Reading Level: Young Adult

At the moment, two strains of a particular genre dominate children's publishing for the 9-and-up crowd. That genre is fantasy and the strains are influenced by that boy wizard from England and a certain Hobbit from Middle Earth.

Fans of what is called "high fantasy," as epitomized by the Lord of the Rings trilogy, will form the core audience for Christopher Paolini's new "Inheritance" trilogy. While Eragon does not have the epic scale of LOTR, it compares favorably to LOTR in several ways. In writing a single-focus story with the title character Eragon in every scene, Paolini puts an equal emphasis on character and plot development, often delving into Eragon's thoughts. But like Tolkien, he takes his time to create a vividly real mythical world and a very human protagonist.

I recommend this book not only to fantasy fans, but also to those who might be new to the genre, or who think they don't like it. This books is less about elves and dragons and quests, than it is about character. And, if prophecies are to be believed, this may develop into one heckuva romance as well.

I recommend this book to any young person interested in becoming a writer, for the author began the book when he was just fifteen and was nineteen when it was published. The writing is technically much better written than many adult authors, which makes the young author's acknowledgements an important part of appreciating his effort.

Eragon's one negative is actually another similarity to LOTR: an unsatisfying end to book one, which may, suggest the trilogy may be like LOTR, one long, continuous story rather than three standalone books.

— KB SHAW, Publisher, Spectrum - Member SCBWI