The Inheritance Cycle 4: Inheritance
Author: Christopher Paolini Genre: Fantasy Year of Publication: 2011 Pages: 849
Writing: 1/10 Plot: 1/10 Characters: 1/10 Creativity: 1/10
Overall: 1/10
I don’t have to read this crap anymore! HOORAY!
Finally done! This is the worst fantasy series I’ve ever read. The problems I have with Inheritance are the same problems I have for the entire series, so I’m going to go over some book-specific points before I tear the whole series apart.
First, a few things I liked:
Elva. She’s still cool. I like her powers and her “I’m sick of your shit, Eragon” attitude. I like her.
Angela. She’s still the most interesting character in the book. I wish the series was about her.
The werecats and urgals. Both are really neat and I wish the books were about them.
The writing is marginally better than Eldest and Brisingr. Marginally…
That’s it.
Things I hated:
So much time is dedicated to the Varden capturing cities for… literally no reason. It doesn’t matter to the plot! We waste so many pages following them taking over cities and for what? Capturing the cities didn’t give them an advantage over Galbatorix. They could’ve gone straight to the capital and sieged it. What a waste of fucking time.
Fucking Roran defeats an army by sitting in a chair and playing dice and this is treated like an extremely clever trick. I’m not kidding. The man sees an army running toward him and his team and instead of confronting them, Roran sits on his ass and just talks to them and they turn around and leave. Wtf happened? Why was this useless chapter written? It served no purpose. (pg 149-153)
Roran sucks and I hate him. He straight up threatens some poor servant girls with torture just because they didn’t give him information (pg 197-199). The maniac even thinks about collecting their teeth as trophies. I’m supposed to like this character, right?
Two whole chapters are about Eragon fixing a baby’s cleft lip and I could care less. (pg 64-81)
Three pages are dedicated to describing a man’s fingernails… do I need to say anything else? Go read for yourself. (pg 414-416)
Nasuada’s chapters after her kidnapping are boring and unnecessary. I skipped them.
Arya is the lamest, most boring character ever. A plank of wood has more personality than her. I hate her so damn much. So much time is dedicated to her but none of that time was spent making her a real character!
We are still TOLD that Eragon and Saphira have an unbreakable bond. We never SEE these two actually bond. Four books and I still do not believe these two are best friends.
Eragon constantly complains about killing people and then proceeds to kill people. There’s one part where he whines about killing some animals in order to harvest their life energy (pg 270-271), then later he’s relieved when his sword slashes people (279). You can’t have it both ways, Paolini. You can’t have your main character regret his mass murder whilst still killing people. Why doesn’t the killing traumatize him? Does he only care about killing animals? He’s not a vegan anymore so why tf does he care now? Wtf even is Eragon’s character at this point?
Eragon and company are so overpowered that it makes every fight scene boring as fuck. There’s no tension in any of the scenes because you know that every main character is going to make it out alive and unwounded. They have magic that can heal all wounds in seconds. They have magical wards that can block most damage. They can make almost perfect replicas of people that can fight for them. They have weapons that are so damn broken they obliterate all tension. Eragon’s fire-sword can melt steel and rock and never needs to be sharpened evidently. Angela literally has a sword that is the sharpest sword in the world and it can cut through metal like butter. They have a magical dragon-killing spear that comes out of nowhere and was never mentioned in earlier books that kills the Big Bad’s dragon in one hit. Fucking Galbatorix uses “the Word” aka the ancient language’s true name in order to stop all magic then Murtagh uses the same damn word to debilitate him. Like what? Murtagh is powerful enough to just do that? It’s so stupid. Where are the stakes? Where’s the tension? Eragon and company cut through people like cheese. All of it is boring.
Eragon defeats Glabatorix with the power of understanding. No seriously. Eragon made Galbatorix, the most powerful man alive, literally explode from guilt. That’s the climax. That’s how the Big Bad is defeated… with a Deus ex Machina. Paolini made the bad guy so strong that he had to make up some last-minute bullshit to kill him.
I didn’t even bother reading the last 200 pages because I’m done. I’m done I’m done I’m done. I don’t want to read any more of this crap!
Now on to the entire series.
The Characters: They are not characters, they’re names. No one, not a single soul, develops throughout four massive books. This is the biggest issue I have with them. I’m a character reader. I can forgive mediocre plots if the characters are fantastic. WereWorld, my favorite book series, has an okay plot but amazing and memorable characters! Gretchen, Hector, Whitley, Vega, Lucas, and everyone else are so varied and distinct. They grow, they have baggage, they have relationships, they have desires, and they have flaws. They feel like real people! The Inheritance Cycle has none of that! These characters are just tropes. Eragon has zero flaws. We are told that he’s arrogant, but we never see that. We are told that he struggles with the morality of war, but we don’t see that. We are told that he doesn’t like to kill, but we see him slaughter entire armies like they’re nothing. He’s not a character. He’s not even a Mary Sue. Mary Sues have personalities. He’s really fucking powerful and that’s it. Garrow’s, Broms’ and Oromis’ deaths don’t affect him at all. He doesn’t break down. He doesn’t really reflect on all that has happened to him. We are told that he misses Brom and Garrow, but we do not see him yearning for them. It’s like he doesn’t care that much about them. Eragon is not a person, he’s a name.
I keep bringing up the “feeling bad about killing things whilst still killing things” aspect a lot because it’s the most inconsistent part about him. In Eldest, he adopted the elves’ veganism because, with magic, he felt connected to all living things. He was able to intimately connect to animals that he used to deem insignificant like rabbits and ants and saw that their lives were more complex than he thought. So, he vows to stop eating meat because the idea of taking the life of another sickened him. Makes sense. Fast forward to Brisingr, he’s back to eating meat like it was nothing. He decapitates people, but whines about killing a few animals to harvest their energy for his magic. This bothers the shit out of me because I feel that having a pacifist character could’ve made this series more interesting like how Aang is in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Aang is a vegetarian and a pacifist. He fights with a staff, a pacifist’s weapon, and uses his airbending to knock out his foes instead of killing them. Aang keeps his nomadic teachings close to heart and never falters on that. It’s the reason why he was so conflicted about killing Ozai. He went out of his way to find a way to defeat him without taking a life. Eragon could’ve been like this. After connecting to the animals and seeing how varied and vast their lives are, he could have sworn off killing all things and become a pacifist. He could have tried to diplomatically convince Galbatorix’s followers to join him. I think it would have been really cool if he connected to Shruikan, Galbatorix’s dragon, and turned him against him. Have Galbatorix die from his own hubris. It would’ve made for an interesting twist on the typical “farmboy turned hero” archetype.
Another thing that bothers me is Eragon’s illiteracy and how little it mattered. In Eragon, Eragon cannot read so Brom teaches him how and then he’s reading like it’s nothing. Why have him be illiterate if it didn’t matter? If Eragon is supposed to be some country bumpkin that can’t read, why doesn’t he act like it? Why doesn’t he talk like it? I think it would have been interesting if he stayed illiterate. Perhaps he forgoes magic because he finds it to be too much to handle and understand. He can dislike magic users and elves because they speak in riddles, but he relates to the dwarves and urgals because they’re more straightforward. Again, this would have been an interesting take on this trope. If he’s a farmboy, why doesn’t he retain any of his farmboy qualities? Why does he use a sword? I feel like a sword would be too alien for a guy who grew up cutting wheat with a scythe. Why not have him use a battle scythe? Battle-scythes are real and they’re to coolest things ever. I feel that he would connect better with a weapon similar to the tools he grew up with. Where are the spears and axes? Any polearm would have been a better fit for when he’s riding on Saphira because of the longer reach. Clumsily slashing with a sword while flying around on a dragon is just too stupid for me to take seriously. Whenever Eragon and Murtagh are fighting on Saphira and Thorn respectfully and they’re swinging their swords around, I find it hilarious. These two tiny specks on massive dragons are trying to cut each other. The dragons have to get stupidly close so they could hit each other. It’s dumb! You want more reach when mounted. If you get too close to an enemy, they can gash your mount and send you flying off it. He can use some magic like “Brisingr” (as it was the first spell he used), and maybe a few basic healing spells, but that’ll be it. Instead of making him an actual god, have him be a hardened warrior that attempts to navigate a world of spells and magical creatures. He’s a Dragon Rider who hardly/doesn’t use magic. He could’ve stood out that way.
Either one of these interpretations would have made a better character.
I find it funny that Paolini really wants us to like Eragon but there are times when Eragon is just an unlikeable little shit such as when he tortured Sloan for no reason. Sloan, Katrina’s dad, is a bastard. He gave up the Carvahall villagers to the empire which led to their homes being destroyed and Katrina being captured. So Eragon doesn’t like him, but when he goes to rescue Katrina from the Ra’zac, he finds Sloan there- tortured and unconscious. Sloan, despite betraying his people to the Ra’zac, was tortured by the Empire, regardless. A bunch of badly written fight scenes later, Eragon takes Sloan somewhere while telling Roran and Katrina that he died (for no good reason). He thinks about what he should do with Sloan and decides that Sloan shouldn’t go back to the rebel camps, he shouldn’t be arrested, he shouldn’t go back to be with his daughter, but instead, he should walk the fucking Earth to the Elf Kingdom against his will. Because that’s better than just arresting him. Eragon, inexplicably, stumbles across Sloan’s true name (I‘ll talk about how stupid this is later on) and uses it to force Sloan to walk all the way to the elf villages (or whatever the fuck the place is called. Idc) and stay there until he dies. This is fucked up! Why is arresting him out of the question? How is this more humane, Eragon? Keeping a blind, feeble old man away from his family in a foreign land surrounded by stuffy elves against his free will for the rest of his days is so fucked up. Eragon, as in Paolini, thinks this is more humane than simply arresting him. He doesn’t even allow Sloan to redeem himself! What type of backward morality shit is this??
Eragon becomes an elf-human hybrid in book two. I’m not kidding. Paolini has a hard-on for elves. He only cares about them and their everything. I don’t like elves in general, but I really hate them here- I’ll dig into them later. Going back to Eragon, him becoming an elf is just one of the many power-ups he receives throughout the series. Paolini uses power-ups in lieu of real character growth. In book one, Eragon gets a dragon. In book two, he becomes an elf. In book three, he gets a busted-ass o.p. fire sword. In book four, he taps into the power of the Eldunari and becomes a god. Eragon is wish fulfillment. That’s it. Power-ups cannot replace characters. Hell, Dragon Ball Z understands this. Though the power-ups in that series are ridiculous, the characters have to work for it (for the most part). It took effort and willpower for Gohan to achieve Super Saiyan Two, the best transformation in the series (this is a fact. No one can tell me otherwise). That power-up was the result of Gohan finally letting go of his passivity and becoming the hero he was destined to be. He could no longer hide. He could no longer rely on others. If he wanted to save the planet and the people he loved, he had to embrace his strength and take down Cell. Man, I’m getting goosebumps just writing this! If Eragon earned his power-ups through actual character growth, I wouldn’t mind it, however, that’s not what happened. It makes me dislike him more than I already do. Getting Saphira, okay sure, that was an accident. Everything else, though? They were given to him by the author. I don’t care about Eragon. I don’t care about his journey. I don’t care about his overpowered sword. I don’t care about his power-ups. He’s not a person. He’s a name.
Saphira is a complete waste. I hate (HATE) how Paolini seems to not give a shit about Saphira. I ranted about this in my Eldest review but let me state it again. In Eldest, we get one paragraph describing Saphira’s training with Glaedr, the ancient dragon, and a few measly sentences describing her motherfucking parents. Before meeting Glaedr, Saphira believed that she and Shruikan were the last dragons. She knew that she would have to slay Shruikan so, to her, she’s basically the last dragon. Then she meets Glaedr and is excited, understandably. And do we ever get to see just the two of them talk? Do we ever get to see the two of them bond? Do we ever get to see Glaedr teaching her about her history? Do we ever get to see Glaedr teach Saphira how to fly better, how to control her fire, or how to fight in the sky? Do we ever get to see Glaedr help her discover who her parents were? Do we ever get to see Saphira’s reaction to learning about her parents? No. We get nothing. There isn’t a word that can describe my immense disappointment. My hatred. My rage. Why? These events are vital to Saphira’s character. At least, they should have been. Why don’t we ever get Saphira’s point of view in Eldest? We get her P.O.V in Brisingr, but I didn’t read that far (that book nearly killed me). However, we do get one (just the one) chapter in her P.O.V in Inheritance and it’s just her going “RAWR ME MIGHTY DRAGON! FEAR ME!” She looks like a fucking dumb, destructive animal, not the intelligent ancient being she’s supposed to be. It’s incredible how tone-deaf this is. Speaking of her intelligence can we talk about how braindead it is to give her inherited knowledge? I hate how, as soon as she’s able to talk, she’s lecturing to Eragon. In book one, she exposits to him that she has inherited knowledge from dragons of the past. I hate this because it removes any growth she could have had and it puts her above Eragon in terms of maturity. How tf is Eragon supposed to bond with her if she’s basically 1000 years old mentally? Stupid…
Saphira's telepathy. Why can’t she just speak normally? It was kind of cool in Eragon, because it seemed like she could only speak to Riders and other magical creatures, but after a while, she can just project her thoughts onto everyone and anyone. So why can’t she just talk out loud? Why give her this limitation when it’s not a real limitation?
These two never felt like friends to me. We are told that they are, but they don’t feel like it. Eragon breezes right on past their growth together. Eldest never gives us a scene of them learning together. Brisingr is worthless. Inheritance tells us that they are close friends but we don’t SEE IT. When they go to the vault of souls, they have to speak their true names which reveal their inner natures and Eragon is crying after Saphira speaks hers saying “I’m so glad I’m your Rider.” This could have been an emotional moment if their relationship was actually built up. Saphira calls Eragon her “soul-bond” (or something like that) and I’m like “Bitch, wtf are you talking about?!” The bulk of these books are dedicated to Eragon and other characters (not Saphira) dicking around. Saphira doesn’t feel like her own person. She feels like Eragon’s pet. She doesn’t have her own desires. She never thinks about her flaws or tries to fix them. She lacks agency. Her supposed best friend is Eragon, but Eragon is a bad friend. He uses Saphira for damn near everything but never bothers to ask how she’s doing outside of battle. He just takes and takes and never gives. Saphira deserves better. We never get a scene of her thinking about everything that has happened to her. Saphira should’ve been one of the most important characters in the story, but she’s not and that’s… sad really.
Arya and Nasuada are interchangeable. They’re both smart, strong, and perfect. That’s it. Nasuada is the perfect leader (even though she makes dumb decisions most of the time) and Ayra is just flawless in everything. Neither character have issues nor do they have personalities. Fucking Nasuada becomes a damsel in distress in Inheritance. Arya is so damn perfect that she’s boring. Perfect= bad. I don’t want to read a character that’s great at everything. I liked Nasuada in Eldest because she was the only character doing something that was important to the plot, but she devolved as the story went on. Fuck Roran as well. He also makes stupid decisions but the narrative rewards him constantly. I don’t have much to say about him, really. I just hate his character and wish he wasn’t in the story. He adds nothing and is not interesting. He and Eragon do not feel like family members. Relationships in general do not feel real. It’s all bad.
The other characters like the furry elf, Katrina, Orik, Glaedr, Oromis, Brom, Garrow, etc. are not even worth mentioning. They follow their archetypes to a point. Some of them don’t even have personalities (‘cough cough’ Katrina ‘cough’). Elva, the werecats, and Angela are the only characters allowed to have personalities hence why I like them the most.
The Plot: It’s drawn out. These books are too damn long for a plot that could have lasted one book. Pages upon pages are dedicated to meaningless drivel. Eragon: long traveling scenes. Eldest: Long scenes of Eragon doing nothing. Brisingr: All of it. Inheritance: Pointless city-taking scenes, boring Nasuada-being-captured scenes that I skipped, 200+ pages of epilogue, and other shit I don’t care about. These books are too damn long. The plot is just “we must defeat the evil king and free the land.” It’s so generic that it’s painful. Nothing is unique, nothing entices me. These books are terrible. Paolini would rather talk about elves’ pubic hair, a man’s fingernails, a baby’s cleft lip, stupid weapons that Eragon uses once, Roran’s boring fucking wedding, Eragon’s facial hair, and pointless battle scenes then give us actual plot development.
Okay… so let’s talk about the weird atheism message in Eldest, because I really want to talk about it. In Eldest, Eragon and Oromis get into this stupid, worthless argument about the existence of gods and it’s the cringiest shit I’ve ever read. I’m agnostic, I don’t fuck with religion, but dear lord the arguments! Oromis is literally like, “If I can’t prove it with science, it’s fake.” What is this? Reddit? It’s really fucking gross how Paolini treats religion. There’s a scene earlier in the book where Arya tells a dwarf priest that his gods are not real.
Truncated for simplicity.
Arya inclined her head. “Grimsborith.”
“Arya.”
“You have been educating Eragon in your mythology?”
Gannel smiled flatly. “One should always understand the faith of the society that one belongs to.”
“Yet comprehension does not imply belief.”…”Nor does it mean that those who purvey such beliefs do so for more than… material gain.”
“You deny the sacrifices my clan makes to bring comfort to our brethern?”
“I deny nothing, only ask what good might be accomplished if your wealth were spread among the needy, the starving, the homeless, or even to buy supplies for the Varden. Instead, you’ve piled it into a monument to your own wishfulthinking.”
“Enough!”… “Without us, the crops would wither in drought. Rivers and lakes would flood. Our flocks would give birth to one-eyed beasts. The very heavens would shatter under the gods’ rage.” Arya smiled. “Only our prayers and service prevent that from happening.”…
…
After a few minutes, Arya raised her hand, stopping Gannel, and said, “That is the difference between us, Grimsborith. You devote yourself to that which you believe to be true but cannot prove. There, we must agree to disagree.”
Eldest, pg 119-120
We’re supposed to like Arya, right? Why is she antagonizing this poor guy over his beliefs? What did he do? Why is she being so argumentative? Plus her argument is bullshit anyway. What is wrong with people giving gifts to the church? It’s not like the church is corrupt. She’s not Martin Luther. She’s not fighting against a shady clergy who forces people to pay their way to heaven. She’s just being rude to people who dare to pay respects to their gods. Wow, Arya. You suck. I hate how she smiles too. So smug. It’s gross. Paolini intentionally makes the beliefs of the dwarves silly so it is easier for the elves to debunk them and come off as right. Later on, Oromis tells Eragon that the dwarves believe that rocks are alive. It’s intentionally stupid. Paolini created a strawman to talk shit about religion. Cringe. I hate how, with this book, he teaches young people that, in order for religion to be important it needs to be proven by science. This is a really bad thing to teach people. Faith doesn’t need to be proven. Science and religion are not inherently opposed. Do you think that all scientists are atheists? Do you think all believers are science deniers? It’s gross and it’s a mindset I really hate. Shit on shady religious institutions that teach harmful beliefs. Shit on religious practices that actively harm people. Don’t shit on people who believe in a higher power. Paolini was (I believe) 21 when he wrote Eldest. I’m 23 and I learned not to be an asshole when I was 13. Come on!
Oh yeah and none of this matters to the plot by the way. We get this whole “fuck religion” theme and it has nothing to do with the story. It doesn’t affect Eragon at all. It’s all pointless. It’s so odd that Paolini uses this book to stand on his soapbox when none of it is important. He does the same thing with veganism. None of this fucking matters. Not all stories have to have points to them. I don’t like the idea that you have to be saying something impactful with your work. Sometimes, a story is just a story. People are going to find meaning within it and that’s fine. Death of the Author and all that. It only becomes a problem when you are trying to say something and that thing falls completely flat or comes off as offensive. Here, Paolini is being offensive. He’s talking down to religious people by crafting this strawman. There’s no nuance. The dwarves are made to be wrong. That’s cringe and really shitty. And it’s all pointless.
The Writing: It’s horrendous. Overwritten, pretentious, wordy, and cringey. These books are filled with some of the worst dialogue I’ve ever read. All characters talk the same! None of them have a unique voice. Eragon and Roran, illiterate bumpkins from a nowhere village, talk like well-read scholars. Elves talk like dwarves. Dragons talk like humans. Everyone talks the same. It is not a hard-fast rule that everyone in your story needs to have a different voice (like they do not have to have accents and whatnot) but varying what they talk about and how they construct their sentences can really help sell your character’s personality and emotions. Hello Future Me has a great video about writing dialogue that I highly recommend. As I keep stating, The Inheritance Cycle does not have people, just names.
Paolini does not know how to write emotions. I know it’s rude to assume that, but I genuinely think he doesn’t understand. Writing emotions is hard and requires a lot of skill and awareness. Beginners struggle with it. Hell, I know I sure did. However, with practice, you can excel. Instead of stating “he’s angry” you would describe that anger. Describe his shaking fists, his gritted teeth, the rapid thumping of his heart, etc. His dialogue can go a long way in describing his anger as well. Hello Future Me has a video about this as well. In that video, he goes over the nuances of “Showing and Telling.” Sometimes it’s good to show and sometimes it’s good to tell. My takeaway is to show large, important emotional moments and tell the little ones. I’ve learned a lot from Hello Future Me. Such a great channel.
It takes skill, but I think since Paolini was touted as a young prodigy at 17, he felt like he never had to grow. I’m making assumptions about someone I will never meet I know, but this just makes sense to me because he consistently fails at writing human emotion. Instead of showing us Eragon’s grief over losing Garrow and his old life, we are TOLD that he’s angry. We never see him deal with these feelings and that’s true for all of the characters. We are told that Arya has troubles with her mother but we don’t SEE IT. We get one measly scene of them reconciling in the last book but it doesn’t feel earned because Arya never had issues!
Paolini doesn’t understand how to write arcs either. Roran is supposed to have an arc where he goes from a regular farmboy to a hardened, jaded warrior. It’s obvious that’s what Paolini is trying to achieve, but he fails. Roran is inconsistent. Sometimes, he’s complaining about having to kill to survive and then the next he’s gleefully loping heads off. There’s no gradual change in his character. He just swaps between states of regret and threatening people with a smile.
It is obvious that Paolini did not plan his story from the start. Galbatorix does not show up until the end. I feel this was a bad idea because he was not properly built up. We are told he’s bad but we don’t see him do anything. We do not get enough of his current evil deeds to effectively make us root against him so when we see him for the first time with Nasuda, he’s underwhelming. How come Murtagh has so much freedom and can conspire against him when he’s supposedly brainwashed by Galbatorix? Me thinks Paolini made Galbatorix too strong, so he had to bend his own rules in order for the good guys to win. He first gave him a dragon that was so huge, so formidable, that he had to create a device out of nowhere in order to kill him in one hit. He made Galbatorix know the true name of the ancient language which gives him control of all magic. Instead of setting up Galbatorix’s powers beforehand, he pulls some extremely overpowered shit just to make him threatening, but he remembered that the good guys stood no chance against him realistically. So, he has the supposedly brain-controlled Murtagh say The Word to weaken Galbatorix and then have Eragon kill him with guilt. It’s very lame and disappointing. It pisses me off when half-assed bullshit gets written. I have no idea how authors do this! It’s your story! Why are you pulling last-minute stuff out to solve your plot? I understand if they’re under a deadline and need to find a way to quickly wrap the story up, but as far as I know, Paolini was not under a deadline. Set your shit up! If you’re planning on writing a multi-book fantasy series with a definitive ending, plan the resolution first. How does it end? Where do the characters end up mentally and physically? How does the villain get defeated? Write that down and build up to it. At least that’s how I do things…
The fight scenes are overwritten and bad. They do not feel important, massive, or impactful. Paolini doesn’t put his readers into the action. He uses passive voice instead of active, which makes the scenes feel empty and distant. For example, during the Ra’zac fight in Brisingr, instead of seeing Saphira fight the Lethrblaka in the moment, we get a short summary of how she did instead of what she’s doing.
“The amount of force contained within each of the Lethrblaka’s terrible blows had already depleted the wards against physical danger that Eragon had placed around Saphira. Without them, the Lethrblaka had inflicted serveral rows of scratches- long and shallow- along her thighs and had managed to stab her three times with their beaks; those wounds were short but deep and caused her a great deal of pain.
In return, Saphira had laid open the ribs of one Lethrblaka and had bitten off the last three feet of the other’s tail. The Lethrblaka’s blood, to Eragon’s astonishment, was a metallic blue-green, not unlike the verdigris that forms on aged copper.
At the moment, the Lethrblaka had withdrawn from Saphira and were circling her, lunging now and then in order to keep her at bay while they waited for her to tire or until they could kill her with a stab from one of their beaks.”
-Brisingr, pg 44
Had had had. This is passive voice. This is a summary of an action scene, not an actual scene. Do you feel how boring and distant this section is? We are not in the action with the character. I’m not an expert but let me rewrite this.
“Eragon spotted the Lethrblaka circling Saphira, hissing and snapping their beaks. Blue-green blood dripped from Saphira’s fangs as she snarled. One of the monsters lunged at her, bringing its scythe-like beak down upon her flank- drawing a shallow line across her diamond-hard scales. Saphira lashed out and clamped her jaws around its tail. With a mighty jerk she tore the beast’s tail from its backside- bone, skin, and muscle stretching and breaking. Verdigris blood spewed from the wound as the monster thrashed and screamed. Saphira stood triumphant, but distracted. The other stabbed Saphira’s shoulder straight on with its lethal beak. The force wrenched free a scale and sunk deep into her skin. She howled in pain.
“Brisingr!” Eragon shouted, shooting a blue ball of fire at the beast. The fire did not shear it, but the distraction was enough. Saphira twisted and brought her talons down upon the Lethrblaka’s head.”
Etc etc.
It’s not great but do you understand what I’m talking about? Have the audience be in the action. Show what they are doing instead of summarizing. Once again, Hello Future Me made videos about this [1] [2] (go watch his channel!). There are so many pauses within the fight that disrupt the flow. You want characters to think, but pausing the action every few paragraphs to give us long, unnecessary crap is annoying to read and takes me out of the moment. In Inheritance, he improves a little bit, but the scenes lack all tension because of how overpowered the characters are!
The Worldbuilding: I really hate Alegasia. It doesn’t feel like a lived-in world. It doesn’t feel ancient. It doesn’t feel like it has a long, diverse history. It’s empty. The cultures of the dwarves and elves are not unique or interesting at all. I find them deeply boring because I’ve seen this shit before. I really hate the elves. Paolini likes them so much. He makes them the most powerful, always-right, beautiful, flawless immortal race. Eragon literally becomes one. I’m not a huge fan of elves, but holy shit, I sure as fuck don’t like elves that are just perfect in every way. Where’s the fun in reading about a perfect society? All the elves are bland too. I guess having personalities is too much to ask for.
The dragons could have been great but we are not given their culture. We barely get stories about the dragons and how they lived. We don’t get any scenes of the dragons just talking to each other alone. We don’t get anything. The humans are not even allowed to have a culture because Paolini evidently finds them boring. We don’t see Galbatorix’s crimes at all. We see that he employs bad guys and creatures, but we don’t see him doing anything until the very end. The Varden are the real instigators and destructors because they caused the war, not Galbatorix. Galbatorix destroyed the Riders and killed the dragons, but that was centuries ago and since then, he hasn’t done anything else. He hasn’t tried to destroy the elves, dwarves, or werecats. Human settlements seem fine all things considered. He only bothered with Shades, Ra’zac, and Urgals (before they changed sides) because the Varden waged war against him. In WereWorld, King Leopold is a shitty king. He killed the previous king Wergar and slaughtered his family. He allows his Lionguard to harass and bully people. He overtaxes and ignores the problems of his people. He has an ironclad grip on the old king’s allies and doesn’t allow them to do much. And by his command, his ally killed Drew’s mother. He’s an abusive, vain, violent, and arrogant man and we learn to hate him and his allies throughout the first book Rise of the Wolf because we see them be shitty. We also learn a lot about King Wergar and how Westland was ruled underneath him (slight spoiler, he wasn’t that great of a guy either, but he was a hell of a lot better than Leopold). We learn all of this before the rebellion starts. We don’t really get a sense of what life was like with the Riders other than, “it was good.” Why and how was it better? Tell me! As far as I can tell, the Varden is the real problem as they started the war, openly attacked cities for no reason, threatened people, killed people, and caused all sorts of destruction. I feel if they just left him alone, Galbatorix wouldn’t have done shit.
I don’t like the Riders. On paper, dragon riders are really fucking cool! Dragons in general are really cool! But, here, they’re lame. I don’t understand why the dragons align themselves with squishy humans and elves. What do they get out of it? Companionship? Is it really that vital to the dragon experience? Why would they sign an agreement to be subjugated? They get to choose their rider and bond with them sure, but why though? Why would they do that? Why would they want to? The rider gets magic, they become basically immortal, they have a giant dragon at their beck and call, they get a lot of political power, they get hideous multi-colored magical swords, and they get an elated social standing right out of the jump. What do the dragons get out of their union? Nothing, as far as I know. The dragons do not have agency. They don’t have a culture. They don’t feel like an intelligent race. They feel like pets. It’s upsetting because I really wanted to like Saphira. I’m a sucker for dragons, but nothing pisses me off more than wasted potential. How would one fix the dragons in this? Give them more to do. Have chapters that follow Saphira, Thorn, Glaedr, and even Shruikan. Have them reflect on their circumstances, their species, and their history. Give them unique wants and desires that do not revolve around their Riders. Give them real reasons to even care about their Riders other than they’re stuck with them. Just… give them more to do. I like me some fire-breathing dragons, I do, but when all your dragons have the exact same abilities and no personalities it becomes stale. Dragons are the best mythical creatures because you can do whatever you want with them! Paolini does the same shit that Daniel Arenson does with his dragons, which is nothing! They’re all the same (Granted, Paolini does make dragons feel like formidable beasts, unlike Arenson who insists on making his dragons the weakest things alive). This is why I’m really pissed off that Paolini didn't even bother trying to write out Glaedr and Saphira’s training scenes. COME ON! Why even have dragons if you’re not interested in fleshing them out?! He would rather give us a scene of Oromis and Eragon stretching than give us anything about the dragons. Fucking ridiculous.
And finally, the dreaded magic system. I abhor, detest, loathe the magic system. Not because it’s too hard to understand or anything, it’s actually too simplistic for my taste, but because it completely obliterates any tension from the story! It’s also lame as fuck! The system is just “say the magic words and then magic happens.” That’s it. Everything in existence has a “true name” in the “ancient language” and if you say the true name of an object, you can control that object. In order to do so, you need to tap into your internal magical energy pools as you recite the words. Life energy is exactly what you think. It’s this story’s magicka. This would be cool if Paolini took the time to actually make it cool. Eldest is an absurd book. Not “absurd” in a fun way, but absurd in the fact that Paolini spends so much damn time talking about his magic system without actually making it cool or complex. Oromis goes on and on about how to use the correct verbiage in the ancient language, how to be clear, concise, and detailed while casting spells, and how every living thing has life energy that one can tap into and extract in order to cast large spells. That’s the entire system. I’m not underselling it. That’s literally it and, again, this is not a bad thing on the surface. You can make this concept cool, but Paolini doesn’t do shit! His magic actually ruins the story (I’ll get to it in a bit). He spends so much TIME rambling about this mind-numbingly simple concept that it comes off condescending. It’s absurd! I don’t like how boring and simple the magic system is. I want there to be more complexity, more mystique, more creativity.
The rules that are set in place in these books are too loose. There are no drawbacks to magic and every magic user learns the same principles with no variety. There’s the whole “if you cast a spell that’s too powerful you can sap yourself dry of your energy and die” thing, but it doesn’t really matter because Eragon can just get energy from Saphira, the dragon with a seemingly endless mana pool, or from the many items that he has that are full of magical energy. The ancient language isn’t some dead language that only scholars know how to speak fluently. It’s not like Eragon has to go out of his way to learn the correct terms for certain jobs. The ancient language is the native tongue of the elves! Eragon, in record time, learns how to speak a whole-ass language and because of that can cast whatever fucking spells he wants. Eragon could terraform the planet if he wanted to by just reciting the right words for the job. This kills all tension. Eragon doesn’t have to learn anything. He can do whatever he wants. There are barely any drawbacks to his abilities. He can get out of any situation by just saying the right words. There’s one moment in Brisingr where he fucking flies with magic. I was so checked out at that point. What’s even the point of having Saphira if he can just fly on his own?
Magic ruins the story. Eragon gets hurt by Durza the Shade in book one, leaving him with a stinging scar that affects his magic. Just when you think that Eragon would have to learn how to navigate around this hindrance, it gets magically healed in book two and thus forgotten. We can’t have our main lead struggle! You want intrigue and character growth? Fuck you. Eragon’s too cool and awesome for that! I talked about this in my Eragon, review but let me restate here. Eragon gets captured by the bad guys and is locked away in a cell. He was fed food that was laced with some magic-inhibiting drugs. Eragon realizes this and stops eating and drinking so that the effect wears off. When it does, he whispers the magic words for unlocking the door and walks out. You want the character to actually use his brain for more than a few seconds? Do you like clever characters? Fuck you. Here’s some magic. Oh and don’t worry about those magic-inhibiting drugs. Paolini forgot about them. In the same book Eragon, Murtagh, and Saphira are in the desert and are worried about not getting enough water. So, instead of anything interesting, Eragon just draws water from the dirt with magic. Why even have this be in the book if it doesn’t add anything or affect the characters? All this does is show how broken magic is!
When Eragon and company are fighting, they put up wards to protect themselves from magical and physical damage. I hate wards. I hate them in video games and I hate them in books. I don’t like the idea of a magical shield that can block damage unless it hinders the caster in some way. Have the ward rapidly drain their energy. When they lose energy, they die. High risk, high reward. There’s no such hindrance in The Inheritance Cycle. Eragon and co can just block damage. If they do get hurt don’t worry! Magic will heal all wounds in seconds! But they’re running low on energy! Oh no! Don’t worry! They have items that are filled with extremely powerful magic and they have friends who will give them some more just in case. Stakes? Who needs them? Drama? Don’t want it. Tension? Fuck that! Magic is so cool! It can do anything!!
So true names. We are told that finding someone’s true name is a hard, nearly impossible task… and Eragon and company just figure out their true names with ease. Eragon, Saphira, and Glaedr sit down in front of the vault of souls and think really hard about themselves, and POOF their true names appear in their brains. Before Eragon sends Sloan off on his torture journey, he sits there- staring at the man- and thinks really hard about his character. Then, all of a sudden, he comes across his true name and uses it to send him away from his family forever. This is the stupidest shit! It doesn’t match what Oromis said in Eldest! The guy went on (and on and on) about how hard it is, but apparently, all you have to do is think real hard and it just pops into your head. What bullshit. Again, no tension. No stakes. No effort.
The whole “mental battle” stuff that magicians do seems cool at first. They have to protect their minds or else they can be killed or controlled by other magic users. But after a while, it becomes so easy for our leads to just block their minds. Plus, a few people staring intensely at each other as they mentally battle is just not an exciting image. It’s all lame and frustrating.
I remember reading a review that said that the magic system in this is the most consistent system they’ve seen. I ask, “did you and I read the same series?” Magic is so inconsistent! It’s clear that Paolini was making shit up as he went. He didn’t plan out his magic! It changes when the plot demands it. Magic should be one of the first things one plans out before writing draft one! In Eldest, we are told that in order to cast spells, one must intend to cast magic. Since magic is tied to the native langue of the elves, you want to avoid casting spells everywhere just from talking. So, you need to be intentional in your casting. Okay… so how tf did Eragon cast “Brisingr” in book one? When he and Brom were fighting off Urgals, Eragon screams “Brisingr” thus casting a huge fireball that kills a whole group of Urgals. He passively heard Brom say “Brisingr” when lighting a fire earlier and thought nothing of it. After he casts the spell, he tells Brom that he thought it was a swear word and yelled it for some reason (which still doesn’t make sense but whatever). Eragon did not cast it with intent. He just said the word and then magic happened. That’s inconsistent! That’s a clear sign that Paolini was just making shit up as he went along. It is said that some people are able to tap into magic while others can’t, but Eragon just teaches Katrina and other regular people how to cast spells in book four. Shouldn’t that be impossible? Katrina never showed any interest in magic and never showed any signs that she could tap into it.
Please avoid writing your magic like this. If it can literally do anything, add some risks so that you don’t get horrible bullshit like this series.
Now, I’m done. This is easily the worst fantasy series I’ve ever read. I’ll never understand how anyone can enjoy this. To each their own of course, but like… what in the hell did the fans read? I read an overly long, dreadfully boring, cliché-filled mess. I’m so glad to be done with this trashfire. I never want to read these books ever again. I’m never reading another book written by Christopher Paolini. I hope that he’s gotten better, but I’m not going to go out of my way to find out. I don’t care. Fuck these books. 0/10 Avoid at all costs. Do not read these.
