Eragon - Christopher Paolini - Reviewed by Gianni Mancuso

Eragon (2003) is a compelling novel written in the genre of high fantasy. It is the first in a series of three other books written by Christopher Paolini. Set in the Ancient times, Eragon explores significant changes in life, for example the change from boyhood to manhood or more simply the ‘coming of age.’
This book will appeal well to any one from 11 to 18.

When Eragon, a simple farm boy in the village of Carvahall finds a polished blue stone while out hunting in the dangerous mountains known as the spine, his life is changed forever. He tries to sell it for money and unsuccessful in his attempts, he leaves the stone sitting in his cabin until it hatches into a majestic, glittering blue dragon. After a trip to the town storyteller, an old wizened man named Brom, he names the dragon Saphira. Eragon and his partner have stumbled upon the long lost legacy of the dragon riders, a secret group of heroes astride magnificent dragons fighting for order and peace in the country of Alagaesia. Unfortunately, Eragon is the only rider left apart from the malevolent King Galbatorix. It is his duty to restore peace to the land.

Although the glittering dragon has brought nothing but danger towards his only remaining family, Uncle Garrow and his cousin Roran. With the murder of his uncle by putrid servants of the King and the shocking departure of his cousin Eragon decides there is nothing left for him in Carvahall. He leaves in pursuit of the beasts that destroyed his home and killed his Uncle. With the help of Brom, Eragon faces his destiny. On his journey Eragon learns sword fighting, magic and the art of the ancient language. He will encounter many difficulties and events that no ordinary fifteen year old boy would even dream of, from fighting a shade and hordes of angry Urgals or fighting alongside dwarves and conversing with the mysterious Elves.

The most interesting aspect of Eragon was the many twists and turns that were intertwined in the plot. Several times throughout reading the book I was surprised and at times shocked with some of the events that occurred. Another interesting aspect of Eragon was the particular way Paolini has used many words from Old Norse and other languages and adapted them to use them in his book as the Ancient Language. As well as the many races in Eragon being a blend of different ancient cultures.

Christopher Paolini’s style of writing is very descriptive. He tends to put a lot of detail into every single aspect of the book. He uses a lot of similes and metaphors to put depth into his writing. Eragon shows that he is a very descriptive writer. In my opinion every single chapter of this book seems to be written with great enthusiasm. It seems as if Paolini has thought of a story and wanted to get it down on paper as soon as possible, without sacrificing quality.

Eragon explores the change from boyhood to manhood although with the addition of a dragon. This book also explores the many dangers and surprises life can throw at you and how you can deal with them. One of the issues explored is the responsibility of becoming an adult.


It is hard to write a fantasy novel that is not similar to others in a way. Tolkien wrote the first high fantasy novel, Lord of the Rings and since than it has been hard for other writers to come up with a novel as good as that. A lot of fantasy novels have been criticised for being similar to Lord of the Rings and Eragon has been a victim of that as well. The story line was not similar but the actual characters were criticised for being similar. For example, Tolkien was the first to use Elf’s that were almost human in character and Paolini himself has used elf’s similar to Tolkien’s version of them. As well as the fact that Paolini has been criticised for using an Orc like race called Urgals. Aside from the criticism Eragon has received it is a very unique book.

Eragon is a fantastic book, and I would recommend it to any other fantasy/adventure fan. It is a brilliantly written book and is a genuine page turner for anyone between 11 and 18. Eragon was written by a young first time author and could not be considered to be as good as Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings but it is still good enough to be named a ‘literary masterpiece’.