Eragon
First book in the Inheritance Trilogy
by Christopher Paolini

Now where to begin? Eragon holds much promise in a time where the stories told of dragons still depicts them as monsters and authors still tend to treat them as mindless beasts, with a few notable exceptions. However I must confess, I found the movie to be more enthralling than the book. Honestly, I think that the actors did an excellent job bringing the characters to life and giving them life and personality, a feat the author couldn’t manage properlly himself.

Be forewarned fans of Anne McCaffrey, Tolkein, and even Star Wars fans, this book borrows heavily from these beloved authors and stories. The main plot of this story opens up and within the first ten pages one is already being reminded of stories with similar plots. Eragon is out hunting a deer to bring back meat for his family, meanwhile elsewhere an Elvin princess and her companions face an overwhelming number of opponents. As a last ditch effort the Elvin princess casts a spell and sends the object she is carrying, a blue stone, away from her pursuers mere seconds before she too is captured. The stone then appears in the clearing where Eragon is hunting, his story is about to begin.

If you’ve ever seen Star Wars then you’re probably suffering from a severe case of dj vu. Unfortunately the coincidences don’t stop there. The elf princess turns out to be named Arwen and becomes the love interest of Aragorn. What, you mean this isn’t Lord of the Rings, are you sure? Ah yes, I got it straight now, Arya the hot elf princess clad in skintight leather who looks just like Arwen (sans green eyes), and has a rather similar name too, becomes the object of affection for our protagonist Eragon [pronounced EH-uh-gahn]. Wow, it’s like Lord of the Rings meets Star Wars here. Christopher Paolini wasn’t joking when he said he was heavily influenced by his favorite fantasy stories and authors.

Now I don’t know about you, but I myself prefer stories that put new and original twists on things. Take for example the stereotypical vampire book. It is generally a given that vampires cannot tolerate sunlight, garlic, running water, and a stake through the heart or holy water will kill them. Authors who can take these basic premises and turn them on their heads or work them in such a way that it appears they were never done before are the true writers of the vampire genre. Paolini has taken every aspect that he likes from certain stories and thrown them together in a hodgepodge of regurgitated storylines and laughable characters. Think of every fantasy clich you have ever come across and ten-to-one they’re in this novel.

From the wise mentor who dies a tragic death that motivates and galvanizes his young apprentice; the tall, beautiful and graceful elves, master craftsman; the rough and gruff dwarves who live underground and are the best metalworkers and miners; to the son of the enemy turned ally. Oh and look, the hero and his merry band of helpers are even fighting the “Empire”. I honestly cannot see what all the hype about this book was.

One of the things that irked me the most, aside from Paolini’s blatant stealing, was how flat his characters were. His main character, Eragon, was two dimensional at best and tended to whine and bellyache far too much for this reader’s liking. His supporting characters, specifically Saphira and Arya, start off with interesting personalities and then just fall flat. By the middle of the book Saphira is no longer the cute and sassy dragon full of ageless wisdom and attitude, but a holier-than-thou-know-it-all who doesn’t know it all and has an annoying habit of saying pointless and redundant comments. Arya has the possibility of coming across as the tough as nails kick-butt chick of the book, but again, falls short of the mark and instead comes across as bossy and superior. The few characters of true note, such as Solembum, perhaps retain personality only because they are the minor characters and make brief and fleeting appearances, hence Paolini does not have much time to muddle them up.

Paolini also seems to have a hard time keeping his characters in character. Murtagh, a supporting character and interestingly enough the one with the most spunk and a decent personality comes across as having a split personality due to his varying mood swings and the personality changes Paolini subjects him to. A proud and talented swordsman of noble rank and birth on the run from the Empire becomes a traveling companion to Eragon in Eragon’s time of need. He’s a touch arrogant, with good cause, yet he submits amicably with no real argument to being Eragon’s pack mule. Something doesn’t jive too well there. It is instances like this that I can honestly see why people believe Eragon to be a representation of the author himself, he does share many traits that are reflective of “Gary-Stus”.

Gary-Stus are a term used to describe a character that is essentially the insert of the author. These characters tend to have amazing abilities, everybody loves them, tragic pasts, tendencies to angst over their current lot in life, and whenever an obstacle blocks their path a convenient ally or new ability emerges to clear the path for them. Keeping this in mind, let’s examine the character Eragon.

He is a simple farm boy who mock sword fights with his older cousin in his spare time and has proficient skill with a bow. He cannot read, knows not a single word of magic let alone how it works, has no true skill with a sword, and knows next to nothing about the Empire and its workings. After little more than a week traveling horseback across the land with his mentor Eragon has learned how to read and write the human language and can also speak, read, and write a broken version of the one true language (yes Paolini borrowed LeGuin’s concept of a one true language and one true name). Eragon has also learned quite a bit of magic in such a short period of time and can now hold his own with Brom, his mentor and a former Dragon Rider. It’s not long after that he even defeats his mentor, and Brom declares he cannot teach Eragon anymore, for Eragon has surpassed him. The growth rate is exponential and just unbelievable.

To lend credibility to this incredible feat, Paolini cites that his abilities are due in large to his being a dragon rider. This could be plausible, except that Paolini in the same breathe mentions that Dragon Riders were trained for years before they were presented with a dragon which implies that even Dragon Riders of old, who also had the natural power that Eragon has, took years to get to his level of proficiency.

Another annoying aspect, which lends credence to the Gary-Stu theory as well, is Eragon’s unnatural acceptance and easily gained respect. He is the dragon rider, an arrogant brat who is quickly showing signs of becoming a spoiled brat, and yet not a single one of the main good guys dislikes him. They all adore or are found of him. He brings nothing but trouble to the Varden, yet the leader accepts him readily enough. The Dwarves are supposed to dislike dragons and their riders alike, and after the initial snub of the dwarves in the crowd, not a single dwarf regards him in the manner that befits their character. One goes so far as to address him by an old term of respect, yet Eragon has done nothing to garner said respect yet. Not even the King of the Dwarves shows dislike or disapproval of Eragon. Amazing, all the good guys love him and lay down their lives for him without a second thought and, if necessary, contrary to their own character. Simply amazing.

In short, the story borrows heavily (and I do mean heavily) from stories of old that have paved the way for fantasy writers. Even the map Paolini provides of Alagaesia looks remarkably like Tolkein’s down to landmarks, and in some cases, the names (eg: the Beor Mountains). His characters are flat and static, not to mention the nasty habit of characters acting out of character in order to accommodate either Eragon or the plot, and clichs abound. To be frank, Paolini, as a writer, has promise but this book should never have been published as it stands.

I was leery of picking up this book, as for every rave review there seemed to be a scalding criticism following it. But after seeing the trailers for the movie, and the fact that it is supposed to be about dragons and I love dragons, I gave the book a chance. I am certainly glad I waited until it was available in paperback because I certainly would have threatened the wellbeing of the clerks at my local bookstore as I demanded my money back. In all likely hood I will read the next two books to see what happens to my favorite character, Murtagh, and in blatant hope that the books improve. But I’m not holding my breath. If you are new to the fantasy genre I recommend you pick up JRR Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, Anne McCaffrey’s Dragon Riders of Pern trilogy, and Ursula K LeGuin’s Earthsea Cycle series. These are the main authors and their works that Paolini has blatantly taken from.

Joana’s Rating: