I'm an elementary teacher. I'm rereading Eragon and realized that Brom taught Eragon to read in a week.

A week!!!

We teach children how to read for 4 years (here in the states). Kindergarten through 3rd grade are focused purely on learning to read fluently. You cannot teach people to read to the level of skill Eragon reached within a week, that's ridiculous.

The fact that the book was initially edited by Paolini's parents, and that his mother is an elementary teacher by trade, tells me that someone should have noticed this. It would've been more believable if Eragon was simply bad with reading/writing--perhaps he was taught but isn't confident in it.

This had driven me crazy for like 4 days now.

Edit to Add Harry Potter has a reading level that gears it towards ages 7 to 12. It's very typical to have read it in 2nd or 3rd grade. That being said, teachers continue to teach the science of learning to read through and until 3rd grade, and 4th grade is when you move on to comprehension.

People are best primed to learn to read during childhood. It's the point in time where we learn languages best as well. That's a big reason that I don't buy Eragon's sudden skill. I'm willing to buy the idea that he learned a few words in Teirm and really just looked for those, but beyond that, I can't see him learning much else in a week.

Admittedly, Eragon is a slow reader throughout the series, which I can buy. He also appears to have a particular skill for languages, which I find interesting and low key I hope we'll get to see more about that in coming books.