Reviews

I remember this series being the Twilight of dragon rider fantasy in its day. On reread it seems most of the criticism is overblown. The book suffers chiefly from the author being 19 and self-published, and its low points are more missteps than flaws. The most cringeworthy moments sit at the uncomfortable intersection of casual ableism and Disney-inspired bioessentialism: those who look beautiful are good people, and the ugly are evil. Foul deeds deform looks. Besides that, I found the characters' constant mistrust of Murtagh the most annoying, as it was the most obvious example of predjudice in the whole narrative.

At its core, though, Eragon is a sweet coming-of-age story about a boy maturing into a wiser, more levelheaded man, who knows the value of empathy, patience, and looking before you leap. What happens to those who gain power when they are unprepared to wield it? A single thoughtless action could be devastating in ways no one can defend against.

With great power comes great responsibility.

maddips's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-paced

4.25

williams719's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

mushbop's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

catebethh's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

kaitie_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

I'm working on rereading this series, and it was so wonderful to dive back into this world and Alagaësia.

What impresses me most about this book is how the worldbuilding and story structure are complex but also super easy to follow and immersive at the same time. A lot of the worldbuilding is conveyed via a storyteller, so instead of feeling like there are large info dumps; the information is relayed in an exciting and immersive way.

What also never ceases to amaze me is that Christopher Paolini was 15 years old when he started writing this series. I do find our protagonist, Eragon, shows a bit of a lack of maturity in this first book, but his character growth is immaculate, and not only is The Inheritance Cycle Series a high fantasy, but also a coming-of-age story.

Saphira, our dragon, is the ultimate bonded dragon companion. She's sassy and intelligent, and I found while reading I was reimmersed into a familiar feeling (one that I had when I first read these books) of wishing I had a dragon companion like Saphira.

Christopher Paolini does not pull his punches, and the tragedies that Eragon experiences as he grows into his newfound role are devastating but also shape him as a character. By the end of the book, we start to see him grow from those experiences and develop from that naive farm boy into his role as a dragon rider.

I was happy to discover that I still really enjoyed this book rereading it as a now adult, and I can't wait to relive and enjoy the remainder of this series.

"𝓚𝓮𝓮𝓹 𝓲𝓷 𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓶𝓪𝓷𝔂 𝓹𝓮𝓸𝓹𝓵𝓮 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓭𝓲𝓮𝓭 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓲𝓻 𝓫𝓮𝓵𝓲𝓮𝓯𝓼; 𝓲𝓽'𝓼 𝓪𝓬𝓽𝓾𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓺𝓾𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓶𝓸𝓷. 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓵 𝓬𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓪𝓰𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓲𝓷 𝓵𝓲𝓿𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓼𝓾𝓯𝓯𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓫𝓮𝓵𝓲𝓮𝓿𝓮."

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