Eragon (Paperback) by Christopher Paolini

I have seen many people hating on this book, but the truth is, he did pretty good. Yes, the book was big until CP was 19, but he actually first started writing Eragon when he was 15. That's a pretty good acomplishment for a 15 yr old. Yes, Eragon seems kind of naive at times, but at least CP didn't make him as a perfect character, He had to work, and got frustrated like a real person. I have written a book, and it is actually pretty hard. CP didn't actually intend Eragon to be for all of us. He wrote the book for himself, because he loved fantasy. he wasn't trying to please all of us. I have read all the other original fantasy books, and I love this one, because it has a bit of a different feel.

Much has been written about this cliche ridden novel. Much ado about the author's age (19 when widely published in this form). It has even been made into a singularly awful movie. It's all hype This book runs through all the standard cliche's of the fantasy genre,most of it within the first 30 pages, even. A new record for CP or Cliche per Page which also happens to be the author's initials (coincidence?). When it is done with those, it moves on to the plot from Star Wars, almost scene for scene. None of the motivations for the characters are based in personality, or even in the plot. They go and do for no reason and behave in ways that are mandated by the Author, but not with any good or common sense. Additionally the main character is quite stupid. Sure he learns to be an expert swordsman in weeks, learns to read fluently at the age of 15 within days, and learns magic as if by magic, but he sure is dense. I think that's the author's 19 years of life experience (or lack thereof, being a recluse and homeschooled). My examples (that I still remember) of his dumb are technically spoilers central to what we'll call a "plot", so I will have to leave them for another day Many of the simple details of the book are so absurdly wrong that it destroys any sense of immersion you might find after slogging through all the other pitfalls. One example: He has some "speshul" horses than can run without stopping for food or rest through hundreds of miles of desert. If horses like this existed, nobody would need cars. To be avoided... Unless: Children or adults who have not read very much fantasy will probably not be bothered by about 50% of what I have noted. If you haven't read the cliches you can't be bothered by them. Children might not understand that horses aren't magic run-forever-beasts. The plot holes and dumb characters can't be helped.