| The Humble Beginnings
Eragon
The Humble Beginnings:
Eragon is the first book in the Inheritance series
and the first book by Christopher Paolini. It was first self-published in June
of 2002 by Paolini International, LLC, a publishing company owned by Paolini’s
parents, in a paperback format. It originally had 472 pages. The cover featured
Saphira’s eye and was illustrated by Paolini himself and colored in Photoshop by
his sister.
Over the next year, Chris Paolini went on a tour around the
American West with his parents, allowing his book to be sold in bookstores. It
was in one such bookstore that author Carl Hiaasen’s (his
website) stepson discovered Eragon. He was so enthused with the book
that Hiaasen sent a copy to his publishers,
Alfred A. Knopf, and they decided to publish Eragon.
Under a New Publisher:
The Knopf edition was published on August 26, 2003 in a
hardcover format. The first edition was 509 pages long, and its cover featured
an illustration of Saphira by John Jude Palencar. A subsequent paperback edition
followed on April 26, 2005. The paperback was 528 pages long, and included a
tear-out bookmark featuring John Jude Palencar’s illustration of Thorn.
Eragon would go on to become a #1 New York Times
bestseller.
On August 10, 2004, a Deluxe Edition of Eragon was
released by Knopf. A number of changes were made to the text- mainly spelling
and grammar of words in the Ancient Language. Included in the Deluxe Edition was
a larger, fold out map of Alagaësia, a drawing of Zar’roc by Chris Paolini, the
first chapter of Eldest, and an expanded language guide. The Deluxe
Edition was 513 pages long.
Criticism:
Much criticism has surrounded the Inheritance Trilogy to this point, mainly due
to fantasy clichés (elves, dragons, etc…) and supposed similarity to other more
popular fantasy series such as Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Dragon Riders
of Pern. The criticism on the part of similarity is of that which can be
generally applied to most fantasy epics.
In fall of 2005, after Eldest had released, an
Entertainment Weekly columnist absolutely flayed Eragon and Eldest by giving it
a D+ rating. This enraged fans who sent in their disapproval in the form of
hate mail. All emails were left with no response from the columnist or
Entertainment Weekly. This whole situation greatly disappointed the Paolini’s,
for Christopher had been interviewed by Entertainment Weekly earlier that
month. I suppose you can say the magazine’s loyalty to those who kindly agree
to grace its pages is rather negligent.
As if to add further insult to getting a D+ rating,
Entertainment Weekly later listed Eldest as the worst book of 2005. The review
was written by the same columnist as before yet offered little reasoning behind
the decision, only buttering up the review with colorful words the general
public cannot understand and therefore take to be true.
Editorial reviews for Eragon may be found
here.
A look at the prologue for Eragon, “A Shade of
Fear,” may be found
here.
View our galleries to look at the international covers
of Eragon.
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