I strongly resent the 2 ratings of 1 on the first page. For one the comment that Nasuada and Roran do not matter to the story is completely crazy. The story shouldn't just be about Eragon and Saphira, that would get incredibly boring. The views of other characters is important, compelling and have to do with the storyline. If Chris had not put in either story the book would have been completely different. Having Roran suddenly float down the river on the near-to-last page would have been lame, and for readers to understand what had happened to him there would have had to be a 50 page ending of him telling the story. I cant grasp why anyone would want a 600 page book about 2 characters, although for book one, 1 character was appropriate. The saying of parts of a book are unimportant means you could say Elva was also unimportant, but she is really a key part of the book. I enjoyed this book and have read it many times. One of my favorite to date. I recommend it
-Brad