Christopher Paolini Audiobooks

Christopher Paolini, born in 1983, is an American and Italian author who became a publishing phenomenon before most writers have finished their first draft. He wrote his first book while living in Paradise Valley, Montana, and that book – Eragon, published in 2002 – launched The Inheritance Cycle, which grew to include Eldest in 2005, Brisingr in 2008 and Inheritance in 2011.

He has kept the world alive since: The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm, a follow-up story collection, arrived in 2018, and Murtagh, the first book in a follow-up duology, in 2023. He has also stretched into new territory – his first science fiction novel, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, was published in 2020. Few authors have grown up quite so publicly alongside their own saga.

Paolini writes long-haul storytelling in the classic mould, and that is precisely its appeal in audio: a saga to live inside for weeks rather than an evening. Eragon is where every listener should start, with Eldest, Brisingr and Inheritance carrying the cycle through to its close, and Murtagh waiting as the reward – a return to the world from a different vantage point.

For UK listeners, this is ideal family or commute listening for fantasy lovers: generous, earnest, old-fashioned epic storytelling that takes its time and trusts you to come along.