What I find interesting about Paolini (and Meyer, and Rowling) is that I've never seen a teenager reading the books. It's always middle-aged or older women--most of whom either don't have children or whose children are adults.
When I've asked them about why they're reading and enjoying the series, their answer was simple yet very revealing: "I'm not really into this magical stuff, but this is easy to follow, easy to read and it's kinda fun." "Takes me back to my childhood pretending games/teen daydreams."
These aren't writers, they're readers. They want something that will fill their time on the commute, waiting for appointments, whatever that's a fast read, not hard to comprehend and slightly different from the norm. It doesn't have much, if anything, to do with their ability to distinguish between "good" and "bad" writing--most of them I've talked to really don't care about all the things we writers angst about. (When I've asked, even the highly educated professionals have said that's the LEAST important thing about anything they read for fun.) All they want is a good story, easy to read, that can make them not think about the office, the economy, their kids, the laundry/housework, etc.
Having read the books myself, I can totally see where Paolini (and the others) hit these marks with a vengeance and make it really big. I may or may not like them personally, but they give readers what readers want and they have success. It's just really galling for me, and I think most writers, to see where the line for that level of success really lies since it so contradicts everything we're want to believe.
