The Radical Child

Inheritance by Christopher Paolini
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

***Spoiler Alert***

Author Christopher Paolini dedicates the final entry of his Inheritance Cycle to his family, not to mention the dreamers and artists that made possible his literary adventure. As with prior sequels, he opens with plot synopses of its predecessors, although he precedes the summaries of Eragon and its successors with a history of the books’ world, Alagaësia. The first inhabitants of the world were dragons, before the god Helzvog created the dwarves, who warred with the fantasy reptiles. Then the elves came into being, and they made a truce with the dragons, creating the legendary order of Dragon Riders.

Humans, Urgals, and Ra’zac followed, with a Dragon Rider named Galbatorix enslaving the dragon Shruikan and convincing thirteen others, known as the Forsworn, to join him, and decimates the Dragon Rider order. The insurgent Varden steal from him a blue dragon egg and hide it in a mountain range known as the Spine, with a young farmboy named Eragon finding it, and soon receiving a blue dragon he names Saphira. Eragon and his mentor, the storyteller Brom, who he later finds out is his father, joins them, as does Murtagh, son of Morzan, one of the Forsaken, who is Eragon’s half-brother through their mother Selena.

After a battle between the Varden and the Empire in the Beor Mountains, Ajihad, leader of the Varden, is killed, and Murtagh captured, with Eragon beckoned to the northern elven woods by a voice, and he trains for forthcoming battles there. Meanwhile, Eragon’s cousin Roran deals with issues back at home in Carvahall, namely the Ra’zac, with he and his fellow citizens embarking on an odyssey that ultimately leads them to unite with the Varden. Other battles follow, during which Eragon creates a new sword with the help of an elven blacksmith he names Brisingr, and after a fight in which another mentor, Oromis, loses his dragon Glaedr, the events of the fourth book commence.

The concluding entry opens with Eragon, Saphira, and the Varden engaged in a battle over the city of Belatona. Alliance with the Werecats is discussed, as are King Galbatorix’s potential weaknesses, supposedly the gaps in his logic and magical wards. A woman among the Varden has a baby born with a “cat lip,” which is likely equivalent to real-life harelips, with Eragon tasked with healing the infant. Battle comes to Dras-Leona, with the Varden enduring a few crises, and Eragon and Saphira seeking their true names, the Rock of Kuthian, the Vault of Souls, and their “true names” in hopes of finding an advantage versus Galbatorix.

Overall, the final entry of Paolini’s saga is definitely enjoyable, although as with its predecessors, it’s somewhat derivative of other works such as Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and the Star Wars film. Even so, there’s plentiful originality regarding the in-universe languages and nomenclature of various characters, lands, and other elements, with a pronunciation guide following the main text so that readers aren’t left clueless as to how to say the unique names. Paolini acknowledges at the end that the last book was the most difficult to write, with a little over a decade necessary for him to finish his fantasy cycle, which is very much worthwhile.

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Eldest by Christopher Paolini
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In the second installment of author Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle, which the writer dedicates to family and friends, Eragon and his dragon Saphira have just saved the Varden from the forces of the ruler of the Empire, King Galbatorix, and now must travel to the land of the elves, Ellesméra, to further his studies in magic and swordsmanship so he can be a better Dragon Rider, although he knows not whom he can trust, given occasional chaos and betrayal. In the meantime, his cousin Roran deals with his own struggles back home in Carvahall, potentially endangering Eragon.

Preceding the main text is a synopsis of the first installment of the tetralogy, in which Eragon had discovered a polished blue stone in the Spine that turned out to be a dragon egg from which his dragon Saphira hatched, becoming a Dragon Rider capable of casting magic. When humans arrived in the novels’ setting, Alagaësia, they too became part of the mentioned order. A Dragon Rider named Galbatorix had his own dragon killed by Urgals, driving him mad and provoking him to steal another dragon, decimating the order, with the beetle-like Ra’zac seeking the egg Eragon got from the Spine.

Eragon ultimately names his dragon and embarks upon an adventure with Carvahall’s storyteller Brom, finding that he’s part of the insurgent group the Varden after meeting with his friend Jeod. Eragon is captured by the enemy yet escapes imprisonment with the elf Arya, and finds further companionship in Murtagh, the son of Morzan, the last of the Forsaken. Following the battle at the headquarters of the Varden, Eragon falls unconscious but ultimately recovers, telepathically communicated to by the being Togira Ikonoka, who tells him to go the elven land of Ellesméra.

Three days after the battle at Tronjheim, with Eragon having earned the title of Shadeslayer for defeating Durza, although doing so was luck for the Dragon Rider, since Arya had destroyed the giant gem Isidar Mithrim to distract Durza and allow Eragon to kill him. His companion Murtagh is captured by Urgals, and Ajihad urges Eragon to not let the Varden fall into chaos, given their eventual search for a new leader, with various factions manipulating the Dragon Rider. As Saphira delights in her newfound firebreathing capabilities, Nasuada is suggested as the successor to leadership of the Varden.

Meanwhile, back in the ruins of Carvahall, Roran hunts among the remains of his abode, blaming his cousin Eragon for the death of his father Garrow. A magician named Trianna urges Eragon to go to Ellesméra with Arya to hone his skills, and thus, the two leave, traveling with a few dwarves who go northward on rafts. They eventually reach he wilderness harboring the elves known as Du Weldenvarden, where Eragon trains. In the battle concluding the second book, certain twists occur, alongside the eventual reunion of Eragon with his cousin, who with fellow villagers dealt with the Ra’zac.

Paolini follows the main text with a helpful pronunciation guide, and indications in his acknowledgements section that he began creating his series when he was but fifteen years old, thanking his parents, sister, and editor, and noting that when he published the second book at twenty-one, his series was still a trilogy. After this is a history of Alagaësia, called in-universe the Domia Abr Wyrda, the name Alagaësia itself meaning fertile land. Dwarves provide the most accurate calendar for the universe, with the present time in the tetralogy’s chronology being 7982 After Creation by the god of the dwarves.

The author provides a databank and a sample chapter from the series’ third entry where Eragon and Roran ride Saphira together, and his biography notes that the scenery of his native State of Montana partially inspired his literary creations. Overall, the second entry of the Inheritance Cycle is pretty much on par with its predecessor, which is a good thing, even if the franchise is somewhat derivative of other works such as the Star Wars saga. Paolini occasionally provides interesting twists on mythological creatures, such as dwarves having seven toes on each foot, which very much helps his novels stand apart from other fantasy narratives.

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