Book Review: Eragon

A book review of Eragon by Christopher Paolini.

Eragon is a fantasy and teen fiction novel by Christopher Paolini, which was quickly developed into a movie and followed by three other books, making up the “Inheritance Cycle”.  I was interested in this book because I had never before read a book that centered around a dragon.  

Eragon is about a boy named Eragon who discovers a dragon’s egg which hatches and becomes Saphira.  He later discovers that he is a dragon rider and soon he is trained and guided by the village storyteller Brom.  Suddenly, the Ra’zac kill Eragon’s father and he sets out on a quest to defeat them and the Galbatorix.

I found the beginning section of Eragon to be quite boring.  Eragon and Brom tended to do the same thing every day.  They woke up, travelled to the next city, killed some creatures, sparred at the fire, Eragon asked Brom an endless stream of questions which Brom would answer and then they would sleep.  I realize that this is realistic writing since life is not always an exciting adventure and people cannot get around very quickly during the middle ages, but I think Paolini could have cut much of the writing in the first section of the book so his audience is more quickly absorbed in the action.

One thing that I enjoyed was the helpful translation guide provided by the author.  It gave the book a fun and interactive component.

When I finished this novel I felt a bit cheated, actually, for as I reached the last few pages I was surprised that it was the end of the book.  Also, I realized that Eragon didn’t even get to meet Galbatorix.  The book seemed to be cut short.  If it weren’t a series, that would have been a very unsatisfactory ending. However, I did like the interesting twist at the end when Eragon received the same scar as Murtagh from the servant of Galbatorix.

In short, this novel was riveting at times, but it also had its boring moments.  I would recommend it to children, pre-teens and young teenagers, but older teenagers and adults might want to read something more exciting and mature.

Rating: 3.5/5