Eragon
Cover by John Jude Palencar, featuring the blue dragon Saphira
Author(s)	Christopher Paolini
Cover artist	John Jude Palencar
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Inheritance Cycle
Genre(s)	Young adult Fantasy novel
Publisher	Paolini LLC (first edition), Alfred A. Knopf
Publication date	2002 (first edition), August 26, 2003 (Knopf)
Media type	Print (hardcover and paperback) and audio-CD
Pages	509 (Knopf) 544 (Paolini LLC)
ISBN	ISBN 0-375-82668-8 (First Knopf edition) ISBN 0-9666213-3-6 (Paolini LLC)
OCLC Number	52251450
Dewey Decimal	[Fic] 21
LC Classification	PZ7.P19535 Er 2003
Followed by	Eldest

Eragon is the first book in the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini, who began writing at the age of 15. After writing the first draft for a year, he spent a second year rewriting it and fleshing out the story and characters. Paolini's parents saw the final manuscript and decided to self-publish Eragon. Paolini spent a year traveling around the United States promoting the novel. By chance, the book was discovered by Carl Hiaasen, who got it re-published by Alfred A. Knopf. The re-published version was released on August 26, 2003.

The book tells the story of a young farm boy named Eragon, who finds a mysterious stone in the mountains. A dragon he later names Saphira hatches from the stone, which was really an egg. When the evil King Galbatorix finds out about Eragon and his dragon, he sends his servants, the Ra'zac, after them in an effort to capture them. Eragon and Saphira are forced to flee from their hometown and decide to search for the Varden, a group of rebels who want to see the downfall of Galbatorix.

Critiques of Eragon often pointed out the similarities to other works such as The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. Reviews also called the book a notable achievement for such a young author as Paolini. Eragon was the third-best-selling children's hardback book of 2003, and the second-best-selling paperback of 2005. It placed on the New York Times Children's Books Best Seller list for 121 weeks. Eragon was adapted into a feature film of the same name that was released on December 15, 2006. It was directed by Stefen Fangmeier and written by Peter Buchman. The film starred Ed Speleers in the role of Eragon.