ERAGON

SUMMARY

When fifteen-year-old Eragon finds a polished blue stone in the forest, he thinks it is the lucky discovery of a poor farm boy. 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, gifted with only an ancient sword, a loyal dragon, and sage advice from an old storyteller, Eragon is soon swept into a dangerous tapestry of magic, glory, and power. Now his choices could save—or destroy—the Empire.

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OPINION

I love dragons. I have a collection of little dragon figurines and the one thing that would just make my medieval/modern/dragon infested home perfect is a dragon head wall mount. But first I need to find space on my walls. I guess I could move some posters . . . anyway, what were we talking about? Oh, right! Eragon by Christopher Paolini.

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Fair warning, this is not really an angry review. It might be a bit of a rant, though. And remember, this is just my opinion – one opinion out of thousands. And if you haven’t read this book, there may be spoilers in the review.

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Yes, the book was released in 2002. Yes, it’s taken me forever to read it, but hey, I didn’t read the Harry Potter series until the end of my senior year.

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Anyway, magic, adventure, flying, fighting, elves, dwarfs, orc-type creatures (Urgals, I believe), and DRAGONS!

 

It was okay.

 

I don’t know, there was just something about it that just didn’t grab me. I kept reading and reading and reading, but I was never invested. I was never pulled into the story. Well, there were a couple of spots – a few of the action scenes and the final battle at the end – but for the majority of the story, I just wasn’t into it.

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Maybe it could’ve been better for me if I hadn’t watched the movie (twice) before finally reading the book. Please don’t hurt me. For the record, when I first saw the movie, I didn’t realize it was from a book until halfway through – the pace of the movie was just too fast. Loved the dragon, though!

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Maybe it’s because I read it at somewhat of a late time in my life – though I’m not that old – but I’ve read so many books that fall into this category. Every lesson that Brom was teaching Eragon, I had already read or heard before. So, maybe I should’ve read it when I was fifteen or sixteen or younger.

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But one of the problems I had with the book was the traveling and training. There’s so much! I was begging a friend of mine to tell me when it was going to get good! 290 pages in, I was asking again, but no.

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The world. I salute Mr. Paolini on his world-building. I have definitely taken mental notes. I don’t remember there ever being any info dumps, though the large paragraphs Brom would tell to Eragon about the Riders or the dragons felt a little like an info dump. There was a lot of explaining through dialogue.

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Saphira. There was one line of dialogue between Eragon and Saphira I liked. The rest, . . . Well, I like how she and I agree on one thing; Eragon is an idiot who gets himself into trouble. Honestly, I think Saphira and I would be great friends. I like how she takes control as she grows older, expresses how she feels and cares about Eragon’s well-being.

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Needless to say, I was so thankful to finally be done with this book. I don't think I'll read the rest of the series, even though I've been told the books get better. It just didn't grab, but I'm glad I read it!