Inheritance Cycle

Over Labor Day weekend I finished reading Inheritance by Christopher Paolini. This was the fourth and supposedly last book in what the author calls the “Inheritance Cycle.” Most people I talk to just call it the “Eragon Series.” This is the story of a poor, orphan, farm boy (Eragon) that discovers a dragon egg while out hunting. The dragon hatches and grows and Eragon becomes a Dragon Rider. He is thrust into a giant struggle against the evil emperor Galbatorix. Eragon must learn to control magic as well as his own mind to fight the emperor’s army and other magicians.

I really liked the story. It was exciting and full of interesting characters. What makes it even more amazing is that the story was started when Christopher Paolini was only 15. After he wrote the first book, Eragon, his family helped him publish it. After selling the book on their own for a while it was finally picked up by a major publishing company that was able to really sell it worldwide. Christopher went on to write the sequel, Eldest, and then what was supposed to be the final book, Brisingr. He had too much story to just fit into three books so Inheritance became the fourth and final book.

As I already said, I really liked the story. I didn’t always like the writing, though. I thought that the author got a little long-winded at times. He would go on and on about things that maybe provided some background, but didn’t really move the story along. But just when I was about to give it up because I was frustrated with the story, Chris Paolini would save the day with some really great action. I would definitely recommend this book and this series, but only to those who are not afraid of sifting through tons of pages to pull out a real gem of a story.