I didn't want to do a complete before/after posting on Eragon for various reasons, one of them being that I never got around to reading the 2 other books in the trilogy, and I believe that a book that is part of a trilogy should be considered in the context of its companion books. Nevertheless, I wanted to say a few words about this novel that flared up in popularity a few years ago, and then virtually disappeared.
From a completely objective point of view, it's hard to find that much praise for the novel Eragon, which would perhaps be better classified as a long bit of fanfiction combining Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings, with a little Harry Potter thrown in. The plot should sound very familiar: Eragon, a Luke Skywalker/Frodo Baggins/Harry Potter combo, is suddenly taken from his safe but boring life with his uncle Garrow, an Uncle Owen type, in Carvahall, a Tatooine/Shire combo, and is plunged into a far more exciting world when he discovers the egg of a powerful blue dragon named Saphira. During the adventure on which he consequently embarks, Eragon is mentored by Brom, a Ben Kenobi/Gandalf combo, befriends Murtagh, a Han Solo/Aragorn combo, and falls in love with Arya, a Princess Leia/Arwen combo. Eragon learns the ways of the Jedi-like Dragon Riders and fights with baddies, namely "the Empire" (no joke). The writing quality is passable, but punctuated at times with rather cheesy, awkward phrases such as "Not selling to me would be a very bad idea" (p. 20).
Despite all this, however, I can't help but have a soft spot in my heart for Eragon. Perhaps it's because the author, Christopher Paolini, wrote the novel when he was only 16 years old--and when I was 16, my life too could pretty much be described by two phrases: The Lord of the Rings books and movies, and Star Wars 4,5, and 6. I can't entirely hate Eragon, because it is just the kind of novel I would have like to have written. When I was 16, I visualized countless versions of Star Wars Episode 7, many of them starring myself as Hannah, the angsty teenage daughter of Han and Leia, who yearned to accomplish heroic deeds but was constantly frusterated by her apparent lack of Jedi powers. My old laptop is filled with Word files of unfinished LOTR-like stories, all beginning with things like, "Along the narrow, icy mountain pass, a dark-haired traveler was walking along" and "In the ancestral hall of the ancient castle, the young prince lifted his father's sword for the very first time." I ranted about the degredation of the newer 1,2,3 SW episodes and obsessively analyzed LOTR movie-book continuity. I dressed up as a Jedi for Halloween and yes, I wore a replica of The One Ring on a chain around my neck. I had a pretty boring adolescence in some ways, but these two trilogies were a steady source of excitement for me, and at times, even a source of purpose as they caused me to ponder things like heroism, sacrifice, redemption, and the battle between good and evil.
Today, with a few years of cynicism between me and my teenage self, I have to confess that I am no longer such a devoted fan of LOTR and SW as I once was. It's not that anything happened to make me dislike the trilogies; but things happened to get in the way and crowd them out. Not all of it was bad; for instance, I now enjoy a much broader range of fandom, including such various things as detective novels, Jane Austen, and film noir. However, the single-minded devotion I felt towards those trilogies is something I don't think I can ever have again. But I hope that one day, when I am much older, I'll take out my old DVDs (if they're even using DVDs by then) and watch both sets all the way through, marathon-style. I hope that then, I'll still remember what it was like to be 16, when the meaning of life could be summed up by a cute guy wielding a sword or a light saber (or even a blaster--because Han Solo was DEFINITELY the best-looking guy in either trilogy--sorry Orlando-Bloom-devotees). And I hope the same remembrance comes true for Christopher Paolini (minus the Han Solo thing). Sure, a 40-year-old Christopher may cringe upon re-reading Eragon. But ultimately, his novel contains an innocence that should be treasured, because it only comes once in a lifetime.
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