December 7, 2012

Inheritance - Christopher Paolini

[This is the fourth book in the Inheritance cycle. If you haven't started the series yet, you can check out the first book Eragon instead.]

Inheritance Christopher Paolini book cover
Inheritance by Christopher Paolini
Series: The Inheritance Cycle #4
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Source: Bought || Hardcover

The fate of Alagaësia rests in the hands of Eragon - Shadeslayer, Dragon Rider - and his dragon Saphira. Though there have been many triumphs in their months of training and battle, there have been equal losses. And yet, the one real confrontation is yet to come - a face to face meeting with Galbatorix himself.

There's a bittersweet feeling that accompanies picking up the last, final installment of a series. I was both excited and sad about reading Inheritance, even though it was one of my most anticipated books of 2011. After hearing wonderful things about the book from fellow fans of the series, I just knew it was time to dive in on one of my days off - and I devoured the novel from start to finish, just as I knew I was going to.

As I read the novel, it felt like coming home. This book was graced with the presence of many familiar and dear characters from the series. They were each given a particular task to accomplish, or problem to solve, or struggle to experience, and I was rooting for them the entire time. I love how I can still see their real personalities, and how they struggle with the burden of the load they're carrying as they attempt to defeat Galbatorix. And I really, really like that the author decided to focus mostly on the human characters, and not so much on the other races.

In terms of storytelling, Christopher Paolini is absolutely brilliant. There was enough action to keep things moving at a fast clip, but it was tempered by slower moments of deliberation and discussion. There were a few moments I definitely did not see coming, eliciting either squeals of delight or expressions of sorrow and disbelief from me. This is another one of those books where I simply felt a whole spectrum of emotions, and any book that manages to toy with me like that tends to be one that I greatly appreciate.

All in all, Inheritance is a fitting conclusion to a series that I absolutely loved from start to finish. Nearly every loose thread was wrapped up in this novel, though I can see where future stories might spring from, should the author decide to return to writing about this world. I smiled, I cheered, I cried, I raged, I swooned - and I fell in love with this book. Thank you Christopher Paolini for the gift of this amazing conclusion; I will treasure it always.

6 Comments:

  1. I'm just reading Eragon again but I've never read the rest of the series so I can't wait. :)

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    1. I am so excited for you! Since all the books are out, you are definitely going to not suffer the long wait like I did. I hope you enjoy it! :)

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  2. Hey Alexa! I want to read this series SO MUCH but I haven't started it yet so I very, very lightly skimmed this review. Oh man, I absolutely love that you loved this series so much because it makes me even more excited to read it when I can pry it from the hands of my extremely bookish children (I'm not complaining).

    I actually bought a second copy of Eragon today because my kids (9,9, and 7) are always arguing over who gets to read it. One of my girls (9) is reading Inheritance now and she reads like you and I probably do - smiles, cheers, facial expressions, all of that. :)

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    1. I LOVE that your kids LOVE this series. It's so good, and so well done, and the dragons are AWESOME. I can't wait till you get a chance to read it!

      (And, on the bright side, at least you can read them all one after another. I had to wait years in between some of the books!)

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  3. YOU READ IT! YAY! I still haven't started it yet, because I'm sad that after reading it, the series will be over... But I'm glad to hear it lived up to the amazingness of the first three books for you! And I'm kinda glad it focuses on the humans as well, I love the other races, but well, I'm just partial to the human characters.
    You're making me itching to start it as well!

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    1. I did! I LOVED it. You need to read it! He ended it so well :)

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