Eragon - Eldest - Brisingr, What do you think so far?

[Pernicious]

Greetings Everyone,

I felt like talking about something off topic. I finally got around to finishing up Brisingr, the third book as part of Christopher Paolini's series, the Inheritance Cycle. For those of you that haven't read this series yet, shame on you. Christopher Paolini began writing the first book, Eragon, when he was just 15 years old and each book in the series has shown tremendous growth in his writing skill. I thought I would start up a discussion on the books for anybody that was interested.

The Inheritance Cycle used to be called the Inheritance Trilogy. Months ago Christopher announced that there was simply no way he could shorten the story to a mere three books and revealed that there would be a total of 4 books. The Trilogy became a Cycle.

If you want to read this series, or are currently reading it right now, I suggest leaving thread and returning to it after you've read the books as I'm certain it will contain Spoilers for you otherwise.

So, what do you think of these books? Got any theories of how everything will wrap up? How about Solembum's prophecies? We've seen one one has come true, what is your theory on the vault of souls? How will Eragon and Saphira best Galbatorix? Will Murtagh ever be free?

I'll share my thoughts and feelings in a separate post as to help keep this main one clear of spoilers for any new comers. I don't expect this to be a very fast moving thread, but I view it as a seed that will grow over time.

Good reference websites:
The official website http://www.alagaesia.com/
A fantastic fansite http://www.shurtugal.com/

[Darksumone]

Well I also have read all three so far and as you stated his writing has gotten so much better since Book 1.

Book 1 (Eragon)-- The book was Phenominal it really grabbed you right from the start and held you till the last page. The descriptions of the dragons and the landscape while not truley sounding like a 15 yrold was writing them some times made me almost see the land as a 15yrold would like I was looking through his eyes. Please do not confuse the Movie with the first book all though they have the same storyline and name all that stuff the Book trumps it by so much its unbelievable.

Brom was such a great influence on Eragons life and the *part of book 3* really shows why.

Book 2(Eldest)-- Well for me this book started out a little slow. Going through 200 pages of him training in the elven city was a little much after all the action that was in the first book to sit here stare at the ant feel the ant be one with the Ant Screw the Ant step on it......... It did pick up for me in the end and turned out to be an exciting story that really propelled me into the third book.

Book 3(Brisinger)-- Again Paolini started the book out a little slow witht the Roran thing in my opinion but quickly that passed and the book really fleshed out. All the stuff about Brom was great to hear. Saphira is truley becoming a force to be reckoned with and Eragons love intrest flows through the book.

I Had not heard that it went from a trilogy to a cycle so about 3/4ths of the way through the book I began to wonder how he was going to tie up all the lose ends at the pace he was writing the story. I was glad that there will be 4 books though it gave the story more time to develop.

Overall Great series to read I would really recomend it to everyone Especialy if you have not watched the movie yet.

Only real downfall that I have with it is the Time Frames in the book they seem so quick. Sieges last hours not months, traveling takes a day, the whole book seems so rushed. Everyones always at full speed all the time. Never a moments rest for any.


Im sure that ill talk more about this later but for now its a good start.

[Pernicious]

Ok, where to begin. Back when I first read Eragon, I could tell that the book was a bit on the rough side. Sure it was finished and you could say very refined, but there was still a hint of "new writer" in it. What has impressed me is Christopher's growth over the series. The storylines have grown deeper, the flow smoother, and over all everything has a more detailed and very "Inheritance" feel about it.

I personally LOVE how magic works in the world of Alagaesia. There are three basic rules to the magic. First, the closer the spell is to the caster the more powerful it is. This establishes that there is a range to magic. Second, the spell itself can only use as much energy as the caster has life force. If you exceed your life force, you die. This helps to prevent magic from being the ultimate force that could wipe out armies and move mountains. Third, the same spell can be done multiple ways depending on your intent and knowledge of the ancient language. This helps keep a bit of uncertainty with magic, allows for creativity, and allows for finding methods to slip around your enemies shield spells.

Eragon was a very well thought out book that established the world of Alagaesia. It introduced Eragon, his family, Brom, and the struggle between the Varden and Galbatorix. It also established Eragon as a weakling and how he began to grow powerful. When I finished this book, I was deeply eager for the next one.

I agree that the movie did not do this book justice at all. In Alagaesia there are six races; Humans, Elves, Dwarfs, Dragons, Urgals, and the Ra'zak. In the movie they only used Humans, Dragons, and the Ra'zak (which I don't think were even portrayed correctly). All the other races looked human to me. The story was condensed painfully down and over all was very disappointing.

Eldest was an interesting read as well. It touched upon Eragons love life while he was in training, but the real action was his cousin Roran. The balance of telling the story between the two was interesting. I found that once i really started getting into what was happening with one character, it would change to the other, and visa versa.

Now Brisingr. I think this started a tad slow but quickly sped up with the special mission Roran and Eragon went on. Unfortunately, it felt as if the Ra'zak died far too easily. A good deal of the book moved slowly as it dove deeper into the story part and less into the action. I think the sequences with Roran were very good for action, while Eragon pushed the plot better. I'm a sucker for good fantasy swords and was pleased with how Eragons new sword turned out.

Very excited and looking forward to the final installment. Hopefully the author will continue writing about the world of Alagaesia.

[nitromoose]

To be honest I'm a little torn about it being a series and not a trilogy. I kinda got burned on the whole series thing after getting sucked into the Wheel of Time back when I was in the Army. While I doubt that this would end up like that series (way too drawn out and over complicated with too many story lines) it still kinda stung realizing that about 3/4 of the way through that there was no way this would be wrapped up.

On the whole I was very happy with the last book though. You can tell the difference in the writers maturity as the books progress. I agree that the fight with the Ra'zak was a bit of a letdown, but I liked the moral delima that Sloan provided as well as the points that were made about the differences in the races in how they delt with Eragons decision (Elves saying he should have just been killed out of hand, and the human rulers reasonings as to why sparing thim was a good thing). Rorans dealings with the different commanders was also a bright spot for someone who has worked under both good men, and complete idiots in the military.

Most of all I like how he has Eragon constantly examining himself, and his beliefs when different problems arise. Thas kind of introspection is something that I have rarely seen in a series like this.

[Plavonica]

Originally Posted by nitromoose

To be honest I'm a little torn about it being a series and not a trilogy. I kinda got burned on the whole series thing after getting sucked into the Wheel of Time back when I was in the Army.

This is why I have not picked up a fantasy series in awhile, that series was waaaay too drawn out and much more complicated than it needed to be to tell the story, pluss with all the re-re-re telling of something that happened 2 pages ago I have been avoiding any fantasy series.

With that said.... Is it a good series? I was actually thinking of reading these books.

[Darksumone]

Quick note it says at the end of book 3 that 4th is the final book...... not truely a series more like a Quartet(sp) you know what i mean.......


**** actual post now should have waited but got excited to say it wasn't going to be an ongoing series.****

OK, Thank you Pern for reminding me about the sword hard to imagine itr didnt cross my mind while writing about the book when its the darn title.

As far as is the story good enough to read ....... well yeah but honestly if you are not into it yet you may want to just wait a year or two more till book 4 comes out that way you can A get some books in Paperback instead of having to buy the hardcover... B read all 4 at once and not have to wait a year..... I hate waiting.

I find it really funny that every person that i know that has read the books and then watched the movie said it was a horrid movie... But the people that have only seen t he movie not knowing how certain things should have been thought that the movie was just wonderfull.
Personal feeling is that they spent so much money on saphira that while they wanted to incorporate all the other little things about the story Dwarves/Elves/Better Urghals/Razack they just simply ran out of Cash to do it with.

[Pernicious]

Just to clearify, a book series where the entire story is told in 3 books is called a Trilogy, a series that is wrapped up with 4 books is called a Cycle. This series started out as a Trilogy but has since become the Inheritance Cycle. It will end with the 4th book.

To answer your question, Plavonica. I think the series is fantastic. Each book so far, in my opinion, has only gotten better and better. I highly suggest seeing the movie first (if you're going to watch it at all) as it is a big let down after having read the books. The books are much richer than that move could even begin to strive for. I highly recommend them. On my personal book shelf they hold a position up next to the Lord of the Rings, Hobbit, and Harry Potter books.

*** Information added 21 Minutes and 28 Seconds later... ***

Warning Theorycrafting/Spoiler Ahead ::

I thought I would share my theory on Solembum's prediction with all of you.

Solembum instructs Eragon to look under the roots of the Menoa Tree when he is in need of a weapon, and when all seems lost and Eragon's power is insufficient, to go to the Rock of Kuthian and speak his name to open the Vault of Souls

Now, we've seen the first part of that come true, though somewhat obscurely that we may have expected. While he didn't find a weapon under the tree, he found the material to craft one. My theory touches upon the second part.

All of the characters that Eragon has told this prophesy to have said that they have never heard of the Vault of Souls, but they all agree that the advice of a Werecat is not to be discarded. We also learned that a Dragon can seal his soul inside of something called the Eldunarí, or Heart of hearts. Galbatorix apparently has a lot (over 100) of these Eldunarí's.

My theory is that the Vault of Souls is really the location in which Galbatorix keeps all the Eldunarí and that Eragon can gain power from those dragons when he opens the vault by speaking his name. However, where is the rock of Kuthian? My guess is that it is on that tiny hand shaped island in the north west corner of Alagaesia, where the dragon riders used to dwell. But why would speaking Eragon's name open the vault? Does it mean to speak Eragon's true name, which he has been attempting to discover? And how would his true name open up Galbatorix's vault?

Anyway, that is my theory. I've been holding off on posting it until this thread got a little longer so that I didn't ruin anything for anyone that just happened to visit.

What you think? Do you have other ideas?

[qm_beta]

i have also read the books and find them immensly(sp?) enjoyable.

As to speaking his true name at the rock, could this be anything to do with eragon's namesake? the orginal dragon rider, and possibly his dragons heart of hearts?

just a thought

[Pernicious]

Originally Posted by qm_beta

i have also read the books and find them immensly(sp?) enjoyable.

As to speaking his true name at the rock, could this be anything to do with eragon's namesake? the orginal dragon rider, and possibly his dragons heart of hearts?

just a thought

That is a good point. I did have a thought that perhaps the original Eragon had a vault of souls on that Dragon Island and that by speaking Eragon to it, would open the vault. But Oromis said all the Eldunarí had been carefully been kept track of and all had been taken by Galbatorix, or so he believed since none were left. Perhaps another dragon rider stole some and hid them under the name of the original Eragon when Galbatorix attacked and was killed before he could tell anybody?

[qm_beta]

Eragon and the white dragon were before the rule of riders and were simply the first ones to be together. so nobody but themselves would be able to keep track of the heart.

or at least that was my impression on it.

Also what are peoples thoughts on the last egg?
who is to become the last rider?