Reviews

I remember reading this when I was younger and I think it was my foray into fantasy. This series has been sitting on my shelves for so long and it’s about time I finished the entire series.

Eragon is just a farm boy, living with his cousin and uncle in Carvahall until he finds a polished blue stone in the deep forest. Hoping he can make a quick sale for food for the coming months, he’s taken aback when the stone hatches. With a new dragon hatchling, he names her Saphira and ultimately finds himself at the heart of a legacy as old as the Empire. Just like that, his simple life is overturned - instead of worrying about the harvest, he finds himself worrying about his destiny, the use of magic and the unbridled power he now has. Many are after Eragon and Saphira but only he can decide his future.

This book sits at just under 500 pages and it’s only the first in the series, with each book getting longer than the previous one. Towards the middle, I felt like the pacing was off and I was getting a bit bored - it felt a bit repetitive with Eragon continuously travelling.

However, I felt that the audiobook helped to offset this. Saphira didn’t sound like what I thought a female dragon would sound like - but it was easy to differentiate between the different characters. Even towards the end of the book where a whole host of new characters are introduced, it was easy to follow them and their dialogues.

Some of the descriptions of Arya threw me and felt a bit too focused on her physical form and how Eragon is attracted to her. They were weird and took me out of the story but I’m going to put that down to the fact that this book was published in 2002 and much has changed since then.

I’m excited to dive into the next book, considering I only ever really read this first book. Let’s see if I can finish a 670 page book before the month is up!

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