I recently came across mention of the series, with people saying they were terrible books. I didn’t know anything about them other than that- I vaguely recall the existence of a movie and owning a board game when I was younger, and my mother had the first one on our book shelf since as long as I can remember, but other than that I went in completely blind.
Honestly, I don’t know where a lot of the criticism comes from. All four books are within the okay-good range, they are enjoyable, and I really was captivated by the story.
Don’t get me wrong, they are not *great* books. It is very obvious to me that the first book, Eragon, would never have been published and marketed if the author’s parents didn’t own a publishing company. He wrote the story when he was 15-18 and it really shows. It reads like a fanfiction- a very well-made fanfiction whose world is derivative of existing works rather than a plain copy, but it is still a very derivative work.
I don’t think that matters. Nobody picking up a book about dragon riders should be under the impression they have found the next “Fellowship of the Ring.” They are fairly well-written, have interesting world building, and are so captivating that I have done nothing for a week but binge read all four of them. Eragon as a series excels at adequacy- it is nothing special, but it isn’t bad, and falls far short of being boring.
by Full_Plate_9391
26 Comments
I love em. I think they are *great* kids books, and even enjoyable series to read as an adult
Like as an adult, I agree with what you said about Eragon reading like a fan fic, with lots of obvious influence, etc, but as a kid, I didn’t think of that all, I just enjoyed it.
and I appreciate the magic system and really love philosophy it introduces and explores for a kids audience.. and I think it only gets better after the first book.
Of all of children’s series I’ve read as a kid, Inheritance Cycle is one of the ones I’d probably most enjoy also reading as an adult.
I loved how magic was based in names, much like Wizard of Earthsea and similar works. Probably my favorite type of magic system. edit: I remember reading Le Guin was a big inspiration to him I think.
You could definitely see how young of a writer he was and how he kind of grew up along with the books, but I did enjoy reading them when I did.
When I go back and look at Dragonlance.. yeah, not always the best writing, but I enjoyed the heck out of the stories when I was a teenager and it fueled my love of reading.
Feel the same way about Eragon basically.
Fyi Murtagh releases on Nov 7th. Its the next book in the series.
Recently reread them for the upcoming release of the next one, Murtagh Nov 7, and can confirm they’re still a good read as an adult. Yes you can tell the first one was written when he was young but the plot and characters still hold up and are a nice easy fantasy read.
Never watch the movie unless you enjoy pain.
I love the series. It has an interesting world, great magic system and dragons. There are probably better series out there, but the Inheritance cycle is one of the reasons I got into reading and I still enjoy reading them as an adult.
Eragon has always been a guilty pleasure of mine, my friends and I joke that it’s literally just fantasy Star Wars (think about it lol)
I had a blast reading them as a kid. I bought the whole series of gorgeous hard back books at my local used shop as an adult because they’re still dead to me and got a surprise signed copy of Eldest! However, I must admit that I was greatly disappointed with the ending that made me feel like so much of the prior story was moot.
The Nerdy Nightly YouTube channel just started a “bookclub” podcast series of these books. They had finished up a full Wheel of Time read through and went on to these. The Wheel of Times ones are great, I am reading along for the first time since Middle School.
I think they’re fun to read which is the important part like it’s not very original but it does what it needs to do
I loved them as a teenager. I was however disappointed by the ending, and Brisingr was by far my favourite.
I think I’m going to pick up Murtagh but I’m not sure if I should reread them before that.
What were others doing?
These books get shit on for being tropey, basic fantasy. But, sometimes that’s ok, and these books are a fun read. The first 2 books got me hooked on fantasy and reading as an 11 year old. I re-read them, and finally read the last 2 books, in 2020 as a 23 year old. Still good. Not masterpieces. But, I would say these books are at least “good” and I will forever defend them. I’m excited to pickup book 5 when it drops in a couple weeks.
I think the magic system is great. I think the books are fun in a “don’t think about this too hard” kinda way.
But they *are* derivative af. And a lot of what makes them compelling in the first place is the stuff that he lifted from other works. The immaturity of the author is also pretty apparent throughout.
That said, I’ll still check out Murtagh. Because I enjoyed the original story enough, and because I expect that a lot of things I didn’t like about his writing style as a 15-year-old will probably be much improved now that he’s got literally decades of experience.
Christopher Paolini does, imo, characters and big moments really well. The series is fun and there’s a lot of those cool moments in it! Look back at it as an adult the only real disappointment I have is how uh…inspired they are by other works of fiction. For example, 13 Forsworn (magic user on the bad guys side) vs the 13 Forsaken from WoT. I know, 13 is the spooky number, but he couldn’t of thought of something less copying? It’s similar in his Sci Fi book. Lots of “refrences” if you wanna call them that
One of my favourite magic systems ever put to paper
I’m of the opposite opinion of most people – I think the first book is my favourite. It has a solid plot, establishes the world well and packs a lot in for its length.
2 and 3 did drag a lot for me but I overall enjoyed the series when younger.
My youngest daughter had a significant reading issue when she was young. She was (is?) mildly dyslexic and struggled with reading, even See Spot Run type of books. She was held back in 2nd grade – she couldn’t connect enough of the text to make a ‘story’ and just hateded reading. She and I started reading in bed before going to bed. Her sisters were all about Harry Potter, so we started with that. As the stories unfolded, she learned the wonder of books, and began to read more on her own.
A few years later, her cousin gave her Eragon for Xmas; she inhaled it. We bought the other books in the series for her. She adored them.
When she was in JH, I was flipping through the channels and saw Eragon, I vaguely remembered the name and jumped in a half an hour into the story. It was execrable and I turned it off after a bit. But the story premise was interesting and I knew we had the series so I started the read.
Like a number here have said, the first book was obviously written by a young author looking for a voice. The later books were much improved, I don’t remember that the third installment was as interminable as some here indicate. The fourth book came out and I reread the first three to refresh, and I was very disappointed in the ending, it seemed a setup for this next tome.
All in all, a quick read, not top quality but worth the time.
I read these as a kid. Now I reread them and I can see all the books that the author gleaned from. I love it. A great ode
I still like the whole series, but then again im a sucker for dragons in general.
Agree with everything you said and also thanks for the heads up about the new book.
I will admit that Eragon was a bit derivative and amateurish, but I definitely feel like it got better with the subsequent books. Brisingr and Inheritance however, has matured and is actually a very good read.
It got pretty dark, without going full Game of Thrones, and very repeatable. It’s definitely no LOTR, but Brisingr is one of my favourite fun read. If anything, Paolini knows how to pull big scenes together with a big payoff.
I loved them as a teenager! Eragon is one if the things that got me into writting, seeing someone my age (at the time) have a published book was a huge motivator.
I can’t remember too much about it except LOVING it when I read it at age 12.
>It is very obvious to me that the first book, Eragon, would never have been published and marketed if the author’s parents didn’t own a publishing company.
The author’s parents formed their own LLC to self publish. That isn’t the same as having your parents own a publishing company.
I really enjoyed these books. I’ve heard them called derivative a few times, but so what? The core concept is interesting, the characters are likable and the plot moves along at a nice pace. These books do so many things well. I think judging the series by its inspirations is just a knee jerk reaction to its popularity.
if its the first fantasy youve read – which was the case for many kids when it released – its probably pretty good. For anyone who was already into the genre it was extremely derivative and borrowed so much from other series – ex. wheel of time, belgariad, d&d books, etc – that it felt very low effort. These mediocre books were incredibly hyped at the time with huge marketing and had tons of focus on Paolini being a kid, which tbf was very newsworthy. But combine the hype with an average at best series and you get a reputation for being very overrated
Being a kid, Eragon was the coolest. Riding on Dragon’s casting magic! That was awesome.
Being an adult, sorry Eragon, you don’t have anything on Roran. My boy the farmer worked up to being a literal war hero because he had a wife he wanted to protect. Freaking awesome.