Rated of 5
by Aqua Rose Well...too much like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings
Well, it was a real good book, but I ask if it is slightly a knock-off of a mixture of the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings books...the magic, dragons...typical fantasy stuff but a little too much like those two books...the main character, Eragon, is a bit like Harry Potter...orphaned, has certain qualities that set him apart from all the others, has magical abilities...sound familiar? To all my readers, sorry about all the dot dot dots(...). It also had some Lord of the Ring type things in it...ok not gonna type them all. Overall, it was excellent, really it was, but it kinda is a typical fantasy story using 2 of the original 7 plots of the world-orphan does amazing things, and rescues the girl(who, in this book, is Ayra) from a terrible death...Anyways, good book, read it, but I warned ya it was kinda knock-off-ish. No offense to Christopher Paolini
Rated of 5
by Brandon Well...
I loved the book though i must agree that it did seem a little bit, for lack of a better word copied. Even worse was the fact that the movie had no actual plotline. However the concept is good as is the descriptions as my heart reached out to each character in turn.
Rated of 5
by Fiery Wordess Disappointed
I didn't mind the unoriginality (if there is such a word) of the story, because in general, most books lack originality these days, yet they're still enjoyable. The story was intriguing and the world was a colorful one. The writing was admittedly a little more than I could take sometimes--a blatant attempt to imitate the verbose writing styles of the type-authors of today's fantasy novels--but my real issue was the dialogue and characters. I never really fell in love with any of them. Every character seemed a little too similar to some shell of a character with unlikely words falling from his mouth. Eragon was by far the best of them, probably because he spoke the least, but I was definitely disappointed by the lack of soul in them. I hesitate to read the sequel for fear of another let-down, but I do suspect that Mr. Paolini has made improvements over his starter.
If I could make a recommendation to the author, it would be to unpublish his book (were it possible) and edit it with his present knowledge. It had the feel of a second-time rewrite rather than a fleshed-out novel. I suspect he could have done a more thorough job, perhaps this time not driven by the excitement of looming publication.
Rated of 5
by anon ok...well...
Even though I cannot deny what people say about how much this book copies off of other fantasy novels, I still enjoyed reading it and it certainly wasn't a waste of time. Especially once I got to the second book, which was better. I anxiously await the third book in the trilogy. My brother and I have both enjoyed this book and I like the characters better than those of some other fantasy novels. There are some good descriptions and though I can see that Paolini is no Tolkien, I take him for what he is. His books are sort of aimed towards kids and young adults, so I don't really think mentioning your IQ in a review is necessary ;)
Rated of 5
by crunchyspice An enjoyable read!
I enjoyed both Eregon and Eldest tremendously. I've been an avid reader for over 20 years, so it didn't surprise me that some of the themes were familiar to me (i.e., a seemingly weak and ordinary adolescent finds himself in a position where he must attempt to save the world). Also, I noticed some striking similarities with Pern (Anne McCaffery). However, I don't believe that this detracts from the book.
I would argue that Paolini's characters are his books' strongest points. They engaged me and felt much more real and somehow "modern" than is common in fantasy novels. I relished both books but felt quite sad that I could not share them with most of my students (I'm a tutor) because the language is too complex for struggling readers.
It wasn't until I finished Eragon that I found out the author's age. I was flabbergasted, and I am not making allowances for his youth!
By the way, spelling has always been difficult for me, and I try not to judge people by their spelling, but if you are criticising a piece of writing and your spelling and grammar are atrocious, it's just funny. Come on, spell check is easy.
Rated of 5
by MR J Let's be realistic
To put it plainly, terrible. I have an IQ of 183, I think perhaps this is the reason that I didn't enjoy Eragon. I don't care that he "borrowed" from other authors, All great writers are guilty of it at some time. The problem is that there was nothing original about this book. I'm not impressed or blown away by the fact that it was written by a 15 year old, that was obvious. I'm simply annoyed that so many people make allowances for his lack of ability or imagination, because he is 15.
The book was poorly written, and I struggled to get through the chapters. No hook. Poor character development, at best. That's being generous. I insisted on reading it because I was told that it was good by my friends. Had I considered the fact that they have the mentality of 15 year olds, I would have realized why they thought it was so good.
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of 5
by Aqua Rose 
of 5
by Fiery Wordess 
of 5
by anon 
of 5
by MR J 
