I´ve spent the past seven months reading the four books of "The Inheritance cycle" by
Christopher Paolini. The series consist of:
"Eragon", "Eldest", "Brisingr" and "Inheritance". The first book, "Eragon" was made into a not-so-well-known movie by the same name.
The books are set in Alagaesia, a fictional Empire ruled by a dictator king, Galbatorix, who killed the Dragon Riders that once protected the land and took over the throne. Eragon, the main character, lives in a valley at the far north of Alagaesia. His mother left him with his uncle, Garrow, when Eragon was a baby, so he grew up with his cousin, uncle and aunt on a farm in a small village called Carvahall. One day, while hunting, Eragon finds a strange blue stone lying on the ground in the forest. He brings it back to his village. The stone turns out to be a dragon egg. When his dragon, Saphira, hatches, Eragon hides her in the forest to protect her from the villagers. Despite his effort to keep Saphira a secret, one of the villagers, Brom, an old story-teller soon finds out. Brom tells Eragon more about the Dragon Riders and introduces him to the unbelievable truth that he has now become the last free Dragon Dider in Alagaesia (Galbatorix is also a Dragon Rider- he betrayed the others, killed their dragons and he and the Forsworn, riders that have joined his side, took over Alagaesia). Unfortunately, Brom isn´t the only one to know about the dragon, Ra´zacs, black-hooded human-meat-eating monsters and spies of the king turn up in Carvahall one day and appear to be looking for something. When Saphira senses the Ra´zac in Carvahall she takes Eragon on a flight far away, guided by instinctive anger towards the monsters. When they return, Eragon finds his uncle dead and their farm burnt down- the Ra´zacs are looking for him. Eragon, Saphira and Brom have to leave Carvahall at once. They embark on a journey to find the Ra´zacs and avenge Garrow´s death on which Eragon learns more about the Dragon Riders and what it means to be one of them. Brom introduces him to magic and mind reading and teaches him how to handle a sword. Eragon is also told about the Varden, the rebels that are planning to overthrow Galbatorix, which begins Eragon´s (And Saphira´s) long adventure full of battles, plots and responsibilities with one ultimate goal: to kill Galbatorix.
The Inheritance cycle is the second (The first being "Chronicles of Narnia" by
C.S Lewis) "fantasy, Fantasy" series I´ve read. Typical fantasy novel elements are included: elves, magic, Urgals (muscular humans with horns), magicians and, of course, dragons. The series resembles
J.R.R.Tolkein´s "Lord of the Rings" (or at least resembles what I have heard of the "Lord of the Rings"). Despite the unoriginal overall idea, The Inheritance cycle has something to it which kept me reading throughout the course of seven months. The author does an excellent job at describing- the setting, the feelings, the whole story seems so real. Details like the language of each of the races of Alagaesia (Elves, Urgals, Dwarves...) are included and add to the "real-ness". It is easy to get pulled into the story. Reading The Inheritance cycle requires a lot of concentration, though, as it is sometimes hard to take in all the details and the books cannot be read in a hurry. Highly reccomended as great example of the classic fantasy genre! (If you have seen the movie, please read the book(s), it is so much better and the movie, as it is with nearly all of the movies based on books, leaves out a lot of the important parts).
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