The Inheritance Cycle

The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini
The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini

The Inheritance Cycle which consists of the books Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, and Inheritance is a fantasy series by Christopher Paolini.  I read these books when they first came out but only recently finished Inheritance when my daughter and I competed to finish the series (she won by the way).

We meet Eragon, a boy of 13 who lives a quiet farm life in the Spine until he discovers a dragon’s egg in the forest and it hatches.  The world is ruled by Galbatorix who has killed most of the dragons except his and controls all of the eggs.  Eragon finds himself a target by the Empire because he now has a dragon.  All four books of the series follows Eragon on his adventures as he first tries to just hide from the Empire and then he becomes the leader of the rebels trying to bring Galbatorix down.  He gives up all he knows and learns to step into his role as the only Rider left.

This world is peppered with elves, dwarfs, a race called Urgals, dragons, and humans.  Eragon works with all of them in their fragile alliance to bring down the Empire.

In the last book, Inheritance, Galbatorix is overcome and the world must now rebuild after so many years of being suppressed.  I didn’t like how the series ended with Eragon leaving all his family and friends behind as he leaves the known world to raise the new crop of dragons.  However, Mr. Paolini has promised a fifth book, but that could be years out.

Great overall series written by a homeschool kid who wrote Eragon when he was just 15.  Classic story of good overcoming evil.  Lots of twists and turns as Eragon grows up under intense pressure to grow up before his time.  Good adventure story.  The books get progressively longer and longer akin to Harry Potter series and Twilight series so especially in Inheritance there’s a lot of detail that in my opinion slows down the plot but plug through and you’ll be glad you did!

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