And It Started Out So Promising...

I'm still gonna call this the "Eragon Series" even though the technical name is apparently the "Inheritance Cycle" but I think that sounds stupid. and since the first book was called Eragon, it makes plenty of sense for me to say it that way.

the Eragon series was recommended to me when I was looking for something new to read. I was told that the first book started out slow, took more than a hundred pages before anything started happening. but I felt sucked it pretty fast. I didn't find it epic or anything, but I did find myself curious about what would happen next. and I definitely enjoyed reading it. the second book I enjoyed even more. I loved getting to find out about all the things going on once Eragon left his hometown, as the first book was told entirely from his perspective. I thought it was fun getting another story.

but then the third book happened. I felt the story started being told from too many perspectives, and none of them were from the point of view of any that I was genuinely curious to find out more about. the love stories which I found interesting at first instead became tedious, and I felt as though they were being forced down my throat. the story began to get pointlessly longer. there was a whole bunch of words that went on for pages and pages, with absolutely nothing happening. I was able to skip entire chunks of paragraphs that were in Elven or Dwarvish. the ending redeemed the overall story eventually, but getting there was torture.

the final book in the series followed much the same pattern. at this point, I'm tired of hearing about the perfect Arya and the unbeatable Roran and the misfit Eragon feels to be. Nasuada finally gets a semi-decent storyline, but the introduction of the villain at last was underwhelming. the culmination of the story felt incredibly drawn-out and then just suddenly over. I didn't understand how there were so many pages left, or how any of it had come about. and then it just all got so annoyingly cheesy. I was honestly just hoping everyone would die.

I couldn't not find out how it all ended after such an enjoyable beginning, but I wouldn't recommend this series to anyone. I find myself glad it's over.