Eldest by Christopher Paolini

"Suffused with purple prose and faux-archaic language, this patchwork of dialogue, characters and concepts pulled whole cloth from the fantasy canon holds together remarkably well. Dramatic tension is maintained through the interweaving of Eragon's and Roran's adventures, though too much time is spent on the details of Eragon's training. Derivative but exciting."

-Kirkus Reviews

"Paolini's lush writing and close attention to detail make this epic flow effortlessly."

-KLIATT

"Paolini's fluid writing style, abundance of compelling characters, and utilization of age-transcendent themes like honor, friendship, responsibility, and forgiveness, will make this saga a huge hit with teachers and librarians, as well as lovers of dragon-powered fantasy à la Anne McCaffrey and Ursula K. Le Guin. The 650-plus pages of Tolkienesque adventure will almost certainly leave readers salivating for the third and final installment.

-Barnes and Nobles, Paul Goat Allen

Christopher Paolini was born on November 17, 1983 in Southern California. He has lived most of his life in Paradise Valley, Montana with his parents and younger sister, Angela. As a child, he often wrote short stories and poems, made frequent trips to the library, and read widely. The idea of Eragon began as the daydreams of a teen. Christopher's love for the magic of stories led him to craft a novel that he would enjoy reading. The project began as a hobby, a personal challenge; he never intended it to be published. All the characters in Eragon are from Christopher's imagination except Angela the herbalist, who is loosely based on his sister. Christopher was fifteen when he wrote the first draft of Eragon. He took a second year to revise the book and then gave it to his parents to read. The family decided to self-publish the book and spent a third year preparing the manuscript for publication: copyediting, proofreading, designing a cover, typesetting the manuscript, and creating marketing materials. During this time Christopher drew the map for Eragon, as well as the dragon eye for the book cover (that now appears inside the Knopf hardcover edition). The manuscript was sent to press and the first books arrived in November 2001. The Paolini family spent the next year promoting the book at libraries, bookstores, and schools in 2002 and early 2003. In summer 2002, author Carl Hiaasen, whose stepson read a copy of the self-published book while on vacation in Montana, brought Eragon to the attention of his publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, which is part of Random House. Knopf published Eragon in August 2003. Eldest, which continues the adventures of Eragon and the dragon Saphira was published in August 2005, and in December 2006, Fox 2000 released their movie adaptation of Eragon in theaters around the world.

Taken from: http://www.amazon.com/Christopher-Paolini/e/B001IGLLNK/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1360689421&sr=8-2-ent