I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Inheritance (The Inheritance Cycle, #4) by Christopher Paolini Published by Alfred A. Knopf on November 8th 2011
Pages: 849
Goodreads
It began with Eragon... It ends with Inheritance.
Not so very long ago, Eragon — Shadeslayer, Dragon Rider — was nothing more than a poor farm boy, and his dragon, Saphira, only a blue stone in the forest. Now the fate of an entire civilization rests on their shoulders.
Long months of training and battle have brought victories and hope, but they have also brought heartbreaking loss. And still, the real battle lies ahead: they must confront Galbatorix. When they do, they will have to be strong enough to defeat him. And if they cannot, no one can. There will be no second chance.
The Rider and his dragon have come further than anyone dared to hope. But can they topple the evil king and restore justice to Alagaësia? And if so, at what cost?
This is the spellbinding conclusion to Christopher Paolini's worldwide bestselling Inheritance cycle.
So here we are, the final book. All three previous books are leading up to an culminating in this big, green monstrosity. And yes, it is huge. Sometimes I wonder if this book really needs to be as massive as it is.
One of the biggest criticisms of this book that I had heard in the past was that Paolini is way too attached to his battle scenes. He describes SO MANY of them in detail, even the ones that could have just as easily happened off the page and in passing. In that way, this last book is very much like a George RR Martin book. There’s so much extra detail for you to follow and you might have to run around with some characters you don’t care about to get to the good stuff. I think that’s often one of the details of big, epic fantasies like this. They can get a little out of hand.
Like the last book, this installment has a ton of story to get to, and like the last one there’s a lot of traveling. Eragon and Saphira have to find the Vault of Souls (we finally get to figure that one out) and there’s some very confusing magic surrounding it. They have to go back and take over Dras Leona again and face an old enemy. Then they have to fight Murtag, and finally Galbatorix. And that’s just Eragon’s story. We still have Roran, Arya, and Nasuada to follow as well.
For the most part I thought everything wrapped up pretty nicely in this final book, though I have wished for a long time that there was maybe a bit more to the showdown with the King. It was still handled well but I think it could have used some fleshing out and a bit of a slower pace. More tension could have been built up, even if it’s not necessary it would have given the ending a bit more of a punch.
Paolini is very good at bringing things full circle, especially from the first book. Both Angela’s prophecy and Solembum’s advice come to fruition on this book, some of which I think many fans had maybe forgotten about until this point. He really put a lot of thought into Eragon’s story from the beginning, letting it mature from a trilogy into four very large novels.
There have been rumor recently that Paolini is considering several more stories in this world, one of which might be a prequel following Brom. In most cases would be a little leary but here I am dying to read more about Brom, and about this world. The world building was done so nicely that there is room for more without it seemingly like too much. There are so many avenue to explore. The dwarves, the elves, the dragons, the riders, the urgals, the humans, there are so many points of view!
What do you think of this series? Share in the comments!
From my shelf to yours,
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