I was really excited to read this book at first. Dragons and magic and lots of action! Everything a fantasy reader hopes for!
But then I actually started to read it. The writing was very verbose and longwinded, with lots of unnecessary descriptions (names of horses owned by Eragon's uncle who are never heard from again) and scenes (the part where Eragon and Saphira go swimming.) The names of characters have uncanny resebleances to LotR and the plotline is Star Wars. When I challenge someone to give me ONE original idea from Eragon, they can't. Homage and tribute is one thing, but outright theft is another. To borrow just one idea is one thing, but to steal the entire plotline without acknowledging it is a whole other thing.
I never quite connected with the characters, and felt that lots of things that the characters do are pointless things that Paolini wanted to do.