Millions of readers adore Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle: its earnest hero, its breathtaking battles and, of course, its awe-inspiring dragon Saphira. But there's so much more to the series than meets the eye--and Secrets of the Dragon Riders, edited by today's second hottest dragon-writer James A. Owen, shows readers what they're missing.

Why might Roran be the real hero of the Inheritance Cycle? What does Paolini's writing have in common with role-play games and modern action films? Are teenage writers judged more harshly than their adult counterparts? The YA authors in Secrets of the Dragon Riders--some of them no older than Paolini when he wrote Eragon--each take on a different aspect of the series to engage and entertain Paolini fans.