Eragon

Rating:
Summary: A so-so fantasy tale.
Review: This story was a worthy effort for a 19-year old writer, but he should have worked for another year on the piece before its self-publication. The author utilizes many adjectives, a good tool for describing objects and scenery in a story, but when too many are inserted, especially dull adjectives like "big, large, round, etc." a style suffers. Since Christopher is still a very young man and seems to be at a stage in life where writers use their initial success as learning blocks to mature as novelists, I feel we have yet to see the true capabilities of this promising author. Being only 22 years old and a self-published writer myself, I congratulate Christopher for his success in aquiring a book deal with a high paying publishing house. A dream like this comes only to those who persist for achievement in their dreams. Keep on writing, Christopher!

Rating:
Summary: Harry Potter is left in the dust!
Review: I am 12 years old next week. Although I'am not the oldest or the wisest I know this book is the best. Expect the unexpected as you go into a magical journey. This book has inspired my art with dragons, shades, urgals, and elves. It has taken me 2 days to read this book between homework assignments. I just couldn't put it down! Have fun reading this and make sure you soak up all the magic!!
:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
(...)

Rating:
Summary: Very Excellent...A new Fave...just a little unoriginal
Review: ERAGON has joined my favorites shelf for a long time. I truly enjoyed the story, which, yes was a bit like Star Wars and Tolkien and Anne McAffrey...but then, what books aren't? I mean, how many books have you read that changes the, say, elves from Tolkien's traditional silver-haired, long-living graceful creatures to anything else? The public just wouldn't accept it.
Despite the resemblence to Tolkien and the names, which were, yes, very much like those of the LOTR's, I really loved this book. The story keeps you reading, and in fact, my only complaint about the actually narration and the events is that Eragon tends to black out way too much. I felt like every other chapter began with "as Eragon blinked and opened his eyes..." or ended with "and suddenly it all went black."
Otherwise, a highly entertaining read...I attribute the "copycatting" of other authors as just a sort of respect and
looking-up-to to them. Please read! I highly reccomend it!

Rating:
Summary: One Of The Best Books Of All Time!!
Review: I am a big magic fan. When a girl in my grade reccomended this book to me I could tell it was going to be great. I got it a few days after the girl reccomended it to me and I couldn't put it down. I am also a big Harry Potter fan. I used to think that Harry Potter was the best series in the world. Now that I have read Eragon I think that The Harry Potter seroes is tied with The Inheritance Triolgy. Read it!!

Rating:
Summary: Completely a chocolate giving up book!
Review: I find that Eragon is an awesome book and the reader will not be disappointed however much he tries. Action, drama, and a well thought out saga are very much present. A good buy.

Rating:
Summary: A very enjoyable read indeed
Review: Unlike Tolkein, this writer gently draws us into Eragon's world rather than droping us head first into a slurry of names of people and places as if it were some kind of fantasy Jeapordy game. This is most definately lighter than Tolkein and as such, will appeal to a different and perhaps even a wider range of people. Oh, and PS........The age of the writer means no more to me than what he looks like. The boy can write!!! and I look forward to the next book with great anticipation.

Rating:
Summary: Read the real thing instead.
Review: This book is distressing in the amount of attention it is getting, when from the very first page it is apparent that the author "borrowed" massive amounts of detail, motifs, characters, names,languages, etc. from other fantasy writers, especially Tolkien. There was not an original phrase to be found. I was willing to give the book a try and was sorely disappointed. The publishers should be ashamed of themselves as they clearly chose this book as a marketing gimmick because of the author's age and have indeed made a fortune because of this.

Rating:
Summary: Tiresome..
Review: I couldn't finish the book, I read a couple pages and was bored. I find it ironic that yes, his book was picked up by Knopf, but was published by Paolini Press..his parents' small publishing company.

I wonder if he had submitted the manuscript without previously publishing Eragon, would it be accepted.

As other reviewers pointed out, the cliches are there, the story is similiar to Star Wars, from the excerpts I've read, and the names are Tolkein-esque.

Rating:
Summary: ENCHANTING! I was suprised
Review: When I saw a picture of this book as a preview at my local [store], I immediatly wrote down the info and found out all that I could about it. When I found out that it was written by a 15 year old, I questioned my avid interest. But I still bought it and when I read it, I totallt forgot about the author. This masterpeice of a book, was captivating and enchanting. It was highly entertaining and fast-paced throughout and I couldn't put it down. This is definately a keeper. If you're questioning the ability of the author...DON'T! ...

Rating:
Summary: "Archetypal hero story"? I beg to differ.
Review: I would argue that this book is not an "archetypal hero story" so much as an overused and overly traditional Tolkienien "epic," with "epic" in quotes because it lacks exactly that epic nature that made the world of Lord of the Rings so rich. There was absolutely nothing new or "unexpected" in this book (though the author claims there are "revelations"), and if a reader is excited by this book it is because he or she has never been exposed to the dozens of fantasy and science fiction epics from which this author pulled his influences. My feeling was that this book was nothing special because, if I may be so blunt, "it's been done," and it's been done better.

Though I have to give the single prop that by standards of TECHNICAL editing it was a smooth novel (I, a professional editor, did not notice a single typographical error), I must say that content-wise it was an editorial mess. The fact that this novel breaks about a billion rules of thumb in the writing industry raises my suspicions that it was not edited by a very discerning eye. Here are a multitude of examples, unavoidably coated in spoiler dust.

My complaints regarding the writing style itself:

Every imaginable permutation of the word "said" is used. If the reader cannot tell how someone is saying something by what they are saying, it is likely that the dialogue has been written sloppily. Running into "'Sorry,' apologized Brom" made me cringe. The fact that Brom said "Sorry" means that he apologized, so use "said." You can deviate from "said" if for some reason HOW the sentence is said is not obvious, such as volume ("he whispered") or intent ("he said sarcastically," if it isn't obvious that that's a sarcastic comment anyway). Leave out the decorations because they're tacky.

Unnecessary description is inserted with maddening frequency. Also, people and places just get sudden paragraphs of description. We're fighting an Urgal and all of a sudden . . . drop some description on us. While he's rushing at Eragon with drooling fangs, no less. By all means, describe the fangs, slipping the adjectives in gracefully. But don't give us a run-down of a typical Urgal when we're a lot more interested in whether those fangs are going into Eragon's head.

And now, criticism regarding the content:

Okay. Attractive, complex map on inside cover. Flowery language. Elves are fair, beautiful, long-lived people with another language. Dwarves are short, stocky, bearded people who wear chain mail and use axes. Dragons breathe fire. Creatures called Urgals are fairly uncomfortable with the sun and speak a guttural language, though there are the "elite" forms of these which don't seem to mind the sun and have multiple times the strength and endurance. All swords seem to have names. Hmm, except for the fact that the name "Urgal" is used and people can actually ride the dragons, I think this might just be Middle-Earth. I kept expecting to see a hobbit.

On the same note, it seems the author felt compelled to cover nearly every fantasy-epic plotline known to man, and kept kind of changing his mind about what focus to use. First there's the whole Luke Skywalker thing; he comes to terms with his identity as a Dragon Rider and leaves his homeland in the company of a mysterious stranger who knows too much and can train him. We have the actual training and traveling, common fantasy coming of age and whatnot. Learning his new skills: Swordsmanship, dragon-riding, magic, reading . . . he gets all his tools for adulthood and for being a hero. And as soon as those who killed his uncle are destroyed (robbing him of an immediate goal), just in time, he starts having convenient dreams about a woman in a dungeon--who he of course has to rescue. What is a fantasy without a woman to rescue? Oh WAIT! She's been poisoned! QUICK! We must go on a quest to find the antidote in a race against time, though at no point during the frenzied journey are we actually worried that the girl is going to die. THAT wouldn't happen; love-interest girls are only allowed to have sexy and alluring "bad things" happen to them, like an attractive scar on the cheek. They don't die of a slow-acting poison, making the hero's trip completely forfeit. Don't forget the proverbial choosing of sides, where upon his arrival the hero must decide where to cast his alliance, though of course there are spies and baddies among the "good guys." What will he do? Will it be a wonderful epic quest during which he will overthrow the evil king and become a reluctant but benevolent ruler? YOU BET. Although that is just my speculation, considering there are still two books to go next.

Overall, I just think that this book was written as though it had a template or blueprint for "traditional fantasy novel" and the details and names were simply filled in. I couldn't help feeling the entire time I was reading it that I had read this story before, nothing was much of a surprise, and things that didn't make sense or got in the way of a conflicting original vision were smoothed over with excuses or deliberate muddling of motives. I think that in order to write something so traditional, a writer needs something special, a unique twist or slant, and this just hasn't got it. (In other words, I'm not saying that writing an "archetypal fantasy epic" is BAD; I'm saying that it needs to not be a rehashing of overused themes that were INVENTED--not derived from mythology or legend, but INVENTED--by classic writers.) I can't pick out a single thing that this book has that has never been done before, the characters didn't interest or capture me, the storytelling was riddled with too many attempts to be grand that I was just entirely turned off by it.