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A review by bellawoo
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
5.0
Apparently I'm 13 years behind in discovering this series, but I'm just glad to finally read a Book One where I'm excited to invest in the remainder of the series. I had sincerely hoped that The Last Kingdom was going to be it, but after striking out there and finishing Eragon, I understand more about what makes a great series.
Eragon helped me realize why YA fantasy is often better than normal Fantasy. The intended age group is characterised as not having the attention span for longer novels, so it has to find a balance between world building and moving through the plot. I often bore of adult Fantasy novels about 20% of the way in because the first few chapters are all about world building. Snooze. But in YA, as with Eragon, we have one quick prelude chapter and then our protagonist gets a dragon egg shoved into his hands.
I also loved the concept of dragons as separate sentient beings. Often in other series, novels or movies, they're portrayed as fire-breathing, poorly-trained flying dogs. In Eragon, Saphira has magic and wisdom beyond Eragon's, but she isn't without physical or mental limits. Dragons are treated as a first-class category of beings in this world.
One criticism is that Eragon's interest in the opposite gender is done a bit awkwardly towards the end. I'm guessing it's all a setup for the rest of the series.
Eragon helped me realize why YA fantasy is often better than normal Fantasy. The intended age group is characterised as not having the attention span for longer novels, so it has to find a balance between world building and moving through the plot. I often bore of adult Fantasy novels about 20% of the way in because the first few chapters are all about world building. Snooze. But in YA, as with Eragon, we have one quick prelude chapter and then our protagonist gets a dragon egg shoved into his hands.
I also loved the concept of dragons as separate sentient beings. Often in other series, novels or movies, they're portrayed as fire-breathing, poorly-trained flying dogs. In Eragon, Saphira has magic and wisdom beyond Eragon's, but she isn't without physical or mental limits. Dragons are treated as a first-class category of beings in this world.
One criticism is that Eragon's interest in the opposite gender is done a bit awkwardly towards the end. I'm guessing it's all a setup for the rest of the series.