Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Author: Christopher Paolini
Publisher: Knopf Books
Series: Inheritance #1
Release Date: February 1st 2002
Pages: 503
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
Synopsis of the book
One boy . . .
One dragon . . .
A world of adventure.
When Eragon finds a polished blue stone in the forest, he thinks it is the lucky discovery of a poor farm boy; perhaps it will buy his family meat for the winter. 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 he is thrust into a perilous new world of destiny, magic, and power. With only an ancient sword and the advice of an old storyteller for guidance, Eragon and the fledgling dragon must navigate the dangerous terrain and dark enemies of an Empire ruled by a king whose evil knows no bounds.
Can Eragon take up the mantle of the legendary Dragon Riders? The fate of the Empire may rest in his hands.
Review
I could not finish this book, because I found it too tedious. I dragged myself to page 300, but at that point I realised it would not get better. And that while I almost never quit a book.
Eragon is very similar to Lord of the Rings in certain aspects. Both are fantasy books that have a 'normal' boy as protagonist, who goes on a mystical journey. LOTR I found a great book, the adventure was captivating and the long book was not at all boring. Eragon on the other hand could not grasp me.
The beginning of the book was still kind of interesting; Eragon gets a dragon, has to escape from his enemies, but as it continued there happened less and less. The journey is described in much detail, even the smallest events are stretched out over a few pages, while nothing actually happens. And after the third 'dangerous' encounter with the Ra'zac (the bad guys) you really have had enough of that. This style of writing makes the book very slow-paced and does not encourage you to read on.
The protagonist Eragon and the few other characters (eg Brom, his mentor) are not developed throughout the book and remain boring and non-relatable.
All of this made the book one of the dullest books I ever read, while theoratically it has everything a good fantasy book has to have (supernatural stuff, a quest, enemies etc.).
I usually love fantasy books with an adventure or a journey, but this one really disappointed me. I would not recommend it, except if you love very long and detailed stories.
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