What readers think of Eragon, plus links to write your own review.

Hi. I just wanted to say that, I agree 100% with the one-star reviewers. They are correct. First of all, i'd like to say that almost all the words in Eragon are changed or used from other books. Look below:

(From Eragon:) (From LOTR:)
Eragon from... Aragorn
Beor from... Beor
Turin from.... Turin
Melian from... Melian
Elves from... Elves
Dwarves from... Dwarves
Urgals from... Uruk-hai
Uru-baen from... Uruk-hai
Beirland from... Beleriund
Eoam from... Eomer
Ardwen from... Arwen
Arya from... Arwen
Vroengard from... Isengard
Isenstar from... Isengard
Narda from... Sarda
Surda from... Sarda
Furnost from... Fornost
Eldor from... Eldar

...and LOADS more. Not to mention Paolini "borrowed" the idea of Dragon Riders and mind reading dragons from Anne McCaffery's works. There is almost nothing in Eragon that is original. Also, the author never explains what the main character looks like! AND he describes too much about how to make dragon saddles, when really know one cares. Also, a fortune teller predicts that Eragon will have to go across the sea in the end. In LOTR, the main character goes across the sea, too!!!! Paolini's talent obviously isn't writing.
Thanks for listening to my opinion.

Ignoring the fact that the "fifteen year old genius" of this book STOLE basically any element of interest in his story from other works (I.E the entire plot from star wars, the world from tolkien, and the dragon raising/hiding/psychic connection bit from Jane Yolen's dragon trilogy) the book was terrible.

While reading I could not help but think to myself, "this writer seems kind of imature" and then I realized that wait...he is in fact fifteen, and he DOES write like a fifteen year old with one difference; hundreds of randomly placed SAT words.

His characters are one dimensional, Saphira grows to quickly for a bond to be created between her and Eragon, his discriptions are amaturish, and overall this book is a monument to the degeneration of our American culture.

Christopher Paolini has done only ONE original thing with his book...he has taken prose and found a new way to promote it. Age.

Thank you all, feel free to disagree with me.

It takes more than desire to write good fantasy; it takes skill. Just because you've read the stuff doesn't mean you can write it. Paolini's parents, overzealous and seeing dollar signs, just happened to have a publishing company at their disposal. Convenient. I am not saying a youth cannot write good fantasy. I am saying this youth cannot write good fantasy. I am amazed at how so many people are impressed with this novel, whose writing is clumsy and whose plot & characters are cliche. If you didn't see all of the plot twists coming a mile away, you haven't read enough fantasy.

What makes new fantasy fresh is complexity of character development and a grasp of the English language. It takes craft and imagination. This novel has none of those things. Want to read good fantasy? Read McCaffrey, Brust, Lackey, Brooks, LeGuin. Read Lloyd Alexander's Prydain saga. Read Harry Potter. Or, better yet, go to the master who started it all, and read Tolkien. Skilled authors can take what has been done, what seems formulaic, and make it interesting. Case in point, Weis and Hickman's Dragonlance novels. They had such a good thing going, other authors have since gotten their start writing in the universe those two created. The new authors never claimed to be entirely original, either, so whether or not you like the spin-offs, at least they know the difference between original work and plagiarism.

My only solace is knowing that, eventually, Eragon will fade into time and be forgotten. Best of luck to Paolini. He may be able to write something good later on in his life. At thirty, he'll look back at Eragon and groan in embarrassment, as well he should.

I thought this book was a carbon-copy of every fantasy novel ever written. It reads like a bad Baldur's Gate walkthrough. I'm sorry I bought it! I think the author uses far too many cliche's and his use of grammar and diction when describing places and people is horrid to say the least! I want my money back!

Hi. Everybody has loved this book so far. Five stars, all the way down. I find this unbelieveable. Before you edit me off the comments list, I'd like to make a few quick points in the attack of Eragon.
1, hasn't anyone who has read this book read any other fantasy books? Hasn't anyone noticed that the name Eragon sounds like Aragorn? that Arwen is an elf in Lord of the Rings (there is a lake called Arwen on the Eragon map)? That the word Dragon Rider orignated from the Dragonriders of Pern series? This novel is almost more notable for the amount of books it mimics than age of the kid who wrote it.
2. THIS BOOK IS CHAUVANISTIC! In case you haven't noticed, the sexy elf that Eragon rescues (Arya) first is nearly raped, then is unconscious for half the book, and then, all of a sudden, is alive and well, and up for a battle. She's got one whole page of text to be valorous! Someone needs to shake Christopher into the twenty-first century. He's stuck in middle-earth.
3. Everybody who makes a fuss over Mr. Paolini's publishing age seem to forget one minor detail. He was published by Paolini Inc. His parent's publishing house. Impressive.

I decided to read Eragon for a book report. I wished I had picked another book. Paolini is has potential to be a very good author. He obviously has a good grasp on the English language, but he doesn't use it very well for somebody writing a fantasy book. The descriptions were sometimes a bit hackneyed and trite. Read the New York Times review, they say the same thing. Again, Paolini could be an excellent author with more practice, and maybe a college course or two on creative writing. But right now, he isn't very good. The ideas and plot in Eragon will be familiar to anybody who has read any other fantasy book. They're very unoriginal. At first I wondered what publishing company would put this out, but then i learned that it was his parent's publishing company. Of course.

he was actually only 15! when he wrote Eragon. hes 19 now as he writes Eldest

Although I did enjoy Eragon I do have to agree with you on the lotr comment someone else.....I couldn't help feeling like I was reading lotr.....well that's all I have to say for now.


Jessica