Product Description

When Eragon finds a polished stone in the forest, he thinks it is the lucky discovery of a poor farm boy. But when the stone brings a dragon hatchling, Eragon soon realizes he has stumbled upon a legacy nearly as old as the Empire itself. Overnight his simple life is shattered and he is thrust into a perilous new world of destiny, magic and power. With only an ancient sword and the advice of an old storyteller for guidance, he and the fledgling dragon must navigate the dangerous terrain and dark enemies of an Empire ruled by a king whose evil knows no bounds. Can Eragon take up the mantle of the legendary Dragon Riders? The fate of the Empire may rest in his hands...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #141520 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-04
• Released on: 2005-11-01
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 8
• Binding: Audio CD

Review
"'A compelling and action-filled adventure... a galloping good example of its genre' - Daily Telegraph; 'This book is an achievement. Readers... will be transported' - Sunday Times; 'A portrayal of true affection between boy and dragon - Paolini writes like someone gripped by his own story' - Guardian; 'A stirring fantasy of epic proportions' - The Bookseller; Eragon is a wonderful book if you like the work of authors such as JR Tolkien...a truly supernatural novel. - Basingstoke & North Hants Gazette; It's a story of mystery, excitement and magic.... (also featured in Haverhill Echo). - Bury Free Press; This is an action-packed fantasy adventure that will appeal to both adults and younger readers. - Colchester Evening Gazette; Exciting tale. - Junior News and Mail"

Synopsis
When Eragon finds a polished stone in the forest, he thinks it is the lucky discovery of a poor farm boy. But when the stone brings a dragon hatchling, Eragon soon realizes he has stumbled upon a legacy nearly as old as the Empire itself. Overnight his simple life is shattered and he is thrust into a perilous new world of destiny, magic and power. With only an ancient sword and the advice of an old storyteller for guidance, he and the fledgling dragon must navigate the dangerous terrain and dark enemies of an Empire ruled by a king whose evil knows no bounds. Can Eragon take up the mantle of the legendary Dragon Riders? The fate of the Empire may rest in his hands...

From the Back Cover
One boy . . . One dragon . . . A world of adventure.
When Eragon finds a polished blue stone in the forest, he thinks it is the lucky discovery of a poor farm boy. But when the stone brings a dragon hatchling, Eragon soon realizes he has stumbled upon a legacy nearly as old as the Empire itself. Overnight his simple life is shattered, and he is thrust into a perilous new world of destiny, magic and power. Can Eragon take up the mantle of the legendary Dragon Riders? The fate of the Empire may rest in his hands . . .
Christopher Paolini's abiding love of fantasy and science fiction inspired him to begin writing his debut novel, Eragon, when he graduated from high school at fifteen. Now twenty-one, he lives with his family in Montana, USA and has written the second novel in the Inheritance trilogy, Eldest.
Kerry Shale's theatre credits include His Girl Friday (National Theatre). Recent TV: Love Soup. Films include The Jacket. Audiobooks include Life of Pi (Male Performer of the Year, APA Awards). He has won three Sony Awards for radio acting and writing.

Customer Reviews

Not as good as the book I'm afraid
Whilst Kerry Shale does get some of the voices right - by which I mean of course as I imagine them to be - too many others sound like pantomime characters - heavily accented and exaggerated. However, this is not the biggest failing of the audio CD. What is not obvious is that this is an abridged version of the book. As such a lot of chapters have been left out including some of the most exciting ones. If you have not read the book you are being shortchanged, if you have you are in for disappointment. A shame all in all. Brian Birch

poor version of a great book
I love the book Eragon, I think its an absolutely fabulous story, and I highly recommend the book and its sequel, Eldest to anyone, but I have to say that the narration of this audio book is not very good at all. Despite wining an award for other work that he has done, in this recording, Kerry Shale seems not to be able distinguish voices and characters in any other way than by giving them strongly defined accents, which ends up with Roran sounding like a hillbilly, Ajihad and his daughter Nasuada have some sort of cross between Indian and welsh, and many of the other characters have charicatured exaggerated accents that I find spoil a great story. I also think that too much of the Saphira/Eragon interaction has been edited, reducing Saphira's influence and her presence in the book, as well as the bond between Saphira and Eragon, although this maybe because in an attempt to show the telepathic communication between Saphira and Eragon, the narrator has made Saphira's voice too ethereal and washed out most of the time, so she loses a lot of her humour and sharp-wittedness. I don't like giving a bad review to Eragon, but as I said, this is not a criticism of the book or the story, but of this audio version and Kerry Shale's narration of it.

Wow!
As soon as the story starts, and Eragon finds a blue stone in the forest, you are sucked into the book, feeling all of Eragon's feelings through the passionate words that Christopher Paolini uses. As the story continues, every little bit of the story is explained, and you keep thinking, 'oh right! I should have thought of that!' I don't know where Christopher Paolini got all his ideas from, but they are excellant!