Eragon

Rating:
Summary: Exceptional Plagurism
Review: Eragon is an amazing story and it's incredible to think that a kid could have such an incredible personal voice. Before you start thinking that I didn't like the book-remember that I really did enjoy it. However, as a huge fan of the Harry Potter series and a fan of The Lord of the Rings, I could not help but notice numerous parallels. The characters for starters: Eragon-name that sounds like Aragon (the hero in The Lord of the Rings) and has a very similar destiny as Aragon's. Also, Eragon closely resembles Harry Potter-two confused teens who are of low self-esteem and are having trouble accepting their destinies as two of the most powerful people in their worlds. On the other hand, the Shade is akin to Saruman (LOTR), Golbitrox to Sauron (LOTR) and to Voldemort (HP), the urgals and the kull to the orcs, etc. Furthermore, the theme of Eragon and LOTR is incredibly similar in that a fellowship go and try to rid their world's of evil and establish justice, peace, and prosperity.

If you are able to get over these parallels among countless others, then read-I certainately got over them and was enveloped into this kid's epic tale.

Rating:
Summary: Extravagant Book!
Review: This book is awsome! It is the best book I've ever read! It is packed with so much adventure that if you put it down you just want to pick it back up again. It is very descriptive and full of suspense. It leaves you with unanswered questions that at the last minuet are answered, and they aren't answered in black and white. It is full of surprises and challenges so that when ever a character triumphs greatly he would also lose something. It leaves you sort of hanging at the end of the book but you have got a strong hold. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes adventure and suspense.

Rating:
Summary: Beyond my expectations -- couldn't put it down
Review: I started this book with an attitude. I thought it might be okay, but no way would it even come close to measuring up to the Rings. It measures up and then some. I stayed up too late and finished this book in a couple of days. I want to reread this one -- something I almost never want to do. So looking forward to the next two in the series.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable. Fair start to a promised epic tale.
Review: It was tough to rate this book. While I did enjoy it and it was an easy read, many of the supporting elements are all too common. Elves and dwarves, dragons and mystical swords, the list goes on. But the young author does weave a good story throughout. He brings us inside the characters just enough to understand some topics, but still be mystified and wondering about motivations.

Some areas of the book are too short and not well laid out to build up suspense. The race across the desert and into the valley moved at far too fast a pace, leaving me wanting better descriptions of the scenery, the suspense, the anguish, etc.

The tale wraps up fair enough and ties together some loose ends, before leaving us with a suspenseful ending. I look forward to the next chapter in this series.

Rating:
Summary: The most unoriginal piece of crap I have ever read.
Review: Don't waste your time. As predictable and trite as most fantasy is nowadays, Eragon is the epitome of it. It has every fantasy cliche in existence and contains absolute NO original material whatsoever. It is a frankenstein of a book, with an arm from Tokien and a torso from Goodkind. All he did was tape it all together. If you've read ANY fantasy book before, you know exactly what will happen, just replace the names with other ones. Its the most unoriginal piece of crap I have ever seen. The only reason it was published was because his parents owned a publishing company and having a kid author is a great marketing angle. If anybody else had written that book, they would have been laughed into the street.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Start for a good writer
Review: This book is pretty good, but you can tell that he has taken a lot off of other fantasy writers like Tolkien, but it is still a pretty good book. Hopefully he can improve on the sequels and make the series a memorable one.

Rating:
Summary: The greatest book ever
Review: This is the best book ever because of the great imagination of Christopher Paolini. The description of the dragon was amazing. I also like the languages that Paolini made up. This is the best book ever.

Rating:
Summary: ERAGON IS A WINNER
Review: I'm 68 and I read 15 to 20 books a year.
Eragon is one of, if not the best novel i read in 2003.
It is hard to believe that it was written by a 15-17 year old.
Cris if you read this-- Great Job. Stay with your craft and hurry up with book number 2.

Rating:
Summary: Fantasy Writing
Review: Hello, my name is Todd Cheney and I am a published fantasy author. I would like to take this moment to defend Christopher, but at the same time, criticize.

First of all, it is a great accomplishment to write a book of any sort for any reason whatsoever; having it published by a publisher such as Knopf is an even bigger accomplishment. Let's not even talk about having a bestseller. For this reason alone, I am happy that people like Christopher can have the kind of success he has had.

Secondly, and more importantly, I believe that this book will not stand the test of time. As some of the people in the review list have commented already, the fantasy races (i.e. elves, dwarves and dragons) have all been used before. I believe that authors should break new ground in the fantasy genre, not use the same old elves/dwarves/goblins scheme. Just to point out some examples of fantasy-related games and/or books that use the same sorts of creatures:

Anything by Tolkien
The dragon riding thing was done by Ann Mcaffrey
The game Dungeons and Dragons and its related books and computer games

Those are just a few; I'm sure there are many others that I cannot remember off the top of my head. But can anyone tell me what a Mehari is?

That's what I thought.

Also, hasn't anyone noticed the similarity between Aragorn from Tolkien and Eragon? Hmm.... I can't hold that against him though, because many real world people have similar names, so I guess fantasy people have the right to have the same or a closely related name. As long as they are entirely separate characters, I don't see a problem with the names being close. But it's just the kind of thing that makes me scratch my head.

Regarding the writing itself, I can't fault him for his Tom Swifties or for breaking the 'action' through extensive description because I understand how hard it is to carry a story and to keep a reader involved.

Lastly, I would just like to say that writing a good book is one of the hardest challenges on Earth.

Rating:
Summary: Eragon is Amazing!!!! Can't Wait for Eldest!!!
Review: This is the best fantasy book I have ever read. I found it comparable but better than the Sword of Truth Novels. I think it just flowed better. I can't wait until Eldest comes out!!!