Finally, we come to the end of the series called the Inheritance Cycle, the story of Eragon. As it always happens when we finish a book or series where we have spent a lot of time on, it is time to reflect on the whole story. It is at that moment that I find myself right now with Eragon.
I have to repeat what I have said in my reviews about books 1, 2 and 3 of the Inheritance Cycle: How long this book was! However, I may also have to repeat another phrase that I have been repeating as I have progressed through the books which is, «I think this has been my favourite of all the books in the series that I have read so far.» Inheritance has been my favourite book of the four. This indicates that the books improve in quality as the story progresses.
On the story itself, (as you know, no spoilers) I think Inheritance has a very expected ending. There were not too many surprises in the outcome of most of the characters’ stories. What I really enjoyed was to find out about the fates of the protagonists after the great battle. Many books end at that climatic point, and they don’t want to move beyond that. I think that this strategy works very good for movies, because you need to finish on a high note, but literature is not the same. Books don’t have the same rhythms, and the author can afford to lower the pace and intensity of the story, to finish the book on a downhill slope, which it will smoothly finish the story. Inheritance is like that, and, in my opinion, is one of its best assets.
I think that how story ends, two more entire Eragon series could be written. Who knows? Perhaps Christopher Paolini is already working on something while we are here talking about it. Inheritance was published in the year 2011. It has been almost a decade since its publication.
As I said in my post about Brisingr, the third book in the series took me almost 3 months to finish, while Inheritance took me less than three weeks. Brisingr’s goal of motivating us to know how the story ends was a success in my opinion.
To bring this post about Inheritance to and end, and to show you the task ahead if you ever want to read the Inheritance Cycle, I found a very interesting website that shows how long it takes to read books. One can enter the name of any book and you will get the number of hours and minutes necessary to finish reading it. It is based on an «average reader», that is, someone who reads 250 words per minute on average. Please find the link for Inheritance here: https://www.readinglength.com/book/isbn-037584631X
But, so that get all the information, please find below how long it would take to read the other books of the Inheritance Cycle:
Eragon: 9 hours, 30 minutes
Eldest: 13 hours, 40 minutes
Brisingr: 17 hours, 9 minutes
Inheritance: 18 hours, 9 minutes
The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm: Tales from Alagaësia: 2 hours 51 minutes
Final comment: After reading such a long series (perhaps four books is not too many, but certainly it adds up to a LOT in pages) what comes afterwards is always an experience that only literature can give us. We make a final recount of everything we read, the stories, the characters, and we are left with a feeling of emptiness, sometimes due to the plots not closed, or because the events did not take place as we wanted, or because something unexpected happened, among many other reasons. When I finished reading the Inheritance Cycle, on the one hand, I was glad that I could read these huge books, and that it had finally come to the end, but, on the other hand, I was a little frustrated that so little information was given about certain events or characters. I mean, there were 3,200 pages in total across the 4 books, and actually, you end up wanting more, or expecting more. My final conclusion is that I don’t really like Christopher Paolini’s style. It’s an unpopular opinion perhaps, but I really don’t like it. I read these endless descriptions and entire chapters devoted to unnecessary events while reading the Inheritance Cycle wondering “where is he going with this?” But, I did like the story and creativity of the books and characters. In a nutshell, I finish this series with mixed feelings.
Quote of the book: “It’s impossible to go through life unscathed. Nor should you want to. By the hurts we accumulate, we measure both our follies and our accomplishments.”
Keep on reading,
Questions to answer in the comments:
Have you read any of the books in the Eragon series, also called the Inheritance Cycle? And in particular, have you read the last book «Inheritance»? Did you like it? Do you agree with my final comments on the book? Have you read a similar book of the same genre that you would like to recommend? Please answer these questions in the comments section.
GG KLIMT 