Christopher Paolini

Christopher Paolini is an American author who published his debut fantasy novel Eragon at fifteen, becoming one of the youngest published bestselling authors in history and launching the Inheritance Cycle.

Christopher Paolini began writing Eragon at fifteen, homeschooled in Montana, and his parents — founders of a small publishing house — initially published it themselves in 2002. The family toured bookstores and schools promoting it; the author wore a Renaissance-style costume. When author Carl Hiaasen encountered a copy and recommended it to his publisher, Alfred A. Knopf picked it up and published the revised edition in 2003. Eragon became a bestseller and Paolini became, at that point, one of the youngest authors ever to publish a bestselling novel.

Eragon follows Eragon, a farmboy in a mythical land called Alagaësia, who discovers a dragon egg, bonds with the dragon Saphira, and becomes a Dragon Rider — one of a once-great order that has been nearly destroyed by an evil king. The novel’s debts to Tolkien, Anne McCaffrey, and Star Wars are obvious and acknowledged; Paolini was drawing on the fantasy literature he had consumed voraciously as a homeschooled reader. The resulting book has the earnestness and enthusiasm of a teenage writer who loves his genre completely.

The Inheritance Cycle continued with Eldest, Brisingr, and Inheritance, completing the story across four volumes. Paolini returned to fiction with To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (2020), a space opera aimed at adult readers. His career remains a notable example of what intense early reading and parental support can produce.