Eragon - Christopher Paolini - Review

Book: Eragon
Author: Christopher Paolini
Publisher: Doubleday / Corgi
ISBN: 9780552552097 or 9780552155519 <(adult version)
Rating: A★


When Eragon finds a polished stone in the forest, he thinks it is the lucky discovery of a poor farm boy; perhaps it will buy his family meat for the winter. But when the stone brings a dragon hatchling, Eragon soon realizes he has stumbled upon a legacy nearly as old as the Empire itself. Overnight his simple life is shattered and he is thrust into a perilous new world of destiny, magic and power. With only an ancient sword and the advice of an old storyteller for guidance, Eragon and the fledgling dragon must navigate the dangerous terrain and dark enemies of an Empire ruled by a king whose evil knows no bounds. Can Eragon take up the mantle of the legendary Dragon Riders? The fate of the Empire may rest in his hands - 'A winner - tip of the hat to young master Paolini' Anne McCaffrey, author of The Dragonriders of Pern series'A compelling and action-filled adventure ...a galloping good example of its genre' Daily Telegraph'This book is an achievement. Readers ...will be transported' Sunday Times' A portrayal of true affection between boy and dragon - Paolini writes like someone gripped by his own story' Guardian'A stirring fantasy of epic proportions' The Bookseller.


To start off I just wanted to say that I’m a sucker for fantasy, so this book, being an epic novel and all, was like heaven for me. I was just indulging in this book day to night, and it was, in my eyes, Fantastic. I loved this book soooo much. It was all very planned out and well written, with a right amount of those big words, which people like me and jenny (Wondrous Reads) etc. look out for. J

The plot and story was epic. Very cool, and I loved it. Everything would slot into place leaving you on a cliff-hanger after the end of a chapter, and then you’d read the next chapter and find the missing piece to the puzzle only to find that you still need another piece. At the end you find that you are nowhere near completing the puzzle, and that there is a ton of pieces to fit together which we will all find out about in Eldest, Brisingr, Shur’tugal and any more Inheritance novels to come.

Adult version cover

I found it amazing how Paolini came up with all the names of the places and ancient words etc, as from what I’ve heard he invented them all himself which must have been one big job. He probably wrote a whole translation dictionary!!! Well actually he did use a lot of old German and Russian but a lot he invented himself. I was out-standed by the way one man could have such and imagination and if you ask me, it’s probably not Meyer vs. Rowling anymore but paolini vs. Rowling. I was also amazed the he could create a whole new world of his own, and name all the places, and that fact that he actually created a map, well... WOW!!!! I guess.

Onto the characters... Arya and Eragon, no doubt my favourite characters, also the perfect couple although one thing I couldn’t get my head round was Elf and Human. Really??? It just didn’t seem to work but from the way paolini described her she is one stunna! Hands of guys, Grrr, Arya’s mine. Murtagh was the interesting character though, Son of Morzan – Good? That really got me and to be honest I still don’t trust him. There’s something about him, just... I don’t know. But he’s  character to watch, because he may be minor but later I think he could become a major character and not for a good reason. Brom... I was so sad when Brom died, that was so devastating and the bad part was that it wasn’t even a bid send-off. He just went. Cut in the side – Gone! Poof. Saphira was awesome, I was loving it when she got jealous of Arya though, that was hilarious. It’s not like she and Eragon could ever be together in that way.

          Overall I think the characters were well formed and had good foundations to start, bud paolini also didn’t spend 100 pages just on the past lives of all the characters which made me very happy as I hate when authors do that. For instance with harry potter it’s different because his past plays a big part but for some books it’s just not necessary. But just a couple of words ‘Well done Paolini, you have created some of my now favourite characters! J)

The book was written well all fantastic grammar and style of writing. I absouloutley loved this book (i've said this in all my reviews now havent i?" and yeah  - that. is. my. review!