Eragon by Christopher Paolini Series: The Inheritance Cycle #1
Published by Alfred A. Knopf on 2005 June 01
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy
Format: E-book
Source: Purchased
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One boy...
One dragon...
A world of adventure.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 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.
Wow, I finally finished Eragon after more than a year of dilly-dallying. Eragon was not a bad book but it wasn’t exciting enough to rouse me from the almost catatonic languishing that I’ve been doing during the height of the pandemic. The main reason that I picked it up was because all the uncertainties brought by the pandemic made me think that every thing would be a lot easier to handle if we’re grasping to something so familiar. Reading was familiar and picking up a fantasy book that is full of my favorite trope would certainly do trick. And Eragon fitted the bill so here I am, struggling to write this review.
As I’ve said, Eragon has all the ingredients of your classic fantasy. Boy of destiny with a mysterious birth, sword fights, a megalomaniac villain, and all the fantasy creatures that’d make you… ok fine…fine. Well, a simpler description would be, Eragon has borrowed lots of elements from the Lord of the Rings so if you have read the series then go figure. Only that Eragon was easier to read without Tolkien’s archaic language and excessive description of the surroundings…of the world.
The highlight of the book was Eragon’s journey to being a dragon rider and coping with the mounting responsibilities of being one. The book was certainly generous in giving Eragon sufficient time to train and develop his skills as a dragon rider… and well, as the story’s protagonist as a whole. So Eragon becoming powerful and mature as the story progressed was believable.
I enjoyed the whole training scenario and the dragon lore but all the travelling made by Eragon and his newfound companions bored the hell out of me because some of it were unnecessary to get the plot moving. I just hope that this wouldn’t be a problem in the succeeding books because Eragon has a lot of potential.
All in all, Eragon is a solid starter for the whole series. Paolini was able to establish a good foundation with this one, leaving enough bread crumbs for the readers to munch on without taking away the mystery for them to look forward to reading the next book. I can’t say that I’ll be hurrying to pick up the 2nd book but I’ll definitely read it in the future.