fantasy

Elves, dwarves, dragons, evil Urgals and terrifying shades, love, revenge, and adventure all wrapped up into one intricate tale of enchantment that leaves the reader breathless and wishing for more--this is Eragon, by Christopher Paolini.

Right away I was pulled in by the professional and artistic cover, the giant blue eye of the dragon Sapphira drawn by the author himself, and when I opened the book, I was not in the least disappointed. Once you pick this book up, you can't put it down. Immmediately you are swept off into the vast world of Algaesia and into the life of a young fifteen year old boy, Eragon; his path takes you to new and fascinating places filled with magic and mystical creatures.

I finished this book in three days--going to school full time and trying to stay awake after reading until one or two in the morning. I am sure I would have finished in a day if it hadn't been for school.

I would absolutely encourage spending the money to buy this book. You will be pleasingly surprised by his new, fresh style, as well as his deep understanding for the realm of fantasy and his apparent love for writing.

But be warned, this story is addicting!

While the world is ingulfed in the like of Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and others of the like, I just happened to wonder on the Teens section of randomhouse.com and this book caught my eye. After reading a few pages while I was on break at work, I simply had to buy a copy and read it.

Taking insperation (and borrowing heavly from Anne McCaffrey), enter the newest teen-age author Christopher Paolini's massive (yes, a hefty 500+ pgs.) debut novel. The plot is about a young 16 year old boy named Eragon who discovers a shiny blue stone while out on a hunting trip. Hoping to sell it for food, he takes it home and discovers that it is actually a dragon egg. The dragon hatches and Eragon's simple, farm-boy life is changed forever. After nearly lossing everything dear to him, Eragon is forced to leave by Brom, the village story-teller (who has a few secrets of his own), who accompanies him on his journey into the detailed world of Alagaesia, a Tolkin-like land full of evil creatures, dwarves, elves, and many more who will become Eragon's allies and enemies.

And that's just Book I! Currently, Paolini is hard at work writting Eldest, Book II. While readers eagerly await that novel, Eragon is, by far, the best in what a teen author can produce. While Amelia Atwater-Rhodes may have started the trend, she still has a lot to learn about exceptional grammer and just writting a novel all together. Paolini goes to great lenghts to give his readers a detailed and impressive story that is an udder joy to read. It's hard to imagine that he started this novel when he was only 15!

Eragon is seemingly flawless. You get a colorful cast of characters, gorgous landscapes, a plot that doesn't try to hard to be impressvie and flashy, and doesn't live you a rotten cliff-hanger. All in all, I cannot find anything that is wrong with novel.

However, my only real complant is that Eragon is a little too "meaty". The novel doesn't need to be 500+ pages (a standerd 300-350+ is an average for most novels, especially for the start of a Triology such as this) and I found myself wondering on several occassions. But, neverless, I forged on, greatly apperciating on Paolini's masterful skills with the pen.

I would recommend anyone who enjoies book like Harry Potter, or just an avid reader of Sci-Fi/Fantasy!

They say one should ask questions if one does not know something and that one shall learn, but... Paolini might as well tell the entire story in an interview if he liked asking and answering questions so much... Eragon asks twenty questions and when someone has only answered one, he asks fifty more. For example, when Eragon is talking to Brom:<br /> <br /> "Dragons have no beginning, unless it lies with the creation of Algaesia itself... Their world was unchanging until the first elves sailed over the sea on their silver ships.'<br /> 'Where did the elves come from?' interrupted Eragon. 'And why are they called the fair folk? Do they really exist?"<br /> <br /> That gets really annoying and if Eragon was a real boy, I'd slapped him after the third question. It's probably just me... who knows.<br /> <br /> I'll brush away the fact that Paolini's story is derivative from other fantasy novels, but let's look at the view of a person whom has never read any fantasy novels and a close up on the writing.<br /> <br /> Descriptions are good, but too much of a good thing makes it bad. It's like he inserted descriptions of places and things randomly and messed up the flow of the story. The beginning chapters aren't very engrossing and I find myself getting easily distracted by things like a piece of lint floating through the air. When I read a well-written book, that sort of distraction does not happen.<br /> <br /> The dialogue... is a joke... It may seem harsh,I laugh at them not because they're funny, but sometimes they're so ridiculously corny, they're funny. It makes the characters seem so flat and and unable to relate to the readers.<br /> <br /> I really am too lazy to type anymore critisms, since you can read most of them from the other reviwers.<br /> <br /> Paolini is a very good writer... with practice. So an advice to you Paolini, go to college like you should of did, take some writing courses and then come back with something we can work with.