The first novel in Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle is Eragon.
Eragon was published in 2002 and follows a farm boy who discovers a mysterious blue stone in the Spine, a dangerous mountain range. The stone hatches into a dragon, which Eragon names Saphira. Their bond draws him into the conflict between the Empire and its enemies.
Eragon receives guidance from Brom and gradually learns about dragon riders, magic, and the history of Alagaësia. The novel’s central relationship is between Eragon and Saphira, whose linked minds and abilities make them a powerful pair.
The remaining books in the four-volume cycle are Eldest, Brisingr, and Inheritance. Those titles are sometimes confused because they are all part of the same series. Eragon was initially written by Paolini as a teenager and became the opening book of a major young-adult fantasy sequence. The title refers to the protagonist, not the dragon’s name.