Brisingr has become the fastest selling children's book of the year.

A fantasy novel tipped to become a rival to the hugely popular Harry Potter series, Brisingr, by American author Christopher Paolini, sold more than 45,000 copies on its first day, according to its publisher Random House.

It is the third book in Paolini's Inheritance Cycle series, about Eragon, a dragon rider, and his steed, Saphira. The first book of the series, Eragon, published when Paolini was just 19, was made into a successful Hollywood film.

Though Brisingr is on course to become the biggest selling novel of the year - not just in children's fiction but also in adults, its sales are still a very long way short of those of JK Rowling's books.Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book in the series, sold more than 2.6 million copies on its first day in Britain when it went on sale in July 2007.

So why are Paolini's books so popular? For a start, they have wide-ranging appeal,and like Rowling, Paolini's books are great adventure stories, with a lot more going on in their pages than just non-stop action, keeping readers of all ages gripped.

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