Features interlocking art that reveals an image across the spines of all four books! Christopher Paolini's abiding love of fantasy inspired him to write the Inheritance Cycle, which quickly became an internationally bestselling series.
He began the first draft of the introductory book in the series, Eragon , at age fifteen. Christopher draws inspiration for the world of Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, from the natural beauty that surrounds his home in Montana: the tumultuous weather, the roaring Yellowstone River, and the soaring Beartooth Mountains.
I always love the quality of books I get from y'all. I now have the complete series, and for me that's a dream I've had since this book came out. With your prices, I'm able to buy a lot of the books I've only dreamt of getting. I bought this book so I could finish reading the series of Eragon Shadeslayer. It was also hardcover which is a personal preference of longevity. The author also signed this particular copy providing an additional bit of value that otherwise would not be there.
I have enjoyed the stories for the most part up to this book but already see a high probability that there will be lose ends in this story allowing for another possible book or books to follow.
Clearly owning this copy, I would not normally buy another one unless this one went missing. But that does not mean another read might not enjoy one kept as a collectible instead of being read.
Skip to main content. The Inheritance Cycle Ser. About this product. Make an offer:. Auction: New Other. Stock photo. Brand new: Lowest price The lowest-priced brand-new, unused, unopened, undamaged item in its original packaging where packaging is applicable. Yes, there are many questions left. But the story of Eragon ended, from the moment he left Alagaesia, a new story began.
I can say that I'm fully satisfied with the closing. Altough I would love to read more of Nausada, Orik, Elva, the urgals in their new role, Roran's daughter, Murtagh's future or Angela's past, I feel like these characters - and many others - surely deserve their own book. I can only hope that Paolini is going to write them especially about Murtagh and Angela , even if these stories will be only short novels in an other book, or even if I have to wait a decade to meet these characters again.
Is it worth reading at all? I've been reading 'Brisingr' for ages and it's super boring. Roni Of course it's worth reading. I mean, IF you've read the first two books then yes. But if you just started reading Brisingr without reading the first …more Of course it's worth reading.
But if you just started reading Brisingr without reading the first 2 books then no, read the first two and then the next two. It'll make more sense when you actually know whats going on. IF you've already read the first two then you should continue reading book 3 and 4. It'll spice up a bit if you read further. See all 35 questions about Inheritance…. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details.
More filters. Sort order. Start your review of Inheritance The Inheritance Cycle, 4. Mar 25, Mikaela added it Shelves: loveable-characters , ridiculously-hot-guys , borrowed-from-a-friend , frustrating-books , major-disapointment , kick-ass-covers , hyped-up-books , craptastic-ending. Before I begin this, I'd like to say that it's a rant. For those of you who don't like ranting- Don't read it.
I actually happened to love this book, but I'm just a tad mad at the ending at the moment. Dear Christopher Paolini, How. I don't care if you're the author, and you have your little creative steaks of whimsy, but it's just damn logical that they shou Before I begin this, I'd like to say that it's a rant.
I don't care if you're the author, and you have your little creative steaks of whimsy, but it's just damn logical that they should be together- They even admitted it themselves!!! And okay, fine, maybe they didn't have to traipse off to some mystical, magical other land together, but a kiss would have been nice?! Or even some form of romance other than I want a re-write of the ending!
I know that your plot was amazingly brilliant and that all the details were intricate and perfect. To be honest I couldn't help but love every single damn page of that stupid story- but to me the ending just wasn't right!
But not really. Because I would never destroy books, and I don't actually own the copy I'm reading. View all comments. Aug 24, Miranda Reads rated it really liked it. Why does everything have to be so hard? Because, said Saphira, everyone wants to eat, but no one wants to be eaten. This book makes my heart happy. Eragon has graduated from isolated farmboy to savior of the kingdom. Along the way, he's faced trials, tribulations and terror. He's fought the shade, the Ra'zac, Murtagh and more.
All that's left is to defeat King Galbatorix. Easier said than done. The king has held his long reign through more than sheer luck. He's stock Why does everything have to be so hard? He's stockpiled unimaginable power - power so great that despite all of the training in the world, Eragon and Sapphira can barely hold a candle to the evil king.
But fight they must, for the alternative is far more terrifying than either of them are willing to comprehend. And I won't give up. My heart is just so happy. For context - I first read this series in middle school and absolutely adored it. Now, that I'm 25, I've decided to go for a reread - all the while crossing my fingers that I still love it am I the only one who gets scared by rereads?
What if the book doesn't hold to my memories? What if younger-me had bad taste? And oh thank goodness - I still love this series. The first one will always be my favorite but all in all, I'm really pleased by the way this series turned out. Angela and the werecats absolutely riveted. What little we know of Angela's origins is expanded upon in this novel I'm so curious about her life - this girl deserves her own book!
I love at the hints of Nasuada and Murtagh - that pairing completely blindsided me at first but it developed so slowly and naturally that I am just crossing my fingers that there will be a later book that wraps up that story line. And honestly, I wasby the lack of Eragon and Arya. Logically, I totally understand why the author did that for the time being Eragon IS of age, but he's still SO much younger than her Overall - loved it the first time through, and every time I read it, I fall a little bit more in love.
Audiobook Comments Really enjoyed this audio, Murtagh's accent was a cool drink of water on a hot day. Sapphira's accent was a congested Yoda gargling nails. View all 42 comments. Nov 08, Eric Allen rated it it was ok. Unfortunately, for everyone involved, the outline he'd written for the third book wasn't going to fit in a single volume. He decided to split it in two. I have to question why, but I'll get into that later in the review.
Now we've finally come to the end with the fourth and final book of the series. Was it a good ending? Well, to be blunt, no, it wasn't. The best I can say is that it IS the end. Thar be spoilers ahead, be ye warned. I'm not really a fan of this series. I saw the movie and thought it was one of the worst things I'd ever seen. A friend of mine told me that the book was way different and much better. It was generic, not exceptionally well written, and it blatantly stole from Star Wars so much I had to wonder how Paolini didn't get sued for it.
He uses some very awkward, repetative, and inappropriate wording in his imagery, and lingers on describing completely unimportant things as though they are the holy grail. One example from this book is something like three entire pages devoted to the fingernails of a character whose name we never even learn. Why am I still reading this series? Because Paolini, much to my regret, did make a villain compelling enough that I really wanted to see how he would be defeated.
One thing I can say about him is that the quality of his writing does improve with each book. That is like saying of two hot pokers in the eye, one of them burns a little less, but at least he's improving his skills, such as they are.
Also, you've really got to hand it to anyone that can so consistently steal from other, more creative people and call it his own work with a straight face. That takes balls my friend. This book was both too long, and too short. That may seem rather paradoxical, but it's true. The padding made it far too long, and the lack of attention paid to the relevant plot elements makes it far to too short.
Inheritance begins with several very one-sided battles that are full of Paolini telling us that there's tension rather than actually building it into the story. The Varden are taking cities from the King on their way toward Uru'Baen. Unfortunately, these are largely completely irrelevant to the story, and basically do nothing but add padding. When your heroes can literally walk over a city wall, wade through an army, waltz into the lord's stronghold, and intimidate the soldiers there simply by the power of their own awesomeness rather than having to fight them, and come out on the other side with little more than a few scratches that they instantly magically heal, what's the point?
They're never in anything resembling peril, and that makes these battle scenes extremely boring. I equate the first pages or so of this book to shining a laser pointer in front of a cat, or jingling keys over a baby. It adds nothing to the story, but entertains the easily amused. It feels very Michael Bay-ish. Explosions do not equal a well thought out story, and neither do one-sided battles where there is litterally not one ounce of tension, because the characters are so much stronger than the ones that they are fighting.
These sorts of things may dazzle those who don't care about anything deeper than pointless action, like anyone who claims to be a Michael Bay fan, but they'll leave everyone else feeling cheated. One such battle involves Roran riding a horse halfway across the kingdom to win a battle in less than a week.
What was the point to that? It served no purpose to the plot, the city wasn't anywhere near where the characters were headed, obviously, and Roran did not grow as a character during this excursion. After winning, he just went right back to the main army where he was to begin with, having learned nothing, and not having been strengthened by his ordeal.
We didn't see any new sides of him, and the entire thing is mentioned in passing maybe twice during the rest of the book. We didn't, because it was completely irrelevant to the plot. The only thing of note that happens in the first pages is the acquisition of the completely unpronouncable Spear of Dues Ex Machina, which could very easily have been obtained at Dras-Leona, leaving this entire beginning out all together.
Or better yet, not at all, allowing the characters to use their own strength to triumph in the end rather than relying on magical artifacts that basically fall out of the freaking sky into their hands. After that considerably bloated section of filler, the book's actual plot begins with the siege of Dras-Leona, where Murtagh and Thorn have arrived in defense.
As the Varden wait outside the walls, Eragon trains against the elves with his sword, and with the disembodied Dragon Glaedr in strengthening his mind, basically relearning things he has spent the last two books learning. A lot of nothing interesting happens, and then a way into the city is found. In comparison to the rest of the book, the conquest of Dras-Leona is a relatively well done, and exciting diversion from the hundreds of pages of meh yet to come.
A few horrors befall those sent inside to open the gates, placing characters that were basically gods in the first pages in real mortal peril, and the battle itself is rather entertaining if you can turn your brain off for most of it and just roll with Paolini's complete lack of skill in writing action scenes.
Pointless gore does not make an action scene exciting, especially if it is not realistic, serving no real purpose except to distract from the fact that there's no real skill put into crafting a compelling battle scene full of tension and horror.
It sets the Varden up to strike at the very heart of the kingdom, Uru'Baen, where Galbatorix sits waiting for their arrival. The defeated Murtagh attacks in the night after the victory and kidnaps Nasuada, leader of the Varden, taking her back to be personally questioned and tortured by the king, in another extremely long and irrelevant plotline that ultimately leads nowhere.
Again, why? What does this add to the story? I could see if maybe she turned to the figurative dark side, or if she pretended to so she could betray the king at the most opportune moment, giving Eragon the chance he needs to defeat him. But no, she is bound and gagged during the entire final confrontation, contributing nothing except a sudden case of Damsel in Distress Syndrome.
Eragon didn't even realize she was there at first. Why was so much time and attention paid to a completely irrelevant subplot like this when there were elements of the actual story that needed so much more fleshing out?
And yes, I know this helps Murtagh to change his true name. I call this irrelevant because all of the relevant character changes happen in HIM. He is the most important character during this part and we focus on HER instead.
Therefore, this whole section of the book was pointless. Following the business model of the Underpants Gnomes, Eragon becomes the leader of the Varden because … and leaves to go hunting down a prophecy that may hold the key to defeating the king.
This is another part of the story that, in comparison to the rest, is relatively well done. Eragon flies to the old stronghold of the Riders, seeing for himself the grandeur that was, and the ruin left by their fall. However, it feels very rushed, and they find a treasure trove of dues ex machina, that basically gives Eragon the ability to stand up to the king without really trying very hard to find a way to defeat or outsmart him.
Again, why was so much of this book spent on irrelevant filler, when this part was in dire need of fleshing out? He enters the city with some elves whilst the army attacks the walls, drawing the defenders.
They then sneak past many rather silly traps. The final confrontation is very unsatisfying and rather abrupt. Rather than outsmarting, converting, or utterly destroying the antagonist on his own strength, Eragon relies on the strength of others and literally pulls the solution to defeating the king right out of his ass on the spot without a single prior word or thought on the method. Eragon is not developed well enough as a character for Paolini to pull this off believably. Four books have built up to this moment, and it was completely ruined because he doesn't ever show us any hints of spontaneous brilliance, such as it is, in Eragon's character beforehand.
He basically became a different character entirely for a few seconds in order to defeat Galbatorix The book then spends far too long tying up every. It gives you something to ponder over when all is said and done. This ending also heavily steals directly from Return of the King, so badly, in fact, that Tolkien must be rolling in his grave. And there is a huge difference in storytelling here as well. Where Paolini made sure that every single loose end imaginable was addressed in the actual book, making it hugely boring, and a complete waste of a reader's time, Tolkien left most of that junk for the appendices, where a reader didn't actually have to read them, or could skim through and find the specific afterward event that he or she was curious about.
The Good? There were some passably good moments in this book, the events leading up to the battle of Dras-Leona, and the battle itself were ok, as was the trip to the ruined city of the Riders. Although my like of these sections of the book may be largely based on comparing them to the rest of the book, rather than on them actually being good. They really stand out amongst the rest of the book as they are both relevant to the plot, and by the time they rolled around I was literally screaming for ANYTHING relevant.
Paolini, as an author, has made some very big steps in developing his talents since his first book, and this one is almost passably adequate, if not for all of the irrelevant filler. In this book, he did seem to actually try taking a few steps away from his shameless stealing from other more talented authors, and the book was much better for it. Though he did return to it in force by the end. He could almost be considered a decent writer if he'd only just put some effort into coming up with his own ideas for stories.
The Bad? The amount of time spent on story arcs for minor characters that ultimately lead nowhere is extremely annoying. Did we really need this? The ugly? When he outlined this book he was fifteen years old. The one the blame really falls to is the editor. I listened to the audiobook while at work, and there is an interview at the end between the editor and Paolini, in which she makes incredibly clear that she did not do her job on this book AT ALL.
She's probably a Michael Bay fan too. The job of the editor is basically to coax the absolute best out of the writer. They are the ones that understand the mechanics of storytelling and grammar, and tell the writer what work still needs to be done.
She failed at that spectacularly. This book is unfinished, and rather than pointing it out to the author like she was supposed to, this idiot encouraged more of it.
She dropped the ball so badly that she should be fired on the spot. It needs to be cut. The fault of this is partly on the author for not really knowing how to lay out a proper storyline where everything is relevant, but the vast majority of the blame lies on the editor.
She came at it as a fan, rather than as a professional. She should have sent it back saying to drop all of the irrelevance, and develop the rest of the plot to the point that the reliance on dues ex machina for the climax is minimal to none. The final book of the trilogy was split in two, Brisingr and Inheritance.
Brisingr suffered from some of the same problems of irrelevance that Inheritance did. If everything I mentioned above was dropped from Inheritance, and the page long tangent about the dwarf king in Brisingr had been dropped as it was ultimately pointless as well, this would have fit very easily into one novel. To make matters worse, he broke one of the ten commandments of writing in the previous book, which was a MAJOR problem in this one. Thou shalt not make thine villain so powerful that he cannot be defeated.
Again, where was the editor. This is a huge flaw that should have been pointed out and fixed before the third book was even published. Now, there is literally no way AT ALL, that Eragon can triumph without resorting to dues ex machina and plot convenience. He did not learn and grow as a character until the point that he could defeat Galbatorix on his own merits. The entire climax of this book is a complete failure that steals heavily from Return of the Jedi.
Plus it takes place closer to the middle of the book than the end. Again, Paolini seems to have completely missed the entire point of the source material that he is ripping off. The duel at the end of Jedi was more about the talking, the temptation, the taunting, with occasional clashes of lightsabers as punctuation to the emotion, climaxing when Luke loses his temper and just starts wailing on Vader, leading him to the realization that he could, in fact, become like his father.
This makes his final defiance of the emperor, tossing his weapon aside, all the more powerful, because he's felt the power that could be his if he joined the dark side of the force. This is a poorly xeroxed copy, with none of the meaning or emotion behind it, and no true victory over the enemy, only a hollow shell of one.
There's nothing to tempt Eragon. The King keeps saying "join me" and Eragon keeps saying "no". It's meaningless, because there is no attempt by either side at temptation.
He hasn't seen the power that could be his, he hasn't felt it flowing through him, he hasn't almost let it consume him and pulled back at the last possible moment in defiance. One thing I hate when authors do is they will have a character start explaining something and say "ok, this is what I'm going to do It's a crap transitional element that no one should ever use in any medium EVER.
He did it several times earlier in the book too. In fact, he did it so many times that I was literally yelling at the audiobook narrator by the end over it. That's just lazy, pointless, and annoying storytelling in the guise of trying to be clever. It is an ending to the series, and some people might call it good, though I think a lot more are going to call it bad.
Most of this book is just Paolini jingling his keys at his readers, and really should have been cut or developed to the point that it actually was relevant to the plot. Paolini is steadily improving as an author, and if he ever decides to stop shamelessly stealing from other authors and figures out how to properly use imagery and metaphors, he might make a decent writer of himself someday. Shame on the editor for not seeing past her fandom to the fact that this book needed massive amounts of work still.
Someone needs to sit her down and explain to her what, exactly, her job is, because she certainly isn't doing it. I didn't completely hate it, but I wouldn't say I liked it either. Check out my other reviews. May 31, Lauren Elena rated it it was amazing Shelves: fantasy , favorites , magic , dragons.
Before Reading: I can't wait for this book to come out, but a tiny, miniscule part of me doesn't want it to come out because if it is not absolutly flipping fantastic, then I may have to kill myself.
This final book needs to be better than the previous books, which is not an easy feat. Plus all the lose ends need to be tied up. I for one, am interested to see how Christopher Paolini pulls it all together. Two things I am hoping for in Inheritance: 1. We will see some action from Galbatorix. And Before Reading: I can't wait for this book to come out, but a tiny, miniscule part of me doesn't want it to come out because if it is not absolutly flipping fantastic, then I may have to kill myself.
And I'm not talking about his army. I want him to actually talk or do something. Everyone talks about his great evil, but I want to see him preform some. It seems that when he couldn't accomplish magic, he would eventually be able to do it. I think that Roran is too ready to give up anything for Katerina. To me he seems dangerous, and not just in the big hammer way, either. Something will happen in Eragon's love life. Maybe it will have to do with Arya, although she seems more like the wise best friend type than girlfriend.
Two things that I expect to happen: 1. The Rider is Roran 1. There will be an epic battle between Eragon and Saphira, and Galbatorix and his dragon, whose winner will be decided by a small factor that seemed irrelevant but really was important What I wonder How old is Nasuada ruler of the Varden anyway?
When she was introduced, begging Saphira for Eragon's whereabouts, Paolini described her as a young woman. Who knows? The reason I wonder this is because in Brisinger, she meantions that she is feeling alone and wants a relashonship. Know of any other young bachelors looking for love? But of course we do not know her exact age, so I can't really single any man out for her. November is so far away. I have to content myself with reading excerpts from Inheritance online. Wow, writing that down made me realize how much of a dork I am.
This could change everything! Paolini wouldn't make the new Rider die, would he? Which means that the new Dragon Rider probably isn't Roran. This discovory is going to keep me up for days of diliberation. Could Nasuada be the Rider? But she is the leader of the Varden, and they don't want one of the Undying to lead, which would mean she would have to give up her position. But I'm getting ahead of myself, funny, that seems to happen alot because what if the Rider is on Galbatorix's side?
I really hope Eragon is able to steal the egg back. Maybe that was what they were trying to do when Roran got crushed killed? It says he will have an epic romance with a woman of noble blood, and who is beautiful and powerful beyond measure. This is almost undoubtably Arya. Dang it. That takes a lot of fun out of my fantisising. What I don't get is the part where Eragon will never set foot in the Empire again. Doesn't it count as going into the Empire by rescuing Katrina from the Ra'zac?
I just realized something; I need to get a life. But where's the fun in that? Maybe it will be Arya? The author tells EW about collaborating with his sister, giving a different take on dragons, and returning to the fictional land he created as a teenager.
I kept daydreaming like, what are the characters up to? What are they doing? All sorts of other story ideas popped up as a result. Some of those were suitable for book-length projects, but some of them were smaller and self-contained, which is how we ended up with The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm. This book was particularly inspired by a Twitter interaction Paolini had with a fan in early He called it Mr.
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