Eragon
Fifteen-year-old Eragon believes that he is merely a poor farm boy—until his destiny as a Dragon Rider is revealed. Gifted with only an ancient sword, a loyal dragon, and sage advice from an old storyteller, Eragon is soon swept into a dangerous tapestry of magic, glory, and power. Now his choices could save—or destroy—the Empire.
“An authentic work of great talent.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Christopher Paolini make[s] literary magic with his precocious debut.”—People
“Unusual, powerful, fresh, and fluid.”—Booklist, Starred
“An auspicious beginning to both career and series.”—Publishers Weekly
A New York Times Bestseller
A USA Today Bestseller
A Wall Street Journal Bestseller
A Book Sense BestsellerHere’s a great big fantasy that you can pull over your head like a comfy old sweater and disappear into for a whole weekend. Christopher Paolini began Eragon when he was just 15, and the book shows the influence of Tolkien, of course, but also Terry Brooks, Anne McCaffrey, and perhaps even Wagner in its traditional quest structure and the generally agreed-upon nature of dwarves, elves, dragons, and heroic warfare with magic swords.
Eragon, a young farm boy, finds a marvelous blue stone in a mystical mountain place. Before he can trade it for food to get his family through the hard winter, it hatches a beautiful sapphire-blue dragon, a race thought to be extinct. Eragon bonds with the dragon, and when his family is killed by the marauding Ra’zac, he discovers that he is the last of the Dragon Riders, fated to play a decisive part in the coming war between the human but hidden Varden, dwarves, elves, the diabolical Shades and their neanderthal Urgalls, all pitted against and allied with each other and the evil King Galbatorix. Eragon and his dragon Saphira set out to find their role, growing in magic power and understanding of the complex political situation as they endure perilous travels and sudden battles, dire wounds, capture and escape.
In spite of the engrossing action, this is not a book for the casual fantasy reader. There are 65 names of people, horses, and dragons to be remembered and lots of pseudo-Celtic places, magic words, and phrases in the Ancient Language as well as the speech of the dwarfs and the Urgalls. But the maps and glossaries help, and by the end, readers will be utterly dedicated and eager for the next book, Eldest. (Ages 10 to 14) –Patty Campbell
List Price: $ 44.72
Price: $ 44.72
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impressive for a 17-yr-old, clearly written by a 17-yr-old,
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.
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|IMPORTANT INFORMATION,
To start off, I must say that for his age, Christopher Paolini obviously has an innate talent for writing. I’ve always been a fantasy fan and enjoyed his book, “Eragon”. But the thing that kept me from fully enjoying this novel is that I have found numerous words in Eragon, that have been taken from J.R.R. Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings series, often having one or two letters changed. The words I’ve found in Eragon are in capitals and the comparison words I’ve found in Lord of the Rings are on the right.
IMILADRIS>Imladris
VANILOR>Valinor
ARDWEN>Arwen
CERANTHOR>Caranthir
BIERLAND>Beleriand
ISENSTAR>Isengaurd
MELIAN>Melian
MITHRIM>Mithrim
ISIDAR>Isildur
TURIN>Turin (note: the “u,” in the right “Turin,” has an accent)
ERAGON>ARAGORN (comparison in pronunciation)
Thank you
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|Imitative & utterly derivative,
OK OK, so the author is only a teenager, and I give him kudos for his initiative. However, I liken his effort to all of those romance novels that are written by bored housewives — it is very nice that the initiative is there, but it is nothing we have not seen a thousand times before.
Only the most dense reader could fail to see the obvious imitations of Tolkein strewn liberally throughout the work. Paolini may someday develop into a writer of some distinction, but for now he is a verbose imitation of the many fantasy authors that have preceded him. Even his decision to frame his story in the form of a trilogy is irritating — how many trilogies can the world endure? Just because practically every other fantasy author has done it doesn’t mean Paolini has to do it as well.
Definitely, this is juvenile literature, written by a juvenile author & best left to young readers without much literary experience. Judged on its own merits, this book leaves little lasting impact.
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