Eragon is a 15 year old boy living a simple but happy life on his uncle’s farm in the land of Alagaesia when he finds what he realizes is a dragon egg. The egg hatches, he names her Sapphira, and his life is changed forever. The presence of a dragon—long thought to be extinct—brings danger when Eragon and Sapphira are forced to flee with Brom (who is secretly a former dragon rider) when minions of the evil king, Galbatorix destroy the farm and murder Eragon’s family looking for the dragon. A strong bond forms between teen and dragon (they communicate telepathically and can feel each others emotions) as Eragon learns the history of what has happened in the past, becomes a dragonrider, develops magical and telepathic powers, learns about and joins a group of rebels, (an alliance of former dragonriders (humans, like good guy knights), and magical people (elves and witches). A classic good versus evil story as the allied resistance fights the evil king and his forces of urgals and shades (evil magical creatures) over the dragons (there are 3 eggs) culminates in a great battle, where Eragon kills the Shade leader Durza, but is disfigured and almost dies. The ending is a set up for a sequel.
I liked the book, but I did not love it. I not think it is especially well written; heavy-handed and overly descriptive. ”He saw a young woman, bent over by sorrow, chained in a cold, hard cell. A beam of moonlight shone through a barred window set high in the wall and fell on her face. A single tear rolled down her cheek like a liquid diamond.” (212) or “Her teeth were as lethal as any sword, her tail a giant mace”(481). I attribute this to that fact that Paolini was so young when he wrote it; an older author might not feel compelled to use every word he/she knew to describe something. I know little about fantasy and have not read much, but even I know the general theme—teen’s entire life changes and he is called upon to defend good over evil in battle—is a common one and while reading Eragon I could clearly see the influence of the Harry Potter series, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, and JRR Tolkien. It will not be sophisticated enough for a teen fantasy fanatic, but it is still something I could recommend; it has lots of action and a formula popular in the genre. I would recommend it to some one who likes fantasy but does not know a lot about it and who likes to sink into books (high reading level and 500pp).
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