Though trite poorly written, I found the story enjoyable. If you can ignore all technical idiocies, extreme predictability, and trite storylines, consider reading it. If you can’t then I recommend avoiding this book.

The Lord of the Rings + Star Wars, too obviously even for me to miss it.

For three weeks this was the audiobook that accompanied me to and from work. It turned something like 20 hours of tedium into an enjoyable experience. But it’s not great literature. It’s extremely derivative of Tolkien. Exactly as in Middle Earth we have Humans, Dwarves, Elves and Orcs (though the name ‘Orc’ has been slightly corrupted into ‘Urgal’), with all of the characteristics you’d expect of each (Elves are good at magic, Dwarves live underground, Orcs are smelly.) Why have the races of fantasy been cast into stone so that nobody dares creating something new?

Sometimes there’s an incredible lack of subtlety. I felt like I was being repeatedly whacked with a brick with the ‘unknown’ identity of Eragon’s brother wrapped around it. (And the story shares a certain familial structre with Star Wars.) But this is ‘young adult’ fiction and maybe the current crop of ‘young adults’ are less intelligent than I imagine :-)

I love christmas presents!

6.2004
9/10 Stars

Clearly written by a very talented young author. Too bad he robs from many classic fantasy series: Anne McCaffrey’s “Dragonriders of Pern,” David & Leigh Eddings Belgariad and Mallorean sagas, and most obvious, JRR Tolkein’s “Lord of the Rings.”

I enjoyed this novel, but I chose not to expect much of it. Paolini makes a large number of new-fantasy-novelist mistakes, which I’m sure will haunt him later. His language skills, style, and vocabulary are excellent, though, so I am confident he will develop into a first-rate author.

I’m about to start reading this book. I’ve heard a lot about it and thought it was time to make my own decision.