight scenes, which were exciting and credible, that is, if magic really existed. I found myself reading those passages too quickly in my excitement and would have to go back and read them again to really absorb the writing.
I also really enjoyed the relationship between Eragon and the dragon. It was touching, which was quite unexpected with all the testosterone running around. It was a nice surprise.
He imparts wisdom. It may not be as memorable as Gandalf telling Frodo to "not be too quick to deal out death and judgement for even the wise cannot see all ends", but wisdom it is and he gave me pause in more than a few places. Bravo for that. It just goes to show that we, the elders, don't know it all.

Now for the bad. There are far too many similarities between Eragon and LOTR. I found myself giving heavy sighs whenever I stumbled across an LOTR read-alike and there were a lot of them.
Another problem I had was with some of the terms he used, such as War axe instead of just using Axe or Double-bladed axe. I felt, at those times only, that I was reading a poorly written comic book authored by a group of pimply faced Dungeons and Dragons/War Hammer addicts.
There is also a problem with the path his characters take across the countryside. They seem to traverse the land back and forth a few times, almost as if the land itself was actually quite small and he ran out of room for the 'Quest', if indeed there really is a quest. Perhaps a quest was never Paolini's intention, but with the many similarities to LOTR, a quest is what I saw attempted.

Now, neither bad nor good, this story is on the simple side. It is as easy to read as Harry Potter and will appeal most to younger people, but as is the case with Harry Potter, I believe that many adults would enjoy it as well. If you are an LOTR purist, this story might not be for you. However, I consider myself an LOTR purist and I enjoyed this story. I can't say that I love the story and it never made me cry and come to think of it, I don't think I laughed once, but still, I enjoyed it.