The rating of zero stars is on purpose.

This is one of the worst books I have read in a long time. If you search hard, between the covers of this book you may find an original idea. He ripped off ideas from Anne McCaffery, Jane Yolen, Tolkien, etc. He just had the happy coincidence of writing his book McCaffery and Yolen have faded into obscurity.

I have never seen a book published with so many editorial errors. He had poor sentence structure. He used so many words in the wrong context that it was obvious he wrote it with a thesaurus in hand so he could insert synonyms without full knowledge of their connotations.

His characters changed to fit the situation, especially his main character. He did not know how to depict the feelings and motives of his characters, so he had to go to great lengths to inform as to what they were thinking.

His book was only held together by its plot, and its plot only survived if there was a fight every chapter.

Well, I could go on like this for forever, but I should say a few positive words as well. He started writing this book when he was in high school. From that perspective, I have to say it is a great achievement. I certainly never wrote a bestseller in high school.

However, his publishers, I think are regretting it. The second book was very different. It was a more adult style, he had a better idea of how his characters would react to situations, and it was much less action-oriented. Unfortunately, it was also boring. How often have you heard someone get excited about Eldest?

I think the mistake here is not Paolini's. I think it was his publishers. They should have waited until he was finished with all three books and then edited them for consistent writing style. Or even better, they should have kept him to a single book and then let him write his trilogy after he had matured as a writer.

There is a bigger problem highlighted here: bestsellers are not made by a good book. Bestsellers are made by a publicity campaign. If Eragon had been put on the shelf the same as every other kid's fantasy, I'm not sure it would have received any more notice than the others. It probably would have been better for the publishers, the movie-makers, and - most of all - a young man who shouldn't have to put up with the pressure of having to write the third book in a bestselling trilogy that is going to have at least one less purchaser. I'm going to save my money and check it out of the library.