The Inheritance series is an interesting story. Really very nice and unique in its own way, despite its world practically being a rip-off of Tolkien's Middle Earth. However, I didn't connect to it on any deep level, and that just might be my own fault. 
 The story's great in its portrayal of dragons. They are highly intelligent beings, not beasts. The essence of the story, the power struggle, the mad king, the dictatorship and the rebellion is anything but new, but the new aspects Paolini adds are really good. His addition of "real names" through the ancient language, I loved. This twist of how magic is in everything, of how one can control something if one only knew its name - sort of hearkening back to Rumpelstiltskin - is just what this story needed to take it from "meh" to "good". 
 BUT I just didn't get attached at any given point. Sorry. Again the story's great. It just might be my fault that I couldn't connect. I had a problem swallowing the pill that Eragon was just 15 and then turns 16 in the middle of this book. And then it just kept going backwards from there on for me. He seems to be some outstanding boy. He becomes the "best swordsman" in like less than 3 months, and beats Brom who turns out to be one of the most powerful Riders, 150 years old or something, and killed him 2 or 3 Foresworn. 
 Which also brings me to the problem I have with the timeline. Everything seems to be inflated and the time frames seems to be shrunk to a crazy extent. Eragon and Saphira's TORTUROUS journey through the dreaded Hadarac desert is done in, what, 7 days? We hear so much about how bad it is, how scary it is, how they are terrified of passing it because no one has ever done it, or something. 
 I think I just might not be into YA books, that's just it. The book's good for a younger genre of readers. Readers who haven't read so much "adult" epic fantasy that kind'a makes sense. Cause, really, this stuff shouldn't make sense, no? I mean if the writer wants the hero to become the best ever in 3 days, then who are we to say it's unbelievable, because this is fantasy after all. 
 In brief, this is not a bad book, and the story is a good one, it gets better in the second book, as well.