Christopher Paolini is a young and new to the job author and Inheritance is the last book in his first series called the Inheritance cycle. In the cycle Eragon, a boy of 17, discovers a dragon egg; whereupon he also gains the ability to use magic. The peace and awe is short lived however because the evil king of the land learns that the dragon hatched for him. He ends up leaving with Brom who has made himself known as a story teller. We soon find out that nothing in Alagaesia is as it seems. An epic journey follows, on which Eragon learns more about himself and who he needs to be. This brings us to the last book where Eragon and his Dragon Saphira most overcome just a few more battles before reaching the Gates of the mad king’s layer Uru’baen; Whom they must defeat so that Alagaesia can live without Tyranny.
Surely no one would think that with the level of mystery and suspense in the book that one could think up a better name. Apparently not, however the name ends up acquitting itself well to the book. We learn Eragon’s fate as early in the series as the first book, Eragon, when the witch lady Angela tells him his fortune, or in this case his future. By the end of Inheritance each of the events that Angela foretold end up coming true, however not in the way that you are lead to think in the first book. Also the idea that Eragon has inherited a great many things, not only from his father but from many of the people that he surrounds himself with. The future that was set him by Angela, some of his possessions and even some of the help he receives on his journey.
The unimaginativeness of the title and series name seems to indicate a certain lack of specificity. Throughout the book a lack of specificity hangs over everything like a blanket of dark magic that taints all that is within it. There is much that we are left to wonder after many of the important points in the book, which for a land that seems to pride itself in being unusually specific; everything has a name in the book by which it could be controlled by a user of magic, even other people. So it leaves us to wonder why the author would leave out such information as the main characters specified name, not even giving us the name of his dragon. Simply giving us vague description of what the name means, “His name, his true name, was weaker and more flawed than he would have liked, and he hated himself for that, but there was also much to admire within it.”
The final battle between the mad king Galbatorix and Eragon and his group of followers seems impossible. He is so outmatched that the king is not only repulsively confident about the outcome of the battle but even the assistance he finds tells him, “We do not think we will be able to best the … that Galbatorix has enslaved. We are too few.” Knowing this Eragon and Saphira still choose to fight the king, who has obtained yet another weapon to use against Eragon and his allies. The odds are stacked ridiculously high against the hero, so much that it sometimes seems as if Paolini is trying to keep us reading with that fact alone.
In the end I believe that Inheritance deserves a score of 3.5 stars. The major short comings of the book detract a great deal from the book and it almost seems as if Paolini is dragging things out intentionally or he’s run out of ideas. Also the flaws, while not entirely glaring obvious, were a nuisance that seemed that if the author had taken more time to write he would have done a better job. Despite knowing the end in advance, I was surprised! I was surprised by the twist to the knowledge that Inheritance reveals.
