The author is well known to readers who enjoy stories by J.R.R. Tolkien, David Eddings, Andre Norton, Terri Brooks, and Philip Pullman. Incidentally, these authors are also influencers of Paolini’s works.
Here are the Christopher Paolini books in order for his popular series and the rest of the novels he wrote so far, including his first science-fiction novel To Sleep in a Sea of Stars published September 2020.
New Christopher Paolini Book
The Inheritance Cycle Series
- Eragon (Inheritance Cycle #1), 2002
- Eldest (Inheritance Cycle #2), 2005
- Brisingr (Inheritance Cycle#3), 2008
- Inheritance (Inheritance Cycle #4), 2011
Tales from Alagaësia
- The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm (tales of Alagaësia #1), 2018
Other Christopher Paolini Books
Books by Other Authors About Eragon
- Mythic Vision: The Making of Eragon by Mark Cotta Vaz, 2006
- The Ultimate Unauthorized Eragon Guide by Lois H Gresh, 2006
- Secrets of the Dragon Riders by James A Owen, 2010
Christopher Paolini Biography
Christopher Paolini was born in 1986 in Los Angeles, California, and he grew up in the area of Paradise Valley, Montana, where he was home-schooled by his mom, a trained Montessori teacher. At the age of 15, he graduated from high school via correspondence courses from the American School of Correspondence in Lansing, Illinois.
After he graduated from high school, he began working on Eragon, his debut novel, at the very young age of 15. In an interview he notes that he got the inspiration for this particular book involving dragons from reading earlier on Jeremy Thatcher Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville, after which he started thinking about dragon eggs and asking himself all sorts of questions.
Growing up, however, he didn’t really intend to become a writer. What he wanted to do most of all was fighting monsters while flying dragons and have adventures. But as these were things he couldn’t do, he settled on writing stories about them.
The the first Christopher Paolini book was published in 2002 by Christopher’s parent’s publishing house, Paolini International LLC 4 years later. In order to promote his book and make it visible across the country, he and his family (parents and sister) started an aggressive campaign where he toured close over 135 schools and libraries, as well as bookstores across the western half of the U.S., where he would talk about writing.
When the same year, the stepson of the popular author Carl Hiaasen saw the book and read it, he liked it so much that he mentioned it to his father, who would recommend it to his publisher, Alfred A. Knopf. Soon, Knopf bought the entire Inheritance series, which currently includes four books. The second release of his book make Christopher Paolini a bestselling author at the young age of 19.
Eragon was also made into a movie by Fox 2000, which, unfortunately, was not well received by critics, and basically lost money, grossing less than its budget. The movie itself sparked the creation of an RPG game in 2006.
So far, The Inheritance Cycle, which ended with Inheritance, printed in 2011, has sold over 35 million copies. The last book in the series translated into numerous languages and published around the world in over 50 countries. Overall, all 4 Christopher Paolini books in the series have been bestsellers on the charts of The New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly.
While currently the latest Christopher Paolini book is also set in the world of Alagaësia, the author has mentioned several times that he is working on a science-fiction novel, after which he will, probably, once again return to the world of Alagaësia, even though the main series is finished.
As an interesting note, in 2011 the Guinness World Records has added an entry in their books for Christopher Paolini being the youngest author of a bestselling book series.
As the author is also an artist, he did interior all the illustrations for the Inheritance books.
For newcomers to the Inheritance series, I strongly suggest reading the Christopher Paolini books in order. There is so much world building across the entire series, with main and secondary characters growing and maturing (and even dying), with plots that are picked up in next books, that reading them out of order will leave you poorer on the big-picture experience. While they are quite long (especially Inheritance is around 800-pages long), the Eragon books make for some darn great reading if you are a fan of epic fantasy stories.
Except for his Eragon books, Christopher Paolini has also announced that he is writing his first science-fiction novel to be titled To Sleep in a Sea of Starsand published September 2020.
Currently, Christopher Paolini lives in Paradise Valley with his family, where he works on his next – probably not Eragon-related – next book.
Who is Eragon?
Eragon, the son of Brom and Selena, is a 15-year-old farm boy growing up on his uncles farm, who comes across a strange stone in the mountains while traversing the Spire. He tries to use it as payment to a butcher as he doesn’t know the value of the stone, but soon the stone turns out to be a dragon egg, from which a dragon named Saphira soon hatches.
Eragon keeps the dragon hidden and raises him away from other people until two dark Ra’zac come to town looking for said dragon. Saphira and Eragon leave to escape, and they hide in the forest.
As such, Eragon became the first dragon rider in a 100 years. Later, he was trained by Brom and Oromis. He became a highly skilled swordsman and a magician, he became the champion of the Varden and their cause, who opposed the rule of King Galbatorix and his Empire.
At its core, Eragon is a coming-of-age archetypal hero story set in a world where elves and dragons exist, in Alagaësia.
Praise for Christopher Paolini Books
A winner … tip of the hat to young master Paolini (Anne McCaffrey)
A compelling and action-filled adventure … a galloping good example of its genre (Daily Telegraph)
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)
An authentic work of great talent . . . I found myself dreaming about it at night, and reaching for it as soon as I woke. (Liz Rosenberg)
Will appeal to the legions of readers who have been captivated by the Lord of the Rings trilogy. (School Library Journal)
Paolini is a spellbinding fantasy writer. (The Boston Globe)
Christopher Paolini make[s] literary magic with his precocious debut. (People)
References
- Christopher Paolini author website
- Christopher Paoloni announces first sci-fi novel
- Author entry in the Guinness World Records
Books Reading Order » Fantasy Authors »
i love the books
Persuaded by my daughter to read eragon reluctantly. After reading the first few chapters I was hooked. Absolutely love everything, the way the writer captured my imagination,I felt I was there. Simply the best author. And now excited to be reading murtagh.
I picked up Eragon at a church book sale. I could not put it down, and then got the remaining 3 books in the Inheritance cycle from the local library. I expect I will want to re-read them many times, so plan to purchase the rest of the books. I am a senior citizen and have re-read Tolkien’s trilogy many times, but found the Eragon books even deeper and more interesting. There is more development of other characters, and while the author owes a lot to Lord of the Rings, he delves into personalities, and his examination of what it means to be a hero with special skills and the moral burdens it carries have intrigued me greatly. Eragon is troubled by what he has to do: the killing, the destruction of people and property, but if you are going to overthrow an evil tyrant, what choices do you have? Along the way he addresses the challenge of accepting former enemies as allies. While Lord of the Rings is pretty clear cut: we know who the bad guys and good guys are and they behave consistently. Eragon questions his mentors, his parentage, and those to whom he has sworn fealty. What are their motives? Can they be trusted? Some of the passages I’ve read have impressed and moved me deeply. If he is writing for young people, then he is slipping in some serious, thought-provoking questions about what it means to be someone of whom people have high expectations, and to have conflicting loyalties: to try to maintain fair and just standards, to be honest with himself and others in the midst of violence and chaos. The same is true of many other characters: they are very human. I can not help comparing this to movies of comic book heroes: slam, bang, boom, kill anyone who is the bad guy–the nice, simple, obvious quick fix. I wonder if as a society, we’ve absorbed this attitude: just wipe the villains out. Eragon has to do this, too, but he struggles with the implications and effects of his actions, the nightmares he has, the after effects of doing violence in the name of good. For me, there are deeper layers in the Inheritance books which make them worth re-reading and to which serious thought can and should be given.
Sadly disappointed in this author. He’s writing fiction for young people and his character is only 15 years old getting drunk, Etc shame on you for having such a low expectation of teenagers and encouraging such stupid Behavior the author