Englischsprachige Literatur

Paolini Christopher

Eragon

Knopf, New York 2003

Galbraith3

 Paolini began writing this fantasy story at the age of 15 and found a publisher at 18. So this is the work of a really precocious talent and this reader here shows her reverence. I´m sure Paolini grew up with “Lord of the Rings”, and Tolkien is his shining model. He invents a similar world with similar characters and names. His hero Eragon (sic!) is a 15-year-old orphan and we see his fantastic world through his eyes.  He is adopted by a dragon hatchling, whom he names Saphira and of course he has to start his great quest just like any Hobbit. But Eragon has more in common with Bastian Balthasar Bux of Michael Ende´s “The neverending story”, although I seriously doubt Paolini has ever read it. And that´s the charm of his book: He develops his story just as if no other author ever had written that same story before him. In “Old Europe” this would be totally unthinkable.
And with all his shortcomings Eragon/Christopher is such a likeable fellow that the reader is quite sad when the story ends. Luckily there is already an instalment.