Eragon

This quarter I read the novel Eragon by Christopher Paolini. No, not Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings, but a young kid that lives in Alagesia. The two get mixed up a lot because their names are pronounced similarly but you can tell from the spelling alone that they are completely different. Now that we have that established, this novel takes us through the magical realm of Alagesia and shares the adventures of Eragon, a simple farm boy.

One day Eragon found a mysterious stone in the mountains. When he tried to trade this stone for goods in town no one would accept it because he found it on land owned by the king, Galbatorix. He ignored their many warnings and kept the stone, changing his life forever. Little did he know it was not a mere stone, but an egg, containing a creature of myth and times long ago, more peaceful and benevolent times. The egg hatches and Eragon is transformed from an innocent farm boy into a Dragon Rider accompanied by his new dragon, Saphira.

The novel follows these two unlikely companions throughout the world of Alagesia  as they evade Galbatorix, befriend new allis, and flee south to The Varden, the only place where they can feel safe. After many close calls and a long journey they arrive at The Varden exhausted and pursued by Galbatorix’s soldiers. They lose friends in the battle but come out victorious, continuing Eragon’s training and keeping the hope alive that dragon riders will soon return to Alagesia.

Christopher was 15 when he started this masterpiece and was still a very young adult when it was published. The novel intrigues the imagination of teenagers and adults alike, dedicating them to the lengthy novel that is Eragon.

Paolini wrote this novel being inspired by the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and Eric Rücker Eddison among others. He based the landscape of Alagesia off of his home state Montana and wrote the novel to explore his writing abilities and expand his ideas. Inadvertently at first he compared Eragon’s growth and maturation throughout the story to that of his own as a young writer. In the book he is able to show through Eragon’s and his own success that anything is possible if you put your mind to it and remain dedicated.

In this novel Paolini sticks to a third person limited view to describe the adventure. He is still a young writer and it is obvious in his following novels of his improvement. For example, in his third book Paolini adapts the novel to have multiple points of view and several different plot lines all occurring simultaneously, this demonstrates his maturity as a writer. Still evident though in Eragon is his skill and natural ability as a writer. He utilizes imagery to paint the setting in vivid descriptions and alludes often, foreboding to future dangers. Paolini even created his own “ancient language” in Eragon, basing it off of old Norse, German, Old English, and Russian myth.

The books starts off calm and climaxes when Eragon finds Saphira’s egg. After that it recedes back to a calmer tone, slowly increasing in excitement until Saphira hatches. After this event, the journey has begun, and the novel becomes an epic adventure similar to Lord of the Rings and contains excitement and twists on each page. This tone engrosses the reader’s amusement and throws them into the adventure with Eragon.

My rating system for this book is:

1: Farm Boy

2: Boy with a rock!

3: Boy with a big Lizard!

4: Dragon and Companion

5: Dragon Rider

I would say that this novel is at the Dragon and Companion stage in its development. It is well written and a fantastic read that I would recommend but Paolini is still developing as a writer and has yet to reach his full potential and become a true Dragon Rider.