This is the first in a trilogy of books that's an epic fantasy quest in the style, more or less, of The Lord of the Rings. It's a reasonably good book, but most notable in that it was started by Paolini when he was 15 years old (about 5 years ago) -- it reads like it was written by someone pretty young.

But for all that, I enjoyed reading it, and am reading the 2nd book, Eldest, now. Reminds me of when I was a kid & reading slightly crummy but fun fantasy books -- all in the style of unknown, underapreciated kid in a remote town has something horrible happen to him/her, then goes on a quest to right the wrong/figure out why/etc, and finds out that he/she is actually a child of destiny -- who goes on to save the world. Lots of trilogies like this.

Predictable, but fun anyway.