Good Series For Quarantine: Post 4

    Hey everyone, welcome back to Good Series For Quarantine, it's been a while! This time, I am going to be looking at one of my all-time favorite series, the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. This an amazing series that you guys should all read (hint hint).

    The Inheritance series is 4 books long (although there does appear to be a plan for a 5th, so if this sounds like something you want to read, keep your eyes open for that), and all the books are quite long, which I really like because they actually take some time to read and I don't just get through them in a day. Consequently, this means that they are very good books now during quarantine when we have a little more time on our hands sometimes. I have now read this series quite a few times, and every time I do, I still enjoy them just as much and seem to find something new that I had forgotten about or didn't understand before. The story starts with an introduction that immediately produces tons of questions for the reader and drew me in immediately. However, I know that some people don't appreciate these types of beginnings, so you may not like this series, as the questions from the intro do not get answered until pretty late into the book. For me though, this intro and subsequent almost holding the answers over my head until I read the book to find the context draws me into the book further. After the intro, the story jumps suddenly to the main character Eragon, who is hunting. Then, suddenly, there is an explosion very near to him that frightens away his prey and leaves behind a large mysterious blue stone. Eragon is later attacked by the Ra'zac, evil monsters who appear to be after the strange stone that Eragon found (or perhaps was nearly blown up by). By this point, Eragon has discovered that, in truth, it was not a stone at all, but a dragon egg, and that is the real reason that the creatures are after it. The dragon inside chose him as her rider, which gives him special abilities that normal humans do not have. To save his village and family from danger, he tries to leave with his dragon. However, the creatures destroy his house and kill his uncle before he can return to save them. He then leaves to follow the Ra'zac and get revenge.

    Before he leaves, he is unexpectedly joined by the storyteller Brom from his village. They set out together and Brom trains Eragon both in swordplay and magic, which he can use because he has become a Dragon Rider. Their journey eventually leads them to the Varden, an organization of rebels against the evil King Galbatorix, where they fight in a battle against the King's forces. Throughout the book, there is a clear focus on world-building, which has been a popular topic for blogs recently. Paolini easily constructs this enormous world full of different races, and languages of his own invention. There is even a section at the back with translations of all the different words and sentences used in the book. He even creates his own world, with seas and continents, although only Alagaësia is actually used, with the others being referred to mostly implicitly without names. I find this aspect of the series very inviting because it gives the entire structure that he builds upon to continue the story. I also really like how he uses hard magic instead of soft magic. This means that the entire plot makes sense, unlike the infamous ending of Akata Witch, because magic requires energy, and you can only use as much energy as is in your body, or you will die. There is also a carefully structured language that you use to control that energy using the true names for things. I find that this approach to magic seals a lot of problems with the plot that occurs in other books and movies, because you can't just, for example, wave your wand and do whatever you want. This consequently is one of the reasons that I enjoy this series so much. However, some of the other aspects of the book, like the very question-raising intro may turn some readers off from this series. Although, I think that the rest of the book will partially make up for that, because of how well it is written and created. So, basically, you should just read it anyway (unless you don't want to I guess). In any case, that wraps up this post, and my, it did turn out a little long didn't it. Congratulations if you made it to the end!


    -David