Christopher Paolini: Eragon--Book 1 Inheritance Cycle

Book one of Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle, Eragon, came out when I was about thirteen or fourteen.  Funny enough, this book and Paolini’s young age at publishing fueled my intense desires to be an author.  It was an incredible book to me at the time.  As I read it now, I realize that it was definitely written by a teenage boy working on a debut.  Here are a couple of big signs.  1. Eragon is pretty short; less than 500 pages (books one, two, and three of Harry Potter also fit into this category).  2. The chapters are very short; usually only a couple of pages each.  3. The diction and voice are young.  As you proceed through the Cycle, it becomes obvious that Paolini’s style has matured, especially between Eragon and Eldest.  Is this a bad thing? No, absolutely not.  If the change had happened in the middle of either of these books, it probably would have been.  However, the jump in style in some ways matures as Eragon himself does between the first and second book.  It’s as Eragon admits to himself several times; he is not the same boy that left Palancar Valley at the beginning of book one.

To address the idea of the short chapter, I pull from my own experience.  I notice in my early writing, my chapters seemed to be short; much shorter than I really wanted them.  I was unwilling to combine chapters because the breaks seemed obvious enough.  However, in many cases, chapter breaks come at places where one is not necessarily needed.  This is something that is completely a matter of opinion.  However, at many points throughout the series, Paolini chooses to break chapters in places that don’t always make as much sense to the readers as they do to the author.  An example of this in Eragon is the break between chapters one and two.  Many more experienced authors would not have broken the chapter here simply because he was passing some amount of time.  I myself might have simply started a new paragraph and gone on.

While acknowledging some weaknesses in Eragon, we must acknowledge that it has some definite strengths.  Paolini is able to keep his plot moving rather swiftly, making Eragon intriguing and attention-grabbing.  He is able to set up later plot lines and maintain them throughout the series.  Things such as the Vault of Souls and the Menoa Tree becomes very prominent objects in later installments.  It’s important that revelations and places like these carry on through the books and are addressed; otherwise, readers will realize that the author didn’t tie up loose ends.

The pacing in this book is well done.  The plot carries you forward, but not so quickly that you become overwhelmed by events.  He does cram quite a few things in together at times, though.  For example Dras-Leona, capture by the Ra’zac, Brom’s death, the meeting of Murtagh, and Gil’ead all happen right together without much a break.  In some ways, it is very overwhelming to readers.  Paolini, in forcing Eragon to endure these events in rapid succession, was sure to show that events were taking their toll on the characters as well.  If the protagonist went from event to event without tiring, picking up injuries, or growing frustrated with events, the plot would become unbelievable.  Even fantasy has to be believable.

The book ends in a good spot.  Paolini stops his narration in a decent spot considering how Eldest starts.  It concludes reasonably.  Of course, in a book expecting sequels, there are questions still to be answered.  The ending is satisfying to a point but leaves you wanting to read the next book.  That alone in a series is very important, otherwise, readers won’t follow into the next book.  Overall, Eragon remains one of my favorite books, though not my favorite in the series.