Inheritance Cycle 4-Book Hard Cover Boxed Set (Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, Inheritance) (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
Okay, this is my updated review of the Inheritance Cycle. I updated it because I felt like my old review missed most of the important points. In my old review I mostly focused on how Christopher Paolini stole ideas from Tolkien. He did, but that isn't all that makes this series bad. There is mass-market food, mass-market toys, mass-market pretty much everything. The Inheritance Cycle, though, is the first book series that I have read or heard about that I would describe as a mass-market book series. Many people have complained that the Harry Potter series gained its popularity through marketing and not the quality of the story. I agree that Harry Potter doesn't deserve all the popularity it has, but it is a good series. More importantly, J. K. Rowling didn't try to right a mass-market series. Christopher Paolini did. He was purposefully trying to write the next amazing traditional/epic fantasy series. Because of that, all of his characters felt fake. He was trying to make them fit stereotypes of characters in traditional fantasy. Take Eragon for example. He is the stereotypical humble farm boy who suddenly finds something magical. At this point I would like to say that I hate it when people unfairly call books cliched. One review of one of my favorite books, Mister Monday, called it cliched because the hero, Arthur Penhaligon, is a boy who is new at school and finds something magical and discovers he is the "chosen one". Then a bad guy gets his friend, and he has to use his power to help her. When you say it like that it does sound pretty cliched. However, that review just gave the most basic plot elements as examples. Almost all action/adventure/fantasy stories have the same basic plot of "The hero is the chosen one in some way, then their friends are threatened by the bad guys and they are forced to use their powers beat them." When deciding wether a book is cliched, you need to consider the plot in a more in depth sense than that. Given that I hate books being unfairly labeled as cliched, I will really try not to do that in this review and really explain why the Inheritance Cycle is cliched. It isn't just the fact that Eragon is a farm boy who finds something magical. After that he learns he is the last of his kind, then gets a powerful sword to fight the armies of the evil emperor with. Then he falls in love with a beautiful elf maiden and must lead the huge armies to victory. All of those things are stereotypes and its not just that. Many of the actions even marginally main characters take a stereotypical in some way. Also, the series is extremely simple in some ways. There are no deeper ideas or messeges in it. There are no truly unexpected plot twists. There are no truly three-dimensional characters. In short, the series was made to be simple. Simple to read, simple to market, simple to sell. It's quite a shame because Christopher Paolini obviously has considerable talent. He just didn't use it enough. Maybe later books of his will be better. I hope so. This book is the most beautiful thing I have ever held in my hands. Eragon starts off slowly. Then it proceeds to enchant you, captivate you, and long after you've finished Inheritance, haunt you. The characters have a vivid, complex depth. Paolini writes with such intricate detail that you find yourself lost in the world of Alagaesia. Other plus-points:⚫The description of the battles⚫Arya and Eragon's sweet, realistic love (the realism is weird, considering Arya is an elf and Eragon a human)⚫Oromir's lessons and his teachings⚫The shocks and gasps caused by some extremely intelligent twists in the blockAll in all, once you get over the initial bagginess and delve into the magic of these books, you'll never really get over it. I have cried and laughed with these books. They're the loveliest things. You'll not regret it. Not even a bit.
What do You think about Inheritance Cycle 4-Book Hard Cover Boxed Set (Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, Inheritance) (2011)?
I haven't read "Inheritance" yet. The first three were really enjoyable, though.
—amber24
These books were fantastic! Complete page turners that you can't put down!
—mwychico
books will suck you in, you will dream about riding a dragon:)
—Sar
Awesome hated not having another book to read when I finished
—EloquentElixir
