Eragon (The Inheritance Cycle #1, book review)

bookshelves: ya-favorites, re-read

This isn’t a new review, though it is making its Substack debut. It was originally posted to my old Goodreads profile on May 31, 2012 I hope you enjoy it.

**

Having read this originally in the summer of 2007, I wanted to re-read books I-III, in preparation for the final installment, Inheritance.

It's been a bit of a bumpy ride, to say the least. Not that I didn't enjoy Eragon, I enjoyed it immensely. For starters, I'd forgotten just how vivid and beautiful Paolini's writing really is...some of his descriptions, especially the scenery, are truly mind-blowing. And with that came a deeper respect and appreciation for his unique vision.

His characters are fairly well developed, the story is engaging (though not AS engaging as the first time around,) and there are plenty of twists and turns, along with a few stunning revelations. Even as a re-read, said revelations came as a pleasant surprise.. In fact, much of the novel shocked and delighted me in unexpected ways, as I'd forgotten a majority of it. Like almost all of my re-reads, this one was also like reading it for the first time.
Now as brilliant as his writing tends to be, I was slightly turned off by its overall simplicity, but that's completely subjective. I prefer books that challenge me in some way or another, and his writing simply doesn't do that.
Considering its simplicity, I feel I should have finished it much sooner, and I think some of that stems from just that: it's almost TOO simple.

Despite its flaws (perhaps that's too strong of a word,) the novel's conclusion left me wanting more, and I cannot wait to find out how everything unfolds. I'll definitely be moving on to the second installment, Eldest!

Rating: 4/5 stars