As some people have said, it goes along with the whole, humble farm boy one day, powerful knight/sorcerer/jedi the next, and yes, its based on the humans, elfs, dwarves, dragons, magic cliche.
BUT, it does it so well! In my opinion it is one of the best versions of it since Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.
and to the best of my knowledge the mental link between dragons and riders is completely original, so are the concept of Eldunari, the dragons soul.
So anyone who calls the inheritance cycle completely unoriginal, you obviously haven't read the books.
[Editor's note: A mental link between dragons and riders is not a new concept. For example, Anne McCaffrey's Pern series].