Eragon

Rating:
Summary: Leaves Readers Wishing for Next Installment
Review: BlueJeanOnline.com

by Matt Starr, age 15

I have been hooked on medieval science fiction and fantasy ever since reading the Lord of the Rings, but not since that trilogy have I seen such a unique and imaginative fantasy novel as I have in Eragon. Author Christopher Paolini captures the wonderful essence of fantasy, putting on paper what others only dream of. Paolini creates a world full of such wonders that the end will leave readers wishing for the next installment.

I have to admit that when I first picked up Eragon and read the prologue, I thought it would be a waste of time. The first few pages were filled with elves, magic, and death, and I felt that I was about to read a book by a Tolkien copycat. And I was right, in a sense. Throughout the book I saw various connections between Christopher Paolini's world and J.R.R. Tolkien's world: Urgals to Orcs, Isenstar to Isengard, Orthiad to Orthanc, and the list goes on.

But then I realized Paolini didn't copy Tolkien's work; he simply branched off it. I also came to realize that many other authors have branched off Tolkien's work. Any Harry Potter fan will notice that those books contain many parallels to J.R.R Tolkien's books. And so I must apologize to Paolini for judging his book by its cover (or rather, its first few pages). After I realized this, I immediately started over. It wouldn't be fair to the author to say that this novel is just a ripoff of the Lord of the Rings.

Eragon is the first book in the Inheritance trilogy. When a boy named Eragon comes to possess a polished blue stone in the forest known as the Spine, he thinks he has found something of great value. He hopes it might buy his family meat for the coming winter. Imagine his great surprise when a dragon hatches from it. Soon, Eragon realizes that he is now mixed up in a great battle that has lasted for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. With the help of his good friend Brom and the dragon Saphira, Eragon sets out on a journey to become a member of the greatest and noblest force that has ever existed - the Dragon Riders.

When I finished the book, I knew right away that it would be a best seller. Young Christopher has a wonderful gift for spreading his love of fantasy to all. With battles between good and evil and friendships tested and challenged, Eragon should be recognized as one of the greatest pieces of fantasy literature

Copyright 2003 BlueJeanOnline.com

Rating:
Summary: Eragon a great read for LOTR fans
Review: Readers who devoured the Lord of the Rings saga will find the plot and characters of this new fantasy very familiar--it follows the formula fairly closely, with an epic quest, a reluctant hero, a diabolical sorcerer villain, and a heroic stand against evil forces. There are even dwarves and elves. This is certainly an amazing debut by this young author, but it lacks the depth and richness of the Lord of the Rings. However, this series shows wonderful promise and is an excellent recommendation for LOTR fans.

Rating:
Summary: Page-turner
Review: As the other reviews mentioned, Paolini fails to give credit where it is due to all of the great fantasy writers. Paolini does not copy Tolkien's writing excessively, though, but Robert Jordan of the Wheel of Time. The similarities are unmistakable. Example: the mountain range called the Spine, similar to the exact same mountain range above and beyond coincidence. It's useless to point them all out. To Paolini's credit, though, while writing a pretty traditional fantasy book, he somehow manages to keep you reading. Read this book if you are looking for a nice story that will keep you immersed until you sadly reach the end. It is sitting infront of me right now, and I need to stop writing this review so I can enjoy it. In my mind, Paolini's book is very much worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Dismally Derivative
Review: The powerful forces of mediocrity must be gloating and laughing all the way to the bank. Somehow the author of Eragon has circumvented the supposed standards and ethics of the publishing world to get not only a free ride from some critics, but also--judging from the marketing displays seen in my local bookstore--a million bucks worth of backing from a major publisher, all for ripping off other fantasy writers who worked all their lives to carve out a modicum of notice. Is there a secret society out there that put their heads together, a sort of publisher's version of The Emperor's New Clothes? "Let's see whether if we make a big enough fuss over a truly mediocre book without an original line in it, people will buy it?" If you buy this book, you've been had. Even so, I feel some pity for this young author, who, if he had been forced to deal with the normal adversities confronted by many budding talents, might one day have written a work of art worthy of attention. As it is, it's to be hoped that he will find his way through the maze of hype surrounding him, to the treasures of originality and depth that now elude him.
If you're interested in reading fantasy writers who write well and don't recycle the stories of Tolkien, McCaffrey, etc., I recommend the books of Ursual LeGuin, Philip Pullman, Victoria Hanley, and Garth Nix.

Rating:
Summary: THRILLING!!!!, if you enjoy fantasy.
Review: Eragon is a wonderfully written book. At times it reminds me of toilken books, but it's still original to the plot and characters. Christopher Paolini did an excellent job considering his young age. If you've already read the Artemis Fowl series, than you'll love this book. My mom got this for my brother, put i've been stealing it do i can read it. It's a wonderful book full of fantasy, so please go get it and read it.

Rating:
Summary: A great book for dragon fans everywhere
Review: This is a great book. Written well, especially by someone so new to the writing business. He clearly has talent, and the book is well written. The book may have a resemblance to other famous works, but the way that all of these elements go together in Eragon keeps readers reading long after dark.

It has all of the elements essential to a good book, humor, adventure, mystery, and even a little romance. The story tells of a boy, just old enough to realize that there is more to life than just his little home.

Eragon has many adventures, and the story is long, yet not too long. As I finished the last pages of the book I found myself wishing I hadn't read it so fast.

All in all, this book is well worth the read, with a good plot for people of all ages. I will eagerly be awaiting Eldest, book two.

Rating:
Summary: Rock On Chris !
Review: This book was the most thrilling fantasy book I have ever read. It really captures the soul and heart of medieval fantasy and if you are into elfs, dwarfs, and dragons then this is defintely the booko for you.

Rating:
Summary: excellent effort
Review: Having written fiction since I was 7 (that's 80 years ago), I am impressed by what this young man has achieved. It's not great literature, nor even particularly original, but it's an excellent start. I couldn't have done as well at his age; and I'm a dam' good writer.

Rating:
Summary: from a Lord of the Rings fan
Review: I'm about half way through the book, and so far I think it is a total rip-off from Lord of the Rings. He took so much from it, I mean, think about it. Eragon, Aragorn. Tall, strong, dark eyebrowed, bow and arrow-clad, horse-riding male elves, and the same but beautiful, dark haired female elves. He based a language on Old Norse, as did Tolkien. The whole Lord of the Rings essence is in the book, but it's lacking his incredible originality. It is really well written, though, given that he was only 15, but still, I can't figure out how it got through the editor (if he had one). But still, it WAS a good book. I'm still more apt to criticizism though, and I'm haveing a bit of a hard time finding good things to say about the book, but I think that it's worth reading, just don't expect any great work of art.

Rating:
Summary: impressive for a 17-yr-old, clearly written by a 17-yr-old
Review: What you almost always hear first about this book is "wow, it was written by a 17-yr-old". And the author is fully deserving of the respect and admiration he gets--it is indeed an impressive book for a 17-year-old to have written. What he probably should not have gotten was a publishing contract, since while it is impressive for a 17-yr-old, it is less than impressive for a published work of fiction.
If an adult had written and published this, I would have been disgusted (as I was with the Sword of Shannara) with the clear calculation that had gone into the work: "ok, I'll take a lot of Tolkien, a lot of McCaffery, a good amount of Leguin, some Dragonlance, some Star Wars, etc. It will be a can't miss book." Since it's the product not of an adult but of a teenager, it comes across much more positively--as a work of fiction by someone who has read lots and absorbed lots of fantasy and simply didn't have the experience (or the good editor) to take out all of his favorite parts of other works. How can I dislike or be too critical of someone who so obviously loved some of my own favorite authors, loved them so much that they simply took over his book through I'm guessing no fault of his own.
And that in a nutshell is the problem with Eragon. The story is cliched, formulaic and barely passable as are the characters and the language is simply what you would expect from a somewhat precocious teen fan of adult fantasy. If you have any experience in the field of fantasy at all, reading Eragon will feel like a visit to Las Vegas (though not so tacky)--sure you can see New York and Paris and Italy, but they are mere shadows of the real thing. So McCaffery's telepathic link between dragon and rider is here, but not the powerful emotionality of her (especially earlier) works. LeGuin's idea of one true name and one true language forming the backbone of magic is here, but not her masterful sense of order and balance and restraint, not to mention the sparse beauty of her language. And of course, the graceful, bow-carrying elves, the gruff and secretive mentor with magical powers, the withdrawn dwarves, etc. all show up in their correct place and time. As a high school English teacher, the story and characters are exactly what I would expect to see if I picked up one of my fantasy fan's personal notebooks off of their desks and began reading. Even the people and place names are far too imitative (as opposed to inspired by). To be perfectly honest, it was so much like my students' writings I had to struggle to continue past the first ten pages.
Does that mean nobody could enjoy this book? A quick look at the reviews clearly shows that many have (most of them young I'm sure). If you have read Tolkien, McCaffery, LeGuin, Jordan, Lewis, Pullman, Donaldson, etc., then I'd strongly suggest skipping Eragon. You'll not only be heavily disappointed by the weaknesses in plot, character development, and language, but you'll probably be annoyed at how often your favorite authors appear in borrowed and poorer clothing. If you have little experience in fantasy and so won't be bothered by the obviously derivative nature of this book, you'll probably enjoy it but there are far better works to begin a lifetime of fantasy reading with and even if you start with Eragon, I hope you quickly move onto them, beginning with the above list and adding for younger readers people like Lloyd Alexander, E. Nesbit, Robin McKinley, and many, many others. I'd like to see what this young author comes up with in another five-ten years, but for now he's still retelling the stories he liked himself, rather than writing down his own.