Rating: 
Summary: amazingly bad
Review: considering all the hype this book is AMAZINGLY bad. Unoriginal and badly repped off prose. the only good parts are imitative and taken from other better authors. the bad parts are just bad: pooorly written and DULL. the female characters might as well not exist except as convenience for the overblown adolescent ego of the so-called hero.
Another annoying thing: not even poalini claims to have written this book when he was fifteen. he STARTED IT when he was fiftenn--big deal, lots of people start lots of projects but it' when you FINISH trhat matters. this book was published when he was NINETEEN and anyone knows that means he finished it then. what a load of hype. stinks.
Rating:
Summary: Age is not a selling tool...
Review: I understand that in all fantasy you will find similarities and ideas that have been used before - it's unavoidable, considering there are only a limited number of concepts available. Yet I was under the impression that to write an original, creative story, one must take these concepts and use them in a way that is original and creative.Apparently no one has, as yet, pointed this out to Christopher Paolini. Eragon is a cut and paste of many original, creative and for that matter, better written stories that I have read. Many other reviwers have pointed out the sources - Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Anne McCaffery's Pern, David Edding's Belgariad. I don't need to cite examples - there are too many anyway. Paolini seems to have played cut-and-stick and glued together bits and pieces of these stories together. He even stole the map from Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series...any WoT fans out there? There are even islands in the same place where Windbiter's Finger is, and a string of mountains called 'The Spine'. I believe the word for this is plagarism. And yet this wouldn't be nearly so bad if the plot had been interesting, the characters had been engaging, and there'd been some kind of... point. The writing shows potential, but is stiff and awkward, and in dire need of revision (I'm not sure where the editor's were at this stage... perhaps off planning an over-hyped publicity campaign?). In a few years, with some growth, some development, a few writing courses, and the appearance of some voice, Paolini will write a book to which the word 'good; can be applied. Hopefully editors will step in and point out his mistakes. Hopefully by the time he is twenty-five and the novelty of a teen writer has worn off, he will be forced to actually revise. Until then, you're better off spending your money elsewhere. (...)
Rating: 
Summary: More "Star Wars" and "Dragons of Pern" than Tolkein
Review: Yes Eragon (one letter away from Dragon) is highly derivative, and yes, the main character loses family a la Star Wars, and yes the relationship (impressing, sharing thoughts, love) is close to McCaffrey's dragons of Pern. This is the writing of a teenager, who may easily mature into an excellent story teller and writer. This is just a fun read. The pace is fast, action driven and Eragon is an accidental hero. I wouldn't be surprised to learn he's related to Murtagh (Luke and Princess Leia), that Brom fought his father (Obiwan Kenobi) that he resurrects the dragonriders (Jedi knights) or that love for Eragon is tied in with Saphira's future mate (dragonriders of Pern). Just read the damn derivative thing and enjoy the ride.
Rating: 
Summary: What a great new fantasy novel
Review: I am not a big fantasy novel person, but this book really grabbed me. It is funny in parts and has a great line of characters that anyone can identify with. There is a tremendous background history for this stories plot which makes this book interesting for more mature readers. This novel is a cross between Lord of the Rings and Star Wars with a little Harry Potter thrown in. The combination makes for a great read. I cannot wait for the second installment in this trilogy. Good job on your first novel, Christopher Paolini.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!!!!!!
Review: I read this and I have to say it was by far the BEST BOOK I EVER READ!!!!!! How could anyone NOT love this!! Compared to this, Lord of the Rings S-T-I-N-K-S!!! I can't wait for Eldest! Keep it up chris!
Rating:
Summary: Stay Away
Review: My recommendation for this book: stay away. My 12 year old son is a huge fantasy fan, so I bought this for him after hearing all the hype. He gave it back to me after reading about 100 pages and asked if it was too late to return it for our money back. I figured it couldn't be that bad, so I began reading iti myself. It is. This book is simply poorly written, horribly derivative of quite a few other fantasy titles (I used to read a lot of fantasy to my son when he was younger), and simply not a very good story. I'm glad so many other people seem to like it (although I'm stumped as to what they see in it). I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone however.
Rating:
Summary: Terrible book
Review: This book is horrible. Don't waste your money. I'd rather read a matchbook than this travesty. HOW did this get published? Is the vast majority of the fantasy fan reader-base REALLY that stupid that they'd give this steaming pile of offal 5 stars? I fear for our future as a nation.
Rating:
Summary: Dissapointing
Review: A friend recommended this to me, but I must confess, I wasn't really impressed. The storyline was nearly identical to "The Lord of the Rings" with a bit of J. K. Rowling mixed in. I found Saphira's character to be flat and lackluster to say the least. Her conversations with Eragon seemed forced and unbelievable. Overall, I felt Mr. Paolini took the classic Tolkien triology and simply changed the names a bit.
Rating: 
Summary: Eragon
Review: Paolini was fifteen years old when he began writing this book. This shows. The writing style is immature, and the tone is inconsistant. At one point, he will speak in almost medieval syntax, in the tone of a story of knights and dragons, and in the next, in the tone of a fifteen year old boy speaking with his friends. In addition, the main character bears a remarkable to the author, and the novel frequently refers to how close he is to 'manhood'. His references to women are frequently demeaning. This is a teenage boy's published daydreams of heroism and beautiful women indebted to him, because he will never achieve what he writes. It is not epic or grand or even uniqe. This novel would be a waste of your earnings.
Rating:
Summary: Completely unoriginal
Review: This book is completely unoriginal! I am sorry to say but there are just to many similarities between this and Lord of the Rings. He also takes ideas from a number of other books. I suggest to other readers to save their money and pass this one by. If your bored just reread Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.
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