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Mythic, but perhaps too much so. May 26, 2004 (77 of 89 found this helpful)
Everyone here seems to be extremely divided in their views of this book, and I'm afraid I fall in the dislike camp.
Okay, let's start with the plot. I must admit it is quite enjoyable, if you are in such unlikely circumstances that you are both inclined to like fantasy, and have not read most of the modern classics in said genre; or, perhaps, you have to have read enough awfully-written stories to know cliches when you see them. Basically, Eragon embarks upon a quest for revenge against shadow forces he doesn't know much about, but which will undoubtedly have something to do with his 'mysterious past.'
While most people mention fantasy books as inspiration, I find Eragon's plot more reminiscent of Star Wars than of anything else. There's the dead order of peace-keepers with amazing powers, the main character's mysterious past (Who's his father? He doesn't know!), the magical power, the old man with long-dead secrets of the past, which of course he teaches to this headstrong youth without really bothering about whether he's _good_ or not, and most tellingly, the destruction of the boy's farm and death of his uncle, which in both Star Wars and Eragon sets the main character off on a quest of revenge. Just thank heaven there's no C3P0...
In terms of concepts, there are very few original ideas, either. Paolini draws from Tolkien's works, not just Lord of the Rings but background materials as well, and, I am told, Anne McCaffrey's (sorry if I misspelled that) Pern books. Personally, I can't stand McCaffrey's writing, which is why I can't speak for myself on that one. Anyway, all of the races are almost exactly the same, down to the origins of the elves across the sea (Tolkien came up with that one, folks!); while Urgals and the Ra'zac are original, as far as I know, they are shadily described. Indeed, the Urgals always remind me of the Knights who say Ni, a la Monty Python, which rather kills their potential as villans.
Paolini attempts to make his world original and fresh by adding in what he seems to think is his own idea, judging by the care he takes in explaining it: an ancient language, a true language, with magical power. Unfortunately, his implementation of this idea has two flaws: 1) lacking a proper knowledge of the mechanics of language, he has created a set of _words_ with absolutely no grammar involved, so that to get across a complex idea you have to smoosh words together and hope that it works; and 2) the words seem to have been created by randomly pounding on the keyboard, and adding vowels where he thought them necessary. They're not unpronouncible, as this has created a tongue with a phonology similar to Russian, or perhaps closer to Czech; but I doubt that was intentional, as my high school is one in, I think, a little over fifty in the United States that actually teaches Russian. 'Brisingr' is a word that simply could not exist in any Romance or Germanic language, and, as I said, I doubt that Chris Paolini put much thought into making his language original (even Tolkien, a philologist, only used harsh Slavic sounds in his black speech, the tongue of evil) when all the rest of his work has little or no thought in that area. Originality, I mean.
One more thing. Eragon is grammatically correct throughout, a fact for which I am thankful, but shows distinct signs of having been written by a ten-year-old - and yes, I know the author was fifteen at the time of publishing. So what? I'm sixteen, and I can still vary my sentence structure. Learning to do so was an integral part of my 7th grade English education! All of Eragon's sentences are short, less than a line long, and generally begin with either an article (a or the) or the subject of said sentence; occasionally you'll find another adjective there instead, if you're lucky. I have not noticed a single subordinate clause in the entire book, and have been appalled at the blatant lack of semicolons. Semi
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I liked it the first time I read it... when it was Star Wars. Sep 26, 2005 (42 of 47 found this helpful)
I teach Gifted middle school students and was urged by many students to read this. So I picked up a copy and was almost instantly transported to a magical, far-off land- Middle Earth, with a fantastical storyline- Star Wars. Yes, it is admirable for a 17 year old, but fiction cannot be measured against the age of the author, it must be measured against other great books, regardless of author's age.
When I spoke to one of my students about how similar this storyline was to Star Wars, he asked how. So, I started a two-column list as I read. I now present this to you:
Warning: SPOILERS!! DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW!
****Keep in mind that it is not EXACT, but that many circumstances are similar. For instance, another character is the son of a bad guy, but the "son of the bad guy" is still in this story. Also keep in mind that this list was created as I read, so several revelations happen in the order they occurred.
1. 1st scene: Female elf magically transports a dragon egg, hiding it from evil doers. (Princess Leia sends a droid to an escape pod, hiding it from evil doers.)
2. Eragon lives on farm with uncle. (Luke lives on farm with aunt and uncle.)
3. Eragon's parentage unknown. (Luke's parentage unknown.)
4. Riders possess magical powers and were wiped out by Galbatorix. (Jedi possess magical powers and were wiped out by Vader and the Emperor.)
5. Galbatorix is a former Rider who enlisted another to destroy Riders. (Vader is a former Jedi who was enlisted to destroy the Jedi.)
6. The Empire rules all and it threatened by a small, mysterious band (Vardens) who "constantly raided and attacked the Empire." (The Empire rules all and is threatened by a small, mysterious band, the Rebel Alliance.)
7. Galbatorix learned "dark secrets" from a Shade. (Vader and Palpatine learned the dark side from their mentors.)
8. Vrael defeated Galbatorix but "hesitated with the final blow." (Obi-Wan defeated Vader but did not kill him.)
9. Eragon stumbles upon the egg. (Luke stumbles upon the droid.)
10. The dragon hatches, releasing powers Eragon didn't know he had. (The droid runs away, leading Luke on a journey that releases powers he didn't know he had.)
11. Evil men looking for the egg burn Eragon's farm, killing his uncle. (Evil men looking for the droid burn Luke's farm, killing his aunt and uncle.
12. Eragon goes out for revenge and old, gray Brom goes, too. (Luke goes out to return the droid and old, gray Obi-Wan goes, too.)
13. Brom speaks to dragons. (Obi-Wan has powers, too.)
14. Brom presents a sword to Eragon. (Obi-Wan presents a lightsaber to Luke.)
15. Brom secures horses for transport. (Obi-Wan secures the Falcon for transport).
16. Eragon is the first in a new line of Riders. (Luke is the first in a new line of Jedi.)
17. On the journey, Brom teaches Eragon to fight. (On the journey, Obi-Wan teaches Luke to fight.)
18. They come across a destroyed village, all inhabitants dead. (They come across a destroyed planet, all inhabitants dead.)
19. Brom asks Eragon to levitate a rock. (Luke's training included levitating rocks.(
20. The egg was supposed to be sent to Brom. (The droid was supposed to be sent to Obi-Wan.)
21. Brom lived incognito in Carvahall to look after Eragon. (Obi-Wan lived incognito on Tatooine to look after Luke.)
22. Brom reveals himself to have been a Dragon Rider. (Obi-Wan reveals himself to be a Jedi.)
23. Brom and Eragon cross paths with Murtagh, slightly older than Eragon, who does not "owe allegiance to anyone but" himself. (Obi-Wan and Luke cross paths with Han Solo, slightly older than Luke who only looks after himself.)
24. Brom sacrifices himself to the Ra'zac to save Eragon. (Obi-Wan sacrifices himself to save Luke.)
25. Brom was friends with Morzan, a Rider who turned to evil. (Obi-Wan w
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Dismally Derivative Nov 17, 2003 (96 of 113 found this helpful)
The powerful forces of mediocrity must be gloating and laughing all the way to the bank. Somehow the author of Eragon has circumvented the supposed standards and ethics of the publishing world to get not only a free ride from some critics, but also--judging from the marketing displays seen in my local bookstore--a million bucks worth of backing from a major publisher, all for ripping off other fantasy writers who worked all their lives to carve out a modicum of notice. Is there a secret society out there that put their heads together, a sort of publisher's version of The Emperor's New Clothes? "Let's see whether if we make a big enough fuss over a truly mediocre book without an original line in it, people will buy it?" If you buy this book, you've been had. Even so, I feel some pity for this young author, who, if he had been forced to deal with the normal adversities confronted by many budding talents, might one day have written a work of art worthy of attention. As it is, it's to be hoped that he will find his way through the maze of hype surrounding him, to the treasures of originality and depth that now elude him.
If you're interested in reading fantasy writers who write well and don't recycle the stories of Tolkien, McCaffrey, etc., I recommend the books of Ursual LeGuin, Philip Pullman, Victoria Hanley, and Garth Nix.
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I Am Split Jun 7, 2006 (53 of 61 found this helpful)
In my opinion, Eragon (and others in the Inheritance Trilogy) was for me as guilty a pleasure as any chick-literature would be. Pleasure in the loosest sense of the word.
As a young adult reader who loves fantasy, I enjoyed Eragon at first. It had action, it had some beautiful writing.
Until I realized how unoriginal it was. As a young writer who hopes one day to get published, I was disgusted with the quality of the plot and the characters. The plot was recycled from many sources, from Lord of the Rings, from Ursula LeGuin, from Anne McCaffrey...the list goes on and on. Furthermore, the characters were flat to the point that would put a fanfiction writer to shame. (Fanfiction being stories based on published fiction, sometimes being very clichéd or of very low quality, and often written by teens. Don't get me wrong; many fanfiction writers are excellent.)
The characters were who I had the most problems with; the plot can almost (not quite, but almost) be excused, as it is extremely difficult to come up with something new in the fantasy category. However, the characters fit too nicely into their niches. Garrow as the grudging, bitter, father-figure. Brom as the wise, mentoring, guide. What was most annoying was how perfect Eragon and Arya were. They were good-looking, they had positions of power, they were intelligent, they were educated, they were magically powerful, they were skilled swordsmen (swordspeople), they were skilled archers. I was about to gag on the self-idealization; Paolini said that he based Eragon on himself! I'm not going to insult his looks or his athleticism, as I know little about either, but there is no way that anyone could be all that.
Paolini may have promise, but that is all buried underneath the over-marketing of his book and the fact that he was self-published. He has not improved within seven years (when he was fifteen to when he was twenty-two). I would appreciate the books more if I didn't know how easy it was for him to get them published.
This may be a great book for young readers who are not mature enough to read J.R.R. Tolkien or Ursula LeGuin; if it gets them interested in reading, I'm all for it! But for people who want genuinely good fiction, it is a waste fo time and money.
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OK--what ISN'T ripped off in this book? Jan 9, 2004 (35 of 39 found this helpful)
Please. Have any of these reviewers who gave this book 5 stars ever heard of Michael Moorcock? How about Ursula K. LeGuin? This guy named J.R.R. Tolkien? Hmmm? I believe someone did some movies out of his books a short while back....WAKE UP FOLKS!!! This book is basically a rehash of Terry Brooks, Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind, etc., etc. There is not a drop of originality between these pages (WHAT!! He's a DRAGONRIDER!!! That's ASTONISHING!!! I've never heard of such a thing...oh...wait...except for those "Pern" books...) Get a clue. There is much better fantasy literature out there. You just have to go out and find it. Kudos to this kid for getting published at such an early age. This book is no worse than most of the schlock that passes as fantasy these days, and it's better than some, but you live a pretty sheltered life if you think this is a 5 star fantasy novel. Try to widen your horizons a bit folks. Not every good fantasy novel starts with a poor farm boy who is an unknowing wizard/savior/prince/warrior-king/(supply your own cookie-cutter stereotype here), who's parents die/go missing/are murdered and leaves to discover his "true self" (and save the world along the way) in the company of some old monk/wizard/seer/eccentric old teacher. If that's all that fantasy is to you I feel sorry for you.