'Inheritance' by Christopher Paolini

Inheritance, Christopher Paolini (3.0)

For those familiar with Paolini’s Inheritance series, this is the fourth and last book. It included a long summary of the preceding books (which I did enjoy as it has been some time since I had read the earlier novels). While I found the ending to be thoughtful and complete, I thought the book was too long.  It was full of lengthy descriptions and what I would describe as periods of waiting. After about 50% of the book, the action started to speed up, though I still felt more was added to each mini-drama to extend the story. For some reason I particularly disliked the long and painful torture sequences of Nasuada. I understood the purpose, but felt it was a puzzle piece that did not fit. Paolini has some unique concepts (the dragon Eldunari, the rider/dragon construct), but many feel borrowed. The elves, dwarves, even the Krulls feel very ‘Lord of the Rings’-ish. I appreciate what he has done, particularly given his age and in the absence of good fantasy/Sci-Fi books, but I can’t help but ask for more maturity now that he’s an accomplished writer. In my opinion the first book, ‘Eragon’, was the best and the others have all fallen short of expectations. If you have read the other books in the series – and you have some time (850 pages!), you should read this one in order to close out the story, but I’m afraid I was a bit disappointed.