I must say plagiarism does seem to spring to mind with this book, it's good read and well written but he has seemed to borrowed ideas, characters and events from alot of iconic books of the genre. Lotr and The Wheel of Time books mostly spring to mind when I read this.
But I must add that if you have never read many fantasy books this would be a good start.
To sum it up a well written book that will hopefully make a great film.