Monday, December 3, 2012

Book Review of Eragon by Christopher Paolini




I've been on a dragon-book reading kick this year. I decided to give this series a try. I was not disappointed.  Eragon is an adolescent boy who grew up hearing the stories of the Empire. When he finds a rock he’s thrown in the middle of the legend. The rock hatches and turns out to be a dragon. He's connected to the dragon Saphira. They communicate telepathically. Eragon learns from an old story-teller Brom that he’s a Rider. Brom teaches him how to use magic and about the responsibility involved with being a Rider. This first book is a lot of set up and unknown. Most of the book is Brom training Eragon while they are on a revenge run. The exciting part comes when Eragon meets up with Arya, who's an elf. To save her life Eragon has to get her to Varden. Varden is hidden in the mountains; A place where humans and dwarfs have been living in safety. Safe until Eragon brings the wicked King's army chasing after him. A war breaks out and the end is just the beginning. We have a hint of romance which of course always sparks my interest. Similar to Lord of the Rings, we have elf's, humans, and dwarfs coming together to conquer evil. It's a completely different world and very visual writing.


In the middle of reading I became interested in the author. I found he started these books at age 16 and was published at age 19. His family published the books and he traveled around marketing them. I was very impressed with the depth of the story and great writing from someone so young.


I know there is a movie based on the book. I heard it didn't do well in the box office. I imagine it doesn't do the book justice, because if the movie would have followed the story Christopher Paolini created it should be a box office hit. 


I'm happy to just read the stories and let my imagination be entertained. I'm excited to read book two since things are just getting started.





Learn more about the series, Christopher Paolini, and purchase the book at:





No comments: