This book was originally released in 2003 and although it was a best seller, seems to have slipped under the radar of myself and many others on the X-Boards. It was the news that a big budget movie adaptation is incoming for 2006 that inspired me to take a trip to my local bookshop and pick up a copy. For some reason I didn’t want to like this book. I know that sounds strange, but I approached the reading of Eragon (EHR-ug-gahn) as a chore rather than a pleasure. I think primarily it was the fact that the author was only seventeen years old when he wrote this book that made me doubtful of its quality. I mean, how could a teenager produce a work to impress someone who believes that the world of fantasy literature begins and ends with JRR Tolkien? It was this prejudice that encouraged me to read the book through again after hitting page 497 to review it with a fairer perspective.

After five minutes of searching in fantasy and science fiction at my local bookshop I was steered in the direction of the children’s section by an assistant. This immediately triggered alarm bells because even Harry Potter has a spot in the adult area. Resigned to spending the next week wading through 500 small print pages of adolescent drivel I scanned the kids section, and sure enough, there amidst the Dahl and Sendak, right next to the Philip Pullman sat the first two instalments of the Inheritance trilogy.

Influences
You might think that placing Eragon in the same sentence as Lord of the Rings is unfair, but this is a book that begs comparison with that epic trilogy, borrowing freely from, adapting and subverting its themes, characters and mythologies. For example, Eragon’s world has the staple races of Middle Earth: Dwarves, Elves and Urgals (Orcs) and although this is not unusual within the genre it is surprising how closely Paolini sticks to the master’s template with regard to their individual qualities. The Elves bare an uncanny resemblance to the race described by Tolkien, although in this story their maritime manoeuvrings are reversed and they sail into, rather than from the land. The Ra’zac, shadowy servants of the evil Galbatorix who are dispatched to hunt down and destroy Eragon are more than a little similar to the Nazgul.

The book also has an obligatory map of which several locations could be easily interchangeable with those frequented by Bilbo or the Fellowship, a fabricated Elvish tongue derived from Old Norse/Icelandic and the odd wistful song.

Without looking too hard Eragon also resembles the Star Wars saga, with its main character an orphaned farmhand living with his Uncle on the hinterlands of a corrupt empire. His mentor comes in the form of a grizzled Obi-Wan-like character called Brom, who teaches him the ancient wisdom and skills of a long extinct order of warriors. These plot characteristics might be explained away by proponents of universal mythology as basic traits of all epic tales, rather than conscious intellectual burglary, but it is the existence of more specific moments like the sacking and burning of Eragon’s homestead and his training via levitating stones that suggests that Paolini has more than a passing acquaintance with that galaxy far, far away. By the time that Eragon is given a sword by his mentor and taught the Jedi mind trick you’ll probably agree with me.

Another less obvious influence is the important role that that music played in the construction of the book. Paolini would use high romantic orchestral works as inspiration, playing the music as a soundtrack to his writing and a stimulus for his creative process. I also noticed that cues from classical romantic music tinge the work in the form of allusions to the works of Grieg in chapter title and the appearance of a minor character who is actually named after that most famous Norwegian.

Upon reading the book it’s not difficult to imagine the author spinning Der Ring der Nibelungen by goose-stepping proto-Nazi Richard Wagner, the symphonic works of Sibelius or the tone poems of the German Strauss as he put pen to paper. In his online biography, Paolini relates that he wrote the climactic battle sequence to the strains of Carl Orff’s secular poetic oratorio-mime Carmina Burana (which seems strangely out of place in the company of the aforementioned musico-dramatic and broad symphonic works) and one would imagine in particular, the much abused O Fortuna! served as a score to the final carnage (I think Excalibur may be another movie that lives in his collection).

The story (spoiler free)
The ancient order of Dragonriders once kept peace amongst the peoples of Alagaesia, but now they are extinct. A rider called Galbatorix, turned insane by grief and aided by the dreaded ‘Forsworn’ hunted down and destroyed them. Now he rules the Empire as King and had forged allegiances with dark forces that now roam freely across the land, opposed only by the Varden- a mysterious coalition of races, sworn to end his reign of tyranny.

The youth Eragon lives with his Uncle and cousin on a remote farmstead, ignorant to the cloud of darkness that is descending about him. One day whilst out hunting he stumbles across an amazing hollow gemstone in the remote forests of the Spine, a wild mountain range near his home. Returning home, he is unable to sell the stone to pay for food for his family, and then startled to discover that the object is in fact an egg. When a dragon is hatched Eragon is thrust into an exciting adventure, guided by a mysterious storyteller called Brom.

The good
Without doubt, the relationship between the hero and his dragon proves to be both the highlight and emotional core of the tale. To give you the name of the Dragon or much detail about it would be to spoil you, so I’ll be vague even at the cost of journalistic cohesion. The journey that takes us from hatchling and boy to Dragon and warrior-mage is incredibly satisfying, the subtle interplay between the two handled by Paolini with a deftness that belies his age. The dragon is much more than simply a steed to its rider, functioning as an equal in their partnership and it is the spiritual bond between the two that makes their relationship so heart-warming as they both grow together through adolescence to maturity.

The history of the peoples of this world as related by Brom, their languages and cultures is fascinating, and there are some great ideas thrown in, making the storytelling and pipe smoking sessions around the campfire quite memorable.

The system of magic is also nicely handled, with its incantations based upon knowledge of an ancient language. It is through the learning and mastery of this magical tongue that Eragon accrues supernatural powers that are invaluable both on the battlefield and for the manipulation of his environment.

Paolini punishes his hero with a sadistic glee reminiscent of Raimi putting Ash through the demonic beef grinder, delighting in smashing him around and wounding him at every opportunity. It’s hard not to feel some sympathy for a character who seems to be constantly recuperating from injury or lamenting some great loss or hardship. In fact, no punches are pulled when it comes to the mutilation or dismemberment of both the good and evil and the battles are pleasingly brutal with body parts flying in all directions.

The bad
The peripheral characters introduced at the start of the book feel a little undeveloped. More critically, the central mentor figure Brom, while painted as you would expect- a crotchety old man who is not to be trifled with, is not actually very likable, lacking the warmth, sparkle and charm of say a Gandalf or Obi-Wan.

Indicative of the author’s youth, the use of language occasionally lapses from the genre staple of classical English into modern slang that feels wrong in the context of the setting.

Paolini’s writing is a little inelegant at times and his attempts to paint the land of Alagaesia in the grand descriptive manner of Tolkien can feel a little forced, with no real sense of geographical cohesion as the heroes pass from one spectacular location to the next. However, his writing does improve as the story develops and perhaps some might prefer his direct style to the elegant but sometimes verbose manner of the master.

The opening chapter, which describes how the dragon egg came to be in the Spine is exciting but feels unpolished, at times lapsing into the kind of hurried excitable prose that you would come to expect from someone so young.

Summary
I still don’t know if this is a children’s book, cos Pete’s dragon this ain’t. A pile of corpses with a spear skewered baby on top or torture by flesh eating potion is likely to disturb the very young and the weight of pages is likely to put off those with a short attention span. This is probably best suited to mid to late teens or fans of fantasy in the Tolkien mold, and to that potential audience I would recommend it without reservation. It’s no Lord of the Rings or even The Hobbit for that matter, but it is a well plotted, exciting and nicely written book that provides ample entertainment in a very familiar setting (it also has lots of walking around and eating loaves).

What Paolini does successfully manage to do is leave you wanting more. Although a weighty read, Eragon is really only an introduction to the world of Alagaesia and its inhabitants and leaves you with several key points tantalizingly unanswered.

So, this might almost be ‘LOTR EU’ but the Inheritance trilogy has something weighing heavily in its favor- unlike Tolkien’s world, this one is not entombed with its creator. Paolini perhaps has another six decades of writing within him (should be wish), so therefore Alagaesia is dynamic and alive, with the concluding instalment in the trilogy not yet completed. Paolini will improve his writing skills with age, unless of course he is some early peaking enfant terrible in the Mendelssohn mold. To join the author in plundering the classics for inspiration, reviews of his second book, Eldest suggest that Eragon is not an ‘Octet’ (in the instance of the German composer a perfect early work that is impossible to eclipse), but the first work in a career that is destined for greatness. And finally, if you do get to read Eragon, ask yourself this- could a seventeen year old Tolkien have done any better?

Eragon the movie
For information on the film adaptation please read this news item.

Posted by Elgar in Reviews • Add to del.icio.us Add to Digg