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Summary: Eragon The Next Great Thing
Review: So good it hurts. The next great series to hit the shelves!
Rating: 
Summary: What can I say?
Review: Point-blank. Eragon is... a sign that Chris Paolini's gonna get better. I found out about Eragon while surfing the net researching for homework. I clicked on the link and found the little interview Chris did with Good Morning America or whatever morning show. Seeing that interview, I got excited and decided to see for myself what Eragon was really worth. Before I start to comment on the writing, he did a good job with the map. I really like that huge...blank space where the desert should be. ^_^ But honestly, the map as a whole was very well-done. Myself, I really don't have the patience to draw a map and incorporate that with the book I'm writing. Eh, whatever. The depiction of Saphira on the cover's...kind of scary. She kind of has that "I know something you don't know" air...but hey, Chris didn't draw it.Now for the BOOK! YEEE! I don't see why people need to be so hard on him. He's new to the professional writing gig! now watch me contradict myself for telling people not to be too hard on him. I'm not really a fantasy reader, so I'm not totally familiar with the things Chris picked up his material from, except for the Lord of the Rings (duh). But I have to say, a lot of the stuff seemed to be taken straight from that epic. I think the whole Eragon/Aragorn thing is a coincidence. But Dragon, switch D with E, pretty clever...not really.
I also felt that it was a tad predictable and cliche; the deaths were predictable, acts of chivalry: predictable, psycho twins wanting to take advantage of people's powers: coincidentally Matrixy, but quite...dumb. That guy's gonna die. HEY LOOK! He's dead! Eragon's gonna pass out again, and again, and again...and he does: again, and again, and again. Something tells me that Chris uses the whole K.O. sitch when he's run out of ideas for the chapter. I can't blame him. If I couldn't think of what should happen nezt, I'd probably knock out the main character...or maybe they'd just eat stuff. Okay, defense mode again. Everyone's ranting about how the elves are so tall and fair and perfect. Well...other than being little shoemakers, Santa's servants, or wrinkly slaves dressed in pillowcases, you can't really go to far with elves. (...)Writing style: well enough to keep me going, not wanting to stop reading even after Eragon's passed out for the fourth time. However, in some cases less is more; hence the adjectives. Some seem out of place: like a very basic sentence with some very flowery adjective popping up out of nowhere. Like that. Overall, good book. Well worth reading. I'd say that Chris Paolini has great potential, and that his books will grow as he does, which will make the sequels much better. Enjoy!
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Summary: Eragon
Review: First of all for all the people saying "He copied Lord of the Rings " first of all the author is only 19 and this is his first book he has ever written, I mean come on give the guy some credit !Also if you like fantasy and you read Lord of the Rings and liked it whats not to like about Eragon?The story has a whole new setting new characters and all sorts of other great things.Now I know I have mostly just complained about other peoples reveiws so far but I do think this is a really great fantasy book and the characters are great it is very exciting and I think Saphira, Eragon's dragon that he finds in the spine [a mountain range] is really great and I like how Eragon can talk to her mentally.So whats not to like about Eragon?If you like to read fantasy books or are just looking for a fun exciting book to read try "Eragon
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Summary: A Favorite of Fantasies
Review: I just finished reading this book and I must say it is definitely one of my favorites! Yes, there are certainly similarities to Lord of the Rings, but that tends to happen with most fantasy novels. People who are die hard LOTR fans (I am one of them), will always have trouble finding something as unique to read. However, that certainly does not take away from any of the wonderful fantasy novels of today. Eragon is one of them. Fantasy like everthing else these days has become post-modern, and fortunately or unfortunately all new work that comes out of this genre are constantly compared to LOTR. Back to Eragon. The relationship between Eragon's dragon Saphira and himself is very beautiful. That no one can hear the communication between the two of them other then themselves and the reader of course. This makes you feel part of a very intimate world allowing you to care as much for these two characters as if they were your own best friends. Paolini does also have some very original ideas, but also keeping with the traditional notions of the ways elves, dwarfs and dragons are thought of. I think this is a fantastic fantasy and I cannot wait to read Eldest!
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Summary: a wonderful debut from a young author
Review: This is the debut novel from Christopher Paolini. Paolini graduated high school when he was 15 and started work on a novel. When he was 17, "Eragon" was published by Knopf and the book landed at the top of bestsellers lists across the country. This would be a good first novel for anyone, but as this is the debut novel from a teenager, I think we have just been put on notice that a major new talent has arrived. This was quite a good novel, and Paolini will only get better as he ages and refines his craft. This is, at its core, a simple and fairly typical fantasy story. A fifteen year old boy lives in an isolated village in the mountains. One day while exploring he comes across a blue gem. Selling this gem will help get enough money for his family to have enough to eat for some time, but nobody knows quite what it is worth and the regular traders do not want to fleece young Eragon. The stone turns out to not be a gem, but rather an egg, a dragon egg to be exact. When the dragon is born, Eragon decides to raise it, and learns that dragons are very intelligent and powerful creatures. There were once Dragon Riders in the land, but the evil King Galbatroix, a former Rider himself and with the help of rogue Riders, hunted down the Riders and slaughtered them. Now there are no Riders left. Galbatroix knows that the egg is out there and he is sending his forces out to reclaim the egg/ and the new Rider, Eragon. "Eragon" is reminiscent of the fantasy of Tolkien, Anne McCaffrey, Terry Brooks, and several other fantasy authors. It is similar, but Paolini tells his story well enough, and makes it interesting enough, that it doesn't really matter. Paolini was able to hold my interest well enough that I am looking forward to the second book in the "Inheritance" trilogy and I am glad that I finally got around to giving "Eragon" a try. It was a fun book to read, and was rather fast paced. I also understand that it is primarily marketed for the teenaged audience, but then again Harry Potter is supposed to be a children's story.
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Summary: OK--what ISN'T ripped off in this book?
Review: Please. Have any of these reviewers who gave this book 5 stars ever heard of Michael Moorcock? How about Ursula K. LeGuin? This guy named J.R.R. Tolkien? Hmmm? I believe someone did some movies out of his books a short while back....WAKE UP FOLKS!!! This book is basically a rehash of Terry Brooks, Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind, etc., etc. There is not a drop of originality between these pages (WHAT!! He's a DRAGONRIDER!!! That's ASTONISHING!!! I've never heard of such a thing...oh...wait...except for those "Pern" books...) Get a clue. There is much better fantasy literature out there. You just have to go out and find it. Kudos to this kid for getting published at such an early age. This book is no worse than most of the schlock that passes as fantasy these days, and it's better than some, but you live a pretty sheltered life if you think this is a 5 star fantasy novel. Try to widen your horizons a bit folks. Not every good fantasy novel starts with a poor farm boy who is an unknowing wizard/savior/prince/warrior-king/(supply your own cookie-cutter stereotype here), who's parents die/go missing/are murdered and leaves to discover his "true self" (and save the world along the way) in the company of some old monk/wizard/seer/eccentric old teacher. If that's all that fantasy is to you I feel sorry for you.
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Summary: Eragon
Review: This book was just plain hard to put down. I consider myself a "Fantasy Weenie", but this book is way up there with Tolkein and C.S. Lewis.
Right away you can tell this book has been mostly influenced by Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. This did not distract me as much as I thought it would. As much as retards want to hammer Paolini for ripping off Tolkein, you can't help but love the book.
Anyone who ever read a fantasy book and liked it, I would recomend this book to them.
TRY IT
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Summary: A well writen book
Review: In a world dominated by the Harry Potter juggernaut, it is beyond joy to see such a teriffic book. I will not, and cannot, write a review that will describe this book perfectly. It would take volumes to describe this amazing book in depth. The characters seem to leap off the pages as I have never seen before. They come to life and develop the minute you open the book. The good Mr. Paolini has suceeded just as Tolkien did. He has created characters without ever needing dialog changes (accents) and has made a spell-binding book. I am pleased to say that I have read Eragon and urge Mr. Paolini to continue. Godspeed Mr. Paolini, you are a wonderful writer. Yours, Anonymous
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Summary: A great new author.
Review: This guy, Paolini, is great! His book, "Eragon" is fascinating, better than many, including "The Lord of the Rings", "Harry Potter" and "The Wheel of Time". His characters are nice and cool, the plot is very similar to "Star Wars", but more interesting.
Only Stanek can do it better.
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Summary: Eragon or Lord of the Rings?
Review: The book is good... if you haven't read some other books! If you hve read the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy it is easy to know many things come from there. First of all, Farthen Dur sound similar to Barad Dur. Also the "adventure" starts when Eragon finds an egg and evil things with black cloaks chases him away. The adventure in lord of the rings starts when Frodo inherits the one ring and evil things with black cloaks gets him out of the Shire. Later in Eragon, eragon meets dwarves and, just like lord of the rings, they use axes for battle, have braided hair, are strong, live in mountians, and have a suit of mail on. In both books elves are fair and live in beautiful places in the forests. Eragon sounds like Aragon. One of Eragon's companions, Brom, is similar to Aragon because they are both powerful in some way that was unknowned to Eragon (Eragon) and Frodo (Lord of the Rings). Arya (Eragon) sounds like Arwen (Lord of the rings). Also, just like Lord of the rings where defeating Sauron won the battle, Eragon wins a battle by killing a Shade. Shades are very similar to Black riders. They both evil, have sharp senses, and are good in battle. Even though if stabed in one spot they die, Shades come back, just like black riders. Urgals and kulls are nearly the same as Orcs and uru-kai(spelling?). both are the foundations of the enemies army. There are probably more similarities with Lord of the rings because hardly anything suprised me because I was thinking of Lord of the Rings most of the time. If this had come out before the Lord of the Ring it would have been way better. However if have a choice, I would read the Lord of the Rings first because it doesn't suddenly change the subject as suddenly as Eragon. This is why I would recommend the Lord of the Rings more than Eragon.
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