Eragon

Inheritance, Book 1

By: Christopher Paolini

Narrated by: Gerard Doyle

Don’t miss the eagerly anticipated epic new fantasy from Christopher Paolini—Murtagh!

A new adventure hatches in Book One of the Inheritance Cycle, perfect for fans of Lord of the Rings! This New York Times bestselling series has sold over 40 million copies and is an international fantasy sensation.

"Christopher Paolini is a true rarity." —The Washington Post

When fifteen-year-old Eragon finds a polished blue stone in the forest, he thinks it is the lucky discovery of a poor farm boy. But when the stone brings a dragon hatchling, Eragon soon realizes he has stumbled upon a legacy nearly as old as the Empire itself.

Overnight his simple life is shattered, and, gifted with only an ancient sword, a loyal dragon, and sage advice from an old storyteller, Eragon is soon swept into a dangerous tapestry of magic, glory, and power. Now his choices could save—or destroy—the Empire.

©2003 Christopher Paolini (P)2002 Random House, Inc., Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"It's an impressive start to a writing career that's sure to flourish." (Booklist)

"Doyle's range of accents is perfect for the multiple characters of this epic....On paper Eragon is a sprawling fantasy, filled with obvious nods to Tolkien and too many convenient plot devices. But on audio, it fills the ears with vivid characters, witty dialogue, and nail-biting battle scenes set in a magical world where a beautiful blue dragon and her rider are at the noble center of it all." (AudioFile)

"An impressive epic fantasy." (Publishers Weekly)

Fun fantasy but ending leaves you hanging

This is a nice book to read/listen to for its adventure and fantasy. It has all the elements - potential love, fighting, mystical creatures and a coming of age. However, when coming to the end of the book, the reader/listener finds that there are many unanswered questsions, i.e. it is book one in a series (if the writer continues it) and so one is left hanging on some basic questions that have been posed since the beginning of the book. My personal feeling is that this was a great deal of time spent listening to a book that is not completed but only hints at a possible book to come. The ending is something like a teaser for a new movie...stayed tuned to what happens next. I find myself feeling a bit cheated. It is worth the read/listen as long as you know there that this is a serial story that is not concluded with this book.

One of the best books I've heard in over a year...

Gripping tale, incredible narration and compelling characters all add up to an amazingly entertaining book. My wife and I couldn't turn it off. Now is the agony that always accompanies a wait for a sequel. As for complaints about this book being too much like Lord of the Rings, I call a foul. All this book shares in common with LOTR is a similar pronounciation of the main characters name (Eragon)to that of Aragorn, so what! The characters are nothing alike and the story is wildly different.

Couldn't Put My Finger On It...

Throughout this book, something seemed wrong. That's not to say that I didn't immensly enjoy it, I found certain scenes and references "inmature". It didn't hit me until I went to write this review and had the opportunity to read other reviews that I found out that the author is a teenager.

Others reviewed how it seemed to copy other stories and I did find that it smacked of something familiar, but it wasn't that big a deal. Most books lift little bits of other ideas to make a whole new general idea. If I had to put a finger on something that bothered me, I'd say it was the writing style. The author seems to go off on digressions of detail that are overly descriptive of things that don't matter to the story.

The rollercoaster descriptions of personal feelings and emotions are way overdone in many instances. Perhaps reflecting a little of the author's own maturity? Instead of trusting us to grasp certain facets, they're pounded into us. However, all this is minor to the excellent use of imagry and story telling. I was lost in the whole story from beginning to end. It isn't Tolkien and it isn't Harry Potter by a long shot, but it is a good story to switch your brain off reality for awhile.

Why does Saphira's voice sound like a sick toad?!

I'm a fan of the story. (Basically Star Wars character archetypes in a Fantasy context.)
But the narration has me grieved. Doyle does a very good job with the human characters, but his Saphira is so rough and gravely that she sounds always like a sick toad... I mean frog. I understand how one might assume that the voice of a large lizard would sound rough to our ears but why would it sound rough in Eregon's head? Their dialogue is always internal! It also contradicts the sense of gracefulness and grandeur and wisdom that the author is building into Saphira. But the big problem with this, besides how grating it is to listen to, is that it is very difficult to convey the nuances of her emotions. She ends up being very one-dimensional. Similarly the ware-cat Solembaum's voice is performed in a growling gravel, which is a smaller problem since his dialogue is a much smaller percentage of the book, but his character suffers just as much. And he sounds almost identical to Saphira.
This deficiency is enough to make me seriously question whether I will purchase the subsequent audiobooks.

Excellent!

I adored this when it first came out and have read it multiple times since. Seeing it was on audio made me extremely happy and I saved up my credits to get all 4. Well, listening to this made me love the book all over again! On reading it, the Dwarfish language and unfamiliar names had me skimming those bits, but actually hearing it out loud was amazing!

Gerard Doyle was phenomenal. This guy can preform!! His range of tones and voices for each character was truly impressive and he brought this book alive. Though if I had one complaint, and it was tiny, it was that I wanted Saphira to sound a little more female, though I did love how he made the Dragons sound!!

A Brilliant story brought to life in the best way by an exceptional narrator.

SPLENDID!!!!!!!!!!!!

EXTREMELY 'good' book does not come close to HOW 'good' this book is...great doesn't work either, so, suffice it to say...Its IS worth your time!!!!!
GIVE A LISTEN, PICK IT UP AND READ IT... Join the crowd!!!!!!
The Reader is Fantastic and the story leaves you wanting MORE MORE MORE!!!!!!

Excellent book

This is an excellent story and extremely well written. I can't wait for Paolini to come out with the next book. If you are into fantasy you will love this book.

Derivative, so what?

Having spent my teen years reading and listening to fantasy books, from Tolkien to Rowlings, Terry and Pratchet to Robert Jordan, this book stink to high heavens of other peoples ideas, and so what? Every fantasy book is derived from Tolkiens works and his was inspired by Beowulf and the Bible. If an author only could be original then there would be no more new books written. Paolini takes good ideas from his forerunners and amalgamates and expend them and creates a well thought of and highly consistent world in which i puts magic, monsters and a feeling of realism. His protagonist Eragon goes from the boy to the warrior and in this book we get to experience this with Eragon. Paolini's way of telling the story is modern and detailed. He writes in a way that are of the same quality as, but with higher readability than, J. R. R. Tolkien.

Good book,but

I really am enjoying this series but I'm having a little trouble with the dragon's voice. To me, it sounded far too much like the Cookie Monster. I have to keep pushing that thought out of my mind as I listen.
But considering the author was in his teens when he wrote this, I'm certainly not complaining. I did notice some similarities in dragon characteristics to Anne McCaffery's Dragon Rider books (which is okay as I love those books as well).
Didn't see the movie so I'm interested in seeing how the series ends. All in all, well worth the listen.

Worth the read

If you liked the Lord of the Rings series you will enjoy this.