Not My Type of Book

Eragon
By Christopher Paolini


        BOOM! A pillar to the prison has fallen. Eragon on the back of Saphira screams to keep on going. Saphira shoots a fireball at the enemy urgals and they go flying. An urgal gets in swinging distance of Eragon and strikes with a quick jab of a dagger to Eragon's side. Eragon fires back with a blast of magic in the urgals direction killing it on impact. Eragon is wounded ,but determined and will not surrender. So, he keeps pushing deeper into the prison with each minute he's in there more people die. Eventually the whole prison is just a bloodbath and it'd seemed like this was all a pointless task. But, then a glimmer of hope appeared. In a cell in the far back of the hall seemed to be what Eragon was looking for. A small, delicate, unharmed,but frightened elf named Arya. Eragon grabs her by the waist and him and Saphira hightail it out of there. Hundreds dead all over an elf.

    That was just my take on one of the more exciting scenes in the book titled Eragon by Christopher Paolini. Christopher does an excellent job of writing a great novel for all ages. In this novel there is a poor, skinny, pale,and dark eyed boy named Eragon. He is our protanginist and a very good one at that. Eragon is very young, "Eragon was fifteen, less than a year from manhood."(pg 6) He was born into a poor village in Algaëisa with his uncle and cousin. Eragons life was pretty bland and simple until he heard a loud explosion in the woods. Eragon being the curious boy he is went to investigate and he found a crystal blue shiny stone that glimmered in the moonlight in the middle of the explosion crater. Thinking he could sell the stone for money he takes it and puts in his room. After that, he learns that he won't get any money for that stone. However, shortly after that " Suddenly a crack appeared on the stone. Then another and another... Eragon recoiled in shock. Standing in front of him, licking off the membrane that encased it,was a dragon."(pg 37) That's right a dragon hatched from the stone. Eragon touches the dragon ,and a blast of lighting happens and Eragon is left with a white streak on his hand. Eragon eventually becomes close with the dragon as through touching it he gained the skill to telepathically talking to it. He names the dragon Saphira. Eragon and Saphira become great friends as Saphira realizes who Eragon is and understands his story. Soon after this, two sketchy men come into town looking for Eragon. Since he just got Saphira he assumed it had something to do with that. So Eragon flies away on Saphira's back. Eragon comes back the next day to find the whole village levels and everyone in the village is dead. He soon learns that the king did this to try and kill Eragon and Saphira because they are part of an exclusive group of people Called the dragon riders. The dragon riders are legends and known for being very powerful ,so the king is scared and wants to kill all of them. So, Eragon and Saphira have to go on adventures to try avoid and fight the evils that are trying to kill them. And that is pretty much the plot of the story.

     So, now onto the actual review of the book. I'm going to say this now I hate this book. I only still have this book because I'm very lazy and I don't want to get up and go to the library. But, anyways the book takes so long to get going. I swear the first 100 pages are just about Eragon and his problems in his stupid town. Don't get me wrong Eragon is a great character and all ,but one character can't carry a whole book. In the first 100 pages I almost fell asleep reading it.All It talked about was farming and village life. I couldnt stand it. However, I have to recogonize that the character development in these pages were immense. In the book I saw Eragon go from a poor little farm boy who I had felt bad for him in pity to a strong intelligent man who it's impossible to root against. However, I honestly couldn't care less for character development. I'm more of an action kinda of guy than anything else ,and this section lacked that so that's why I didn't like it that much.

   I've currently read roughly three quarters of the book ,and the action has defiently picked up ,but I'm still not a fan. The next section was nowhere as bad as the first ,but I think it's the overall idea of the book I don't like. I don't like the whole fantasy genre being completely honest. When I read these types of books I can't get any sense of realism from it,and that is just such a turnoff for me. I want to feel like I could be in the book ,but for Eragon I couldn't feel that and that's probably because of the dragons and magics stuff  like those are just not real. However, Eragons and Saphiras characters are very indearing and perfectly played out. Eragon is just so likable and Saphira is just so wise it's impossible not to like. And the king is just a very hateable character ,so I want Eragon to win. The plot is also pretty good I have no complaints about that besides it started too slow. However, in the end the bad our ways the good ,so id give the book an overall thumbs down.

   I feel a lot of people would like this book. I think people who love fantasy genre would love this because it has a a lot of the elements that makes fantasies what they are. Like mythical animals/people ,talking animals ,and magical stuff. I wouldn't recommend this book to people who like action over characters and plot like me, but if you're the opposite go for it. Lastly I'd recommend this book for everyone because it's different. I've never read a book like this before and that is good. It has had a great story so far and it's different than most books I've read ,so I would recommend it for everyone because it never hurts to try something new.

-Jake Gustafson