Take a photo of a barcode or cover
michaelchurch 's review for:
Inheritance
by Christopher Paolini
FINALLY the series comes to a close, but it is STILL taking it's time in doing so! Don't get me wrong, the story and the concept for this series has been incredibly fun, if not that original. Also, the final reveal of Galbatorix and the direct interactions with him really do make him more of a conflicted villain. Actually, so conflicted that I'm not totally sure I agree with Eragon and his team still being set on killing him.
That is just one example of the many things that point to Christopher Paolini's inexperience as a writer. From pilfering the plot of book 1 from Star Wars (which pilfered it from how many other places) to the sad attempts to attain the same high fantasy language and style of the Lord of the Rings, you can read his newness on every page.
My biggest issue with this book is the pacing. It's bad enough that he added a 4th book to the series, pushing the end back by years for the publication of the final book, but then we get it and you have page after page of preparation and unnecessary descriptions that just sound forced and out of place. My one constant thought during this book was "Get to the point, already!" followed in a close second by "Why did I need to know that?" There is a fine line between adding detail because it adds value to the narrative and adding detail for the sake of your ego. Paolini falls very far to one side of that line.
Even at the end of the book, when the plot is finally "over" (or at least as over as you're going to get in this case, which still gives absolutely no closure), the book goes on for what seems like ages as every single loose end is wrapped up. Except it's not every loose end. There are still questions much more interesting that go unanswered. Many things, such as Angela's history, are left open ended in what seems to be an attempt at allowing readers to use their imagination. To me, it comes across as pretentious. What is even worse is the tendency to cast Eragon as an incredibly imperfect individual who is left to cast judgment over others. Nearly every speech given by Eragon or his cousin Roran sounded awkward and like I would have scoffed at it if heard in person. Not to mention the position which Eragon is in at the end of the series. I do not trust him to be there after these 4 books, and I feel like that should have been their only purpose.
Overall, the series was worth reading. The world and the lore is interesting and has a lot of potential. What holds all of this back is the author and his actual execution of the whole thing. In another person's hands this could have been one of my all time favorite books. As it is, I merely slogged my way through it.
That is just one example of the many things that point to Christopher Paolini's inexperience as a writer. From pilfering the plot of book 1 from Star Wars (which pilfered it from how many other places) to the sad attempts to attain the same high fantasy language and style of the Lord of the Rings, you can read his newness on every page.
My biggest issue with this book is the pacing. It's bad enough that he added a 4th book to the series, pushing the end back by years for the publication of the final book, but then we get it and you have page after page of preparation and unnecessary descriptions that just sound forced and out of place. My one constant thought during this book was "Get to the point, already!" followed in a close second by "Why did I need to know that?" There is a fine line between adding detail because it adds value to the narrative and adding detail for the sake of your ego. Paolini falls very far to one side of that line.
Even at the end of the book, when the plot is finally "over" (or at least as over as you're going to get in this case, which still gives absolutely no closure), the book goes on for what seems like ages as every single loose end is wrapped up. Except it's not every loose end. There are still questions much more interesting that go unanswered. Many things, such as Angela's history, are left open ended in what seems to be an attempt at allowing readers to use their imagination. To me, it comes across as pretentious. What is even worse is the tendency to cast Eragon as an incredibly imperfect individual who is left to cast judgment over others. Nearly every speech given by Eragon or his cousin Roran sounded awkward and like I would have scoffed at it if heard in person. Not to mention the position which Eragon is in at the end of the series. I do not trust him to be there after these 4 books, and I feel like that should have been their only purpose.
Overall, the series was worth reading. The world and the lore is interesting and has a lot of potential. What holds all of this back is the author and his actual execution of the whole thing. In another person's hands this could have been one of my all time favorite books. As it is, I merely slogged my way through it.