Synopsis: 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,/i> cannot, no one can. There will be no second chance.

The Rider and his dragon have come farther than anyone dared to imagine. But can they topple the evil king and restore justice to Alagaesia? And if so, at what cost?-Goodreads

Review: It felt as though I waited forever for this book, but I’m happy to say it was well worth it. Inheritance is the final installment of the Inheritance Cycle, which was a pretty big deal back in 2003 when the first book came out. At the time author Christopher Paolini was only nineteen and the buzz for this series was pretty unstoppable, even for readers that might not generally be into epic fantasy. Initially I wasn’t blow away by the series but everything from writing style to story arc continued to improve with each book and culminated in a spectacular finish.

Even after a three year hiatus it was easy enough to jump back into this extremely layered world and figure out what all of the characters were up to. There is a lot going on throughout this whole book and use use of multiple viewpoint characters makes it possible to get the bigger picture of what is going on politically throughout the world. It also gives us a closer look at a budding relationship between two of my favorite characters (neither of which is in any way an elf).

It’s a shame the Eragon movie was awful and never stood a chance at a sequel. There were some pretty awe inspiring scenes scattered throughout the book. I swear, I even gasped once which was followed by a dose of extreme happiness because I was just so thrilled for the characters. This isn’t the kind of series where you get a lot of good news, so I was pretty thrilled.

There have been some obvious comparisons between the Inheritance Cycle and Lord of the Rings and while I love the world Tolkien created, there is an extra level of reader-friendliness in these books that has the ability to bring in younger readers. I tried reading LOTR when I was about fourteen and really struggled to enjoy myself. That was never an issue here. There was also just enough new, creative content to set Alagasiea apart from just being another epic fantasy world.

Overall, I am really happy with how things ended. I was a little worried that some elements would get cliched finales that would detract from overall it was a pretty well rounded conclusion that I can certainly live with. There was a definitely sense of closure and just enough was left to the imagination. There is no question that somewhere (far, far) down the road I will read this series again and it will be like coming back to old friends.

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Rating:

Second Opinions:
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