I got my hands on a copy of Brisingr by Christopher Paolini a few days back and was half way through the book.
However, I was struck by the way he described Eragon choosing a new sword. It reminded me a lot of Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. And guess what? It looks like the Wikipedia entry lets him off very lightly with the talk of influences. Pixie Dust has ground him into the dust with this post over two years ago. (Her poems are pretty awesome also). Reading it I cant believe I used to actually encourage people to read his works.