Paolini's Ambitious
Effort
Fiction – YA - Epic Fantasy
Age level 12 and up
Grade level 7 and up
860 pages
Publication Date: November 8, 2011
The Inheritance Cycle #4
Inheritance the fourth book in the
cycle brings to an end a very ambitious series.
We once again join Eragon, Shapphira and the other’s that make up Alagaësia
to find out if Galbatorix will be defeated and at what cost to our heroes. I will leave it to others to recount the book
and instead focus just on my opinions and thoughts.
I found this book a nice read and
for the most part a good conclusion.
Paolini allowed his characters to reach their potential while keeping
the pace and excitement at a high level through much of the story - though I
must admit I did find myself starting to get fatigued with the story around the
500page mark which is not something I noticed occurring with his other three books. The varying viewpoints
interweave a complex
series of events into mostly digestible pieces while making them more
personable. Paolini largely achieved the
delicate balance between the action with reaction, however, on occasion I had to
reread passages to understand all of the actions taking place.
Other reviews have complained about
the rather long ending and I would have to agree with them. A much shorter ending – about a third the
actual size - would have been more to my liking and definitely attainable. There have also been many complaints of not
enough resolution about smaller things like Angela or the Belt of Beloth the
Wise. To them I would say, people a
little mystery in life is good. Something
I would have really liked was a better ending for Eragon and Arya. Perhaps the actual introduction of some real
romantic element between them, besides the acknowledgement of Eragon’s desire would
have made it more satisfactory. I also,
like others had a difficult time with Arya becoming Queen, especially coupled
with her becoming a dragon rider. Her
agreement to take the position seemed off to me, no matter how dedicated she
was supposed to be to her people. I kind
of felt like Paolini did that to put a final nail in the coffin of her and
Eragon’s possibility of finding happiness together.
Something I liked was the writing
in this book. While I have enjoyed
Christopher Paolini’s writing throughout the series, the level of comfort and
maturity attained in the last book was very gratifying. He was able to craft an interesting complex story
while incorporating style and beauty into his writing. No easy task.
From a personal view point one
thing I would have changed is to have the book broken down into two separate
ones – ending the first one right after Nasuada’s abduction-, but then again
that is just my personal opinion and not a complaint about the story itself. Something I did enjoy about all of the books
were the appendixes which included a pronunciation guide. I wish more fantasy and Sci-Fi books had
these!
Over all I am impressed with
Christopher Paolini’s progress as a writer despite my critiques and look
forward with high expectations to his next project. I am giving the book three stars out of five, instead of
four I would have otherwise, due to the fatigue factor and the long unnecessary
ending.
