Inheritance (The Inheritance Cycle) [ペーパーバック]

Important: I recommend that all potential buyers only read reviews that clearly state there are no spoilers in the review title (or the title clearly intends the review for said audience). There are one too many reviews that give away critical information within the first couple of lines.

It is difficult to review a book such as this; a person's liking of the book is obviously subjective (as you'll notice with any novel). I am surprised that the current highest-rated review contains many spoilers, and one can only assume that most of those reading the reviews have already read the book -- or perhaps they are too lethargic to actually read the book for themselves.

As it is, I would do my best to give an honest review, without spoilers, for those who have not read the book.

Firstly, I must admit that I did enjoy the book, though it did have many flaws. Perhaps I am alone in this, but Paolini's writing skills seem to have lessened since the second novel; in Inheritance, many smaller plots and potential side-stories remain unexplained or simply not pursued. A few extremely engaging characters seem to have underlying motives and/or secret histories that also remain woefully unexplained. Furthermore, the chapters seem somewhat rushed, and one cannot help but feel that the story does not flow as smooth as previously -- it feels somewhat distorted. And yet, perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the story was its ending (I would not elaborate, for fear of giving something away).

And yet, even so, I still enjoyed the book immensely; as one who has read the previous books and has become slowly captivated by the story, it would prove quite difficult not to enjoy 849 pages more -- whatever flaws it may contain. With that being said, I would highly recommend any prospective readers to get the book, and enjoy it in its finality.

Note: I was also just recently informed that Paolini may return to the series. In my negligence, I apparently missed the author's "acknowledgements." He writes, "When I do return to it, I hope to address a few of the mysteries that I left unresolved in this series." So perhaps Paolini's failure to explain these "mysteries" was, in fact, just him waiting for a better time to reveal them. That being said, one cannot help but hope that he writes an entire novel on Angela, who seems to become more interesting by the page throughout Inheritance.

It is hard to say what I thought of this book. I liked it, yet I detested it. It was epic, yet depressing. If I had to abbreviate this entire review to one sentence, it would be: "It was meh."

ERAGON was (and is) one of my favorite books. It is timeless and fantastic. It follows the classic `hero's journey', yet adds enough twists to remain fresh. It is long, but never boring. And, like Sabriel and Northern Lights, I feel children will still be reading and enjoying it decades from now.

ELDEST was a bit of a disappointment. Over-long, talky, and boring for most of its length. The Battle of Burning Plains was a fitting end, though, and gave me hope that the remainder of the series would be worth the wait.

BRISINGR was everything that Eldest was not. Things happened. Eragon grew stronger, and for the first time it appeared as if Galby might be defeated. There were boring parts, yes (ie, the dwarves choosing their new King). Yet the book as a whole brought everything together and setup the epic finale.

So, you ask, what of INHERITANCE?

Well... It was Meh.

It is sad that an 850 page book can be abbreviated thus. But I don't know how else to put it without rambling. However, I shall try to consolidate my ideas.

The first 740 pages of this book were excellent. I could debate some points, such as the birth of Elain's baby or Roran leading the siege of Aroughs. Neither of those storylines added much of anything. They could have been cut, or perhaps turned into the "exclusive content" at the end of the Deluxe Edition (which is certain to be released). I could also express disappointment at the climax of the book, which had a great setup, but was remarkably anticlimactic. Yet, none of these things bothered me. This was not my story to tell, and I knew from the start that I would not agree with every word that was written.

In fact, if those things above were all that I could complain about, I would gladly give this book 5 stars and declare it a brilliant work of fantastic fiction.

The problem is with the last 110 pages of the book. Everything from the chapter "Heir to the Empire" and forward sucks. I hate to say that, but it does. If this 110 pages was abbreviated to 40 pages and actually ANSWERED SOME QUESTIONS, this book would get 5 stars.

To explain what I mean, I will go into some (lengthy) spoilers. If you don't want the end of the book ruined, please skip to the end.

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!!!!!!!!!!SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!!!!!!

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1. Let's talk about grammar. Normally, I am not one to complain about poor grammar and grade a book down for it, but there is one point within this book that bothered me regardless. That point is the plural of Eldunari, which has been definitively established as "Eldunarya". Yet the plural is not used once in this book. Every time the characters speak, regardless of whether they are referring to one Eldunari or one thousand, the singular is used. Every time this happened, I rolled my eyes and muttered, "Come on, Paolini. Don't you remember your own language?" Again, this is not a big thing. And if it were the only thing I could complain about in the whole book, I would shrug it off and give the book 5 stars.

2. The Dauthdaert. This supposedly legendary weapon comes straight from Deus Ex Machina Land and provides a heretofore unrecognized possibility to kill Galby and his evil dragon. This was a touch too ridiculous for me, and was not believable at all. I would have been able to accept it if, for example, it was a rider's sword they found (even an `extra special' riders sword), or if Arya explained that there was one legendary rider who used a spear instead of a sword, or if the idea of Dauthdaerts had been mentioned in any of the previous books... But to just throw it out there and say it is now the only hope to kill Galby... I'm sorry. I'm not buying it. And again, if this was the only problem with this book, I would be willing to overlook it and look at the book as a whole... rather than the sum of its flawed parts.

3. The Belt of Beloth the Wise. This thing was lost on page, what, 285? And after that it is mentioned a couple times, but never found. Seriously, what is with that? I would have understood if they found Galby or Murtagh wearing it at the climax. Or I would have no problem if they went back after the climax and found it buried deep under Helgrind. And I would have no problem if there was a rumor that some mysterious magician had stolen it and it could not be found. But to simply have it disappear, and to have no one care that a super-powerful artifact is on the loose... Seriously, now. What is the purpose of that? It just seems lazy.

4. That One Nameless Character, You Know Which. Do you remember that character in Brisingr with massive scars on her wrists, who got a prophecy from Angela and a blessing from Saphira, even though such things are rarely given to anyone? Saphira called her "Wild One" if I recall correctly. Well, after being utterly mysterious for years between books, she appears here in Inheritance--now with two apprentices (children?) in tow. She saves Roran, says a grand total of 4 words, then walks off into the mist. Seriously now. What was the point of that? We are given nothing on this character. No history, no reason for her to exist, not even a name. It would have been better if she had not existed in this book.

5. Tenga. That mysterious magician who appeared in Brisingr for a few pages, and who was Angela's teacher for a while. Well, the mysteries surrounding him are not answered or even mentioned once. Someone says his name, but only in passing. We learn nothing about him.

6. Angela. The most mysterious and intriguing character in the whole series gets even more mysterious as she faces down the priests of Helgrind and singlehandedly defeats them. She proves herself able to fight with her mind... and apparently she's better at it than Eragon or Arya, who are two of the greatest magicians in the world. Urgals, werecats and elves all respect and fear her, yet she admits she cannot face Galby because he is so powerful. Yet she controls weapons and spells that no one else even understands. Seriously, WHO IS SHE? We get a couple hints, and those imply that she is thousands of years old. Is she one of the Grey Folk, or perhaps the Soothsayer? This mystery bothers me A LOT because she is a strong, compelling, mysterious character that is given absolutely no history whatsoever.

7. The Faceless Monks on Vroengard. Eragon sees these guys momentarily, which indicates that humans (elves?) live in the rider's fallen city, which is one of the most hostile environments in the world. Although the setting on Vroengard (and its strange beasts) was excellent, the mysterious presence of these figures was utterly forgotten about within a page and never mentioned or considered ever again. Seriously, what was the point of that?

8. The Menoa Tree. What was her price? Eragon asks, and the tree sort of laughs... and then ignores him. It's ridiculous. Was her price the death of Galby? Or was it nothing? And if it was either of those, why didn't she just say so? When Eragon asks, she could merely say "the price is already paid", or something like that. But no. She says nothing. Another question unanswered.

9. Orrin. He acted like a drunk jerk the whole book, and even tried to kill Roran! And why? Some of the characters said it was "stress" or something like that. Well, if it was a temporary thing, then he should have recovered, and this recovery should have been made obvious to the reader. Honestly, though, I was expecting him to be the source of all the information Glaby was receiving. I was expecting him to reveal that he had been bespelled, or given an offer he couldn't refuse. I could see Galby telling him in a dream, "if the rebellion fails, I will give you half of my kingdom." That might be enough reason for him to take up drinking and act like a stressed out soulless monster. Seriously, this was just random and pointless. Another question unanswered.

10. Murtagh. For a time, he seemed to have closure. He escapes Galby and rides Thorn off into the sunset, but speaks to Eragon and redeems himself first. I was glad that he and Thorn were finally happy and could go on with their lives. Yet, they leave with 110 pages remaining in the book... And never show up again. No one even mentions them. They simply fly away and disappear.

11. Murtagh+Nasuada. For a while, this was my favorite storyline. Nasuada, kidnapped and tortured. Murtagh offering her comfort and trying to save her. The romance and comradeship between these two was true, organic, and did not feel false or contrived at all. I was eager to see how this romance played out, with Nasuada the likely heir to the empire and Murtagh untrusted and likely to be exiled. Murtagh even admits that it was his care for Nasuada that allowed him to break Galby's spell and fight him. So much could have been made of this relationship, but what happens? Nothing. Yep, nothing. Murtagh flies into the sunset and Nasuada never mentions him again. Talk about disappointing! We are given hope for a unique storyline, only to have it forgotten and ignored.

12. Queen Arya. Yeah, Queen Arya. This struck me as incredibly unlikely. Arya had stated (multiple times, IIRC) that she did not want to rule, and would rather ferry dragon eggs back and forth until the end of time. A noble decision, but one which never happens. Why? Well, apparently all the other elves really want her to be queen. Like, really, really, REALLY want her to be Queen. The reasons for their choice are not explored. But they badger her until she agrees. Really? I didn't know elves could be so adamant about giving a position of leadership to one who refuses to take it. Further, I am amazed that Arya accepts and then feels duty-bound to rule to the best of her ability. So, why didn't she just accept the crown temporarily or something? You know, "I'll be queen, but only until our realms are safe once again" or something like that. Further, she could abdicate the throne any time she wants. I mean, no one can MAKE her be Queen, can they?

13. Arya+Eragon. The epic romance is reduced to a bunch of epic angsting and, ultimately, nothing. I did not find this as disappointing as some, as I predicted from the start that they would never get together. But still, that does not make it better. Arya should have, without question, joined Eragon in his trip to the East and she should have helped him in re-establishing the riders. They could have been King and Queen of the new riders. I never expected them to get in bed together, but for Arya to just ABANDON him like that is ridiculous. Why did she leave him? Does she want to remain Queen of the elves? I find that hard to believe.

14. Firnen. Firnen was, without a doubt, the most pointless character in the whole book. His face may be on the cover, but he served no purpose whatsoever. First off, he should have hatched BEFORE the climax. It doesn't matter if he was as big as a puppy when Galby died, at least he could have served some purpose. As it is, he added absolutely nothing to the story because he only appeared after the story was over. Secondly, he was the greatest source of contention among fans before the book was published. Now, I'm not saying that the fans should decide how a book is written, but doesn't it make sense that the fan favorite should get a little more screen time than Firnen gets here? After years of guessing and theorizing, he appears with fifty pages left and has, what, one line of dialogue? Disappointing beyond words can say. (Even Snowfire, the horse, advanced the story more than Firnen.)

15. Firnen+Saphira. Ugh. This was the one storyline that I found, in the end, insulting. Saphira finds a male dragon that is not under Galby's control, and the first thing she can think of is boinking him. Nevermind that he is six months old. Nevermind that neither Arya nor Eragon gave their blessing. Nevermind that she met him less than two minutes ago. From then on, Saphira is barely even a part of the story as she and Firnen are far to busy having a bunch of (offscreen) dragon sex. So not only does Firnen barely exist, but he serves no greater purpose to the story than a barnyard stud. Now, I have no problem with Saphira finding a mate and raising a clutch of eggs, but this was absolutely the worst way to do it. She could have raised the eggs they found in the Vault of Souls. Besides, it is well established that she is vain, right? So why would she take the first eligible bachelor she sees? She should have made him work for it. Made him prove his strength and worthiness. As it is, I would have preferred she get knocked up with Glaedr. At least she knew him.

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!!!!!!!!!!END SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!

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In the end, this book was simply too full of unanswered questions. Really. Go look at the titles of each of the 15 points above. Most of them could have been solved after the climax, or with a short paragraph somewhere within the story. Some could have been resolved with a single sentence. But we are given no resolution. No answers. Yes, Galby is defeated. Yes, peace now reigns. But the questions that REALLY MATTER are unanswered.

So where does that leave us?

I feel, when it is all over, that Inheritance was the conclusion to one storyline, but the beginning of another. It would not surprise me to hear in the next couple months of the upcoming EMPIRE: the first book of the Next Inheritance Trilogy. That is fine with me. I have no business telling Paolini what he can or cannot write. (Look at McCaffrey's Pern. 25 books over the past 50 years.) I fully support more books set in Alegaesia.

However, I feel that in setting up whatever comes next, Paolini has forgotten to give us any closure in THIS book. There are too many riddles remaining. Too many questions unanswered.

Look, lets get one thing out of the way: Inheritance is a good book on its own. Paolini spent many years of his life working on this book, and he clearly has talent. When I read about the battles I could see it in my mind's eye. When Eragon was left alone to run the Varden, I could feel his fear at his own incompetence to run this task. And when the "Kings" gathered after the climax of the book to discuss what was going to happen now, and old racial prejudices came out, I felt it was realistic and very well done. As a book, Inheritance is great. I simply could not put it down until the end.

But it is not just a book. It is the end to a series.

At this point, the story should be driven by the characters, wrapped up by the characters, and fulfilled by the characters. This is, what I feel is, Paolini's main weakness. He does not build a world with a story and have characters drive the story forward, he drives the story forward and has characters along for the ride. That would be ok for the first book in the series, when he was still building his world, but this isn't the first book. In fact, "Eragon," the first book in the series, felt organic. In "Inheritance" Paolini demands certain story points to come, not of the character's volition, but his own. Let me explain: in the first book, there was a prophecy that Eragon would leave Alagaesia and never return. So in the end of this book, it comes to pass. Why exactly? Why can't he just fly back into Alagaesia, when he has thousands of years to live and family and friends in the region? There is no logical reason, he just must. It is as if this was done just to satisfy the prophecy, a plot point, and not the character's own decision. After rebuilding the Riders, couldn't Eragon take at least 1 week to go to Alagaesia, out of the thousands of years he is alive? And yet, he will "never" return. This isn't organic: Eragon would return to see his niece, see his family, his friends (Orik for example) and his love (Arya). It only makes sense. What logical reason limits him from returning, even for a brief time?

And speaking of his love, Arya should have left with him (leaving Alagaesia, that is). I'm not saying this as a contrived fanboy demanding the plot to follow my whim. Rather, Arya as a character never loved to live a royal life, or exclusively a life amongst the elves (as she repeated in multiple books at multiple times). She is "use" to the humans and dwarves. So how does Paolini explain her decision to become queen? The persistance of the elves (persistance that lasts a week, according to the book). This makes no sense. She has lived for over 100 years, and rarely spent time with her mother or spent extended amounts of time amongst the elves exclusively. Again, Paolini explains her decision by saying that the elves "need" her. But the humans "need" Eragon. Again, Paolini, in his mind, decided long ago that Arya was to be queen. It does not seem to bother him that she did not organically reach her decision. Rather he formed a plot point, and fitted the characters in whether they would actually act in the way he desired them to act or not. This makes sense when you first start a series, when you are first inventing your characters. But now your characters have a life of their own (albeit, a fictional one), and they should organically flow into the story. Their actions should naturally lead to a conclusion. Instead we get Arya and Eragon saying their true names to one another as the only "romance" which was prophecized in the first book.

And the true names. What were they? Whole chapters are devoted to the true names, the name of names, but they are never revealed, nor hinted at. This may make sense to Paolini, since these phrases are so complex or deep that leaving them a unknown is more effective than explaining them, but I repeat: whole chapters are devoted to the discovery of these names. I could not form a connection with Arya, Saphira, or Eragon, about who they truly were, when their "names" we hear so much about is simply not elaborated on. I hate to say this, but this seems like laziness from Paolini.

And then there was various loose ends. That mysterious women from the previous book that saves Roran in "Inheritance," now with two children in row, should never have existed. She has no point. There is no mystery. There just is no backstory to be explored. The same goes for Angela. Sure, Paolini notes that he did not reveal who see really was intentionally, but the problem is that she has no backstory. There can be no MYSTERY unless there is something that one does not know fully. In the case of Angela, she is simply effective with the blade, potions/toxins, and magic (and her mind). She is the "Wise one" to the elves, hated by the head of the werecats, and respected by the Urgals. There is mystery in some of these issues, but as a whole, we know nothing about her. If Paolini never picked up the world he created here again, we would not miss much of her. Despite the obvious importance of her origins, no hint is given of who she is. And thus I cannot wonder who she is, because I have no starting point for exploring her as a character. She could be the Soothsayer, or not. Who knows?

I am sure there are other loose ends, unnatural character progressions in relation to the story, etc, woven into the book which I will not explore. I will not even mention Orrin. We understand there is stress here, but nevertheless, Paolini trashes Orrin's character, giving him no respect and protraying him as a drunk and an outsider to the "true" heros, aka Nasuada, Orik, Arya, and Eragon. Yet it was thanks to him that the invasion of the Empire even begun at all. Instead of respecting him as a character, Paolini made him jump from an eccentric, good natured man to a drunk with no more wisdom to share with Nasuada than a commoner (unlike what he was in earlier books, a guide and helper). Again, this is another example of Paolini putting the story in front of the character. This character was invented a few books ago, so we should see his organic growth, and if you wanted to make him a drunken weakling by the end, there should be some sort of PROGRESSION to that point. There is not. What we have is a plot point (Orrin breaks down) and the character following the plot point, regardless. Was there a character flaw that led to his break down? Was there a reason for his breakdown specifically (after a certain event in the war)?

I know I am being harsh here, but this is one of the few series I really enjoyed. Eragon was a masterpiece. Eldest left me wanting more (in a good way). Brisinger expanded the lore of the series. Inheritance concluded the series, to be sure, and did some really great things, but it just left too much loose ends and was to unusual (Eragon leaving forever for no good reason, save a prophecy, the key word here being that "forever" isn't necessary) for me to enjoy through and through. I loved how Murtaugh and Nasuada fell in love. It WAS ORGANIC, it made sense in terms of who they were as characters. I loved Galbatorix, the dead-centered logic of his actions, neither contrived (aka typical bad guy) nor shallow, but rather a logic that Nasuada herself admitted was a problem (the problem of magic). I love how everything did not just return to the way it was, but things changed after this history shattering even (Urgals and Dwarves join the Riders, for example). I love how Carvahall is still given attention (as with Brigit and the "blood price"). I love the epic battles, intense, difficult, always trying, always tense. But for all I love, I have the problems I mentioned above. Roran is a very strong character, but why do we still have to focus on his exploits? It made sense when we were exploring the events in the Empire while Eragon was in Du Weldenvarden, but now they are both fighting in the same war, roughly in the same battles (although, obviously, Roran heads to Aroughs). Why do we have to follow him still? This is my only real criticism of the book in and of itself. The criticisms above relate the book to the series as a whole, which is why I can say that this book is great ON ITS OWN but not as the completion of the series.

In the end, I applaud Paolini. As hard as it is for him to hear these criticisms, I hope he sees them for what they are and does not reject them off hand as a fanboy who wanted things to go his way. Paolini is a strong writer, and Alagaesia is to me a real world I can imagine in my mind's eye. It seems to be, however, that Paolini lost his grip on that fact, not with the world itself, but with the characters. He felt that the plot had to follow some points, and he fixed the characters into those points. A good series creates characters that organically grow with you, and their actions (and the actions upon them from others) naturally flows into the story as a whole. The Inheritance cycle is only partially there, with loose ends that weaken it further. For every good point I make, I feel a little disappointed that I can also make a harsh criticism.