Eragon, book one of The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini, set the stage for a great fantasy series. It tells the story of young Eragon, a boy who is only fifteen when the story opens. While hunting in the Spine, a mountain range near the farm where he lives with his uncle and cousin, he inadvertently finds a mysterious stone. Unable to sell it he holds on to it only for it to hatch months later and reveal that is was actually an egg, a dragon egg. Finding himself hunted by numerous parties after his uncle and the farm are attacked Eragon ends up on the run with his new dragon Saphira and an old storyteller named Brom who seems to know way to much about dragons. Traversing all of Alagaesia they try to find the parties who killed his uncle and figure out where would be a safe place for Eragon and Saphira that is not under the thumb of the cruel king and dragon rider, Galbatorix. However, Eragon really ends up discovering that things, events and people are never what they seem on the surface.
I have read this book multiple times now and every time I just fell deeper in love with it. Not only is this an incredible story it also has some pretty relatable characters and an unbelievable background and setting. Alagaesia is not just some surface level fictional setting but there is some real thought in its development. I say that because the culture and society being depicted is intricate and detailed a lot of the time. You can see the differences between the different races and you don’t feel like they are superficial differences. The book goes so far as to explore the differences in their languages as well. Very few authors take the time to put that much thought into their stories so I am rather impressed. The book does the same thing with other elements as well like their system of magic. The level of detail put into that is just as impressive and while not completely fleshed out does seem to have a lot of thought put into nonetheless. The part that drew me in the most though is the dragons. Saphira is just as developed and fleshed out of a character as Eragon is and I have seen very few stories where that is the case. While we don’t actually see her perspective we still get to know her almost as much as we do Eragon by the end of the book. She is not just a reflection of him but an independent personality which is awesome. The only thing that was potentially troublesome about the book was the plot. I enjoyed reading the book and the plot was intriguing. However, it was also very meandering and often seemed like the stereotypical farm boy turned hero and destined to fight the evil dictator that we see so frequently in literature. I know that it actually is way more than that but it does resemble that stereotype a lot on the surface. That in no way detracts from the quality of the book though as it was still incredible despite that. Honestly it was a great book that I am happy giving 4.5 out of 5 stars.
This book was a great example of a young adult fantasy. Probably one of the better ones in my opinion so if you are a teen, young adult or adult who enjoys a good fantasy, or even a good adventure story, than I suggest you consider trying this one. However, if you don’t enjoy those genres than I am not sure how well it would appeal to you. In terms of age range this is probably considered young adult so it would probably hold the most appeal to older teens or young adults. While it could be read by younger teens or young adults I would recommend they be careful as it does contain some rather graphic violence at times. Definitely nobody younger than that should read this though. At the same time I could easily see this book holding quite a lot of appeal for older readers who enjoy fantasy as I know several who rather enjoyed this book. Either way I hope you would consider trying it out as it is a great book. If you do feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.