Eragon By Christopher Paolini

Here is a review on Eragon as assigned to us by our Head Bookworm, Ezrah. The reading was assigned last September 6.

If you haven't read the book yet, I advice you to skip reading so as not to spoil your fun.

Plot

(Taken from book jacket)
When Eragon finds a polished blue 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 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. . . .

My View(s)

First off, I would like to say that I admire Paolini as he surely conquered what most of us dream at his age. I know I certainly wish I could create a masterpiece as this.

As for the book itself, I loved Eragon. Compared to the movie, well, the movie was not exactly the same - having seen the movie first hand, I could not help but relate both.

I like the plot as it evolves itself in a way that the reader keeps on asking what is going to happen next, or with a series of "who's he?" "what's that?" and other questions. Of course, one would have to read more in order to learn the answers.

The flow of the story is filled with vivid details, names, places, and languages which would take a bit of memorization but the maps and bibliographies help a lot. And while there are other story lines that branch out here and there, Paolini manages to create a bigger vein as the main storyline, but I just could not help but wonder about the other people in the story.

As for Eragon (character), I could not help but sometimes feel like I could choke him. Too cocky and hardheaded for my taste, but I guess that is where his appeal lies. I do think it is his cover for his insecurities and other feelings that he would rather not share.

For Saphira, well, I could not help but be mystified. I have this like for huge creatures such as dinosaurs and the like, so yeah, I liked Saphira a lot! I would like to have one dearly. Anyway, like her shiny blue coat, I think she's cool.

The person I like the most is Brom. To me, he's like a jester with sad eyes and good memory. I think he died too early, but then again, what more could he have added to the story? Perhaps if he stayed longer I would have paid more attention to him than to Eragon.

Overall, I think that Eragon was a very, very good book. It shows an impressive first book, promising much more from Paolini. However, I did feel like I was reading Tolkien. Although it was lacking the uniqueness, depth, and mastery that Tolkien has, I believe it was a good read for the generation which missed Tolkien. Nevertheless, I am pretty sure that even though Paolini is no Tolkien, many Tolkien readers will still enjoy Eragon a lot.

I give it four stars.