You did 2 things wrong:
1st - You read this stupid book
2nd - The Alloy of Law came out and you read this POS

 

Ordered it from Amazon the other day, I'll probably read through it the day I get it. The series definitely took a huge turn for the worse somewhere along the way. In every other book series, I've made it a point to reread all the previous books in anticipation for the new one. I kept that tradition for Brisingr. This time? I reread Name of the Wind instead. I don't feel like rereading two books about a guy pining after an elf who outright stated that she'd stop being friends with him if he didn't get his priorities straight.

If this book has less badly written romance, I'll be satisfied. Hell, I'll be satisfied if the series just ends this time, so long as it isn't sudden and pointless. Even if I'm horribly disappointed, though, 'A Wizard of Mars' and 'The Ring of Solomon' are coming in the same shipment, so I'll be able to brainbleach the rage away well enough.

 

I liked the books when I was younger. I thought the first one was good, and eagerly read through the second one the day it came out. A few years later, the third once came out, and I couldn't even get past the summary of the previous two books. I'm not going to bother with the fourth as I have no hopes of it being any good, and I would rather spend my time doing something I won't regret.

 

I will thumb this and quote it because it deserves being read twice by everybody else on this thread.

 

You know, the character Angela always irked me somewhat. She was at times interesting, with a mysterious past and was sometimes fun. She could also be a bit too knowledgeable and...spunky I guess?

Anyway, she always had a Mary Sue feel to her, just glimmers sometimes.

Then I read he had a sister sharing that exact same name. I think he included the character as a present, or something, to his sister. Endearing, and would be the first I encountered a mary-sue derived not from the author, but from a family member.

 

Just finished it. I bought it mainly because I wanted to get closure on the series, and because I thought Paolini deserves a little bit of money from me (although he should die in a fire for allowing that travesty of a movie to be made).

Overall, the book wasn't horrible, as long as you don't go in with insane expectations. It was enjoyable enough while I was reading, and I'm glad that the series is done.

That said,

Spoiler

I completely agree with CareOtters about the whole elven-upgrade thing. Eragon is suppose to be like an elf, except he clearly isn't. His whole transformation is really played up in Eldest, and Paolini does a good enough job that you can perceive the changes through the writing. In Inheritance, it's as if all of that went out the window and Eragon reverted to being a human. Dunno what Paolini was thinking there (durr hurr he wasn't).

Angela. Who/what the fuck is she? Interesting character, but yeah, close to Mary-Sue status. The only reason she's not a Mary-Sue is that she's clearly outclassed by others in several respects. But damn, at times she comes fucking close.

Galbatorix's death was pretty meh. The problem was that Paolini overpowered Galbatorix to the point that the only way to take him down ended up being sort of dumb. Also, it was really anti-climactic after that. Not a good transition to the post-battle stuff at all.

Murtagh was a great character in the first book I think, after that he sort of went downhill. In Inheritance, he came off as boring and flat. It's a shame.

I don't know if this is a criticism or more of something that was just personally annoying, but fuck how Nasuada and Orrin acted after Galbatorix's death. Eragon has just defeated the biggest motherfucker on the block, and Nasuada/Orrin act like he's some little kid. Orrin's a retard, so let's excuse him. But Nasuada? Bitch, you can't claim to have any sort of power over Eragon. That whole fealty/oath thing between Eragon and Nasuada was overemphasized throughout the series.

Finally, why the fuck can't Eragon ever come back to Alagaësia? It doesn't make sense at all. It feels like he took Angela's prophecy at face value and went all "DURR HURR NO I LOVE ARYA BUT I MUST RAISE DRAGONS AND CAN NEVER COME BACK BECAUSE SOME MARY-SUEISH SEER LADY TOLD ME I WOULDN'T NOOOO". Presumably, the Dragon Riders as an institution will be present in Alagaësia, even though their headquarters will be elsewhere. Otherwise, there's no fucking point to the Dragon Riders. As such, visiting the place the Riders are supposed to protect makes a lot of fucking sense. So all the sadness at the end is just wtf.

TO KROGAN: Ask Paolini what exactly prevents Eragon from returning to Alagaësia (maybe mention some of the arguments in the last paragraph of the spoiler). Also ask him if there were any plot points in the first few books that he regretted and had to work around when writing Inheritance.

Anyways, despite all my criticisms, I'm not going to lie and uniformly bash the whole thing. I did enjoy reading the series, I just wish the latter books were as good as the first book (perhaps the second as well) promised.

 

Angela is Doctor Who.

 

You make some good points. Suffice it to say that while I still have my criticisms, I also appreciate the merits of what you have said.

Well, well. May I interpret this as notification of an imminent update/new awesome story? :awesome

 

I just finished re-reading Brisingr and then reading Inheritance. I enjoyed it. If you enjoyed the rest of the series, there is no reason you shouldn't have enjoyed the final one. Its the same writing quality, with the same downsides and the same upsides. Some sections of it were a struggle to push through, but other bits, including the majority of the last 150 pages, were completely engrossing and I just couldn't stop reading.

I particularly liked the end of Galbatorix, it worked nicely with the world that has been set up during the series.

 

I liked it. Not the best book, but pretty good. Paolini is a young writer, and hopefully he'll get better. Comparing it to Eragon and Brisingr and Eldest the writing quality has noticeably improved. I really liked the parts where Eragon is exploring Alagesia. Those parts, along with the climactic parts at the end with the name of magic, etc. were done quite well. I think Paolini's strength is world-building more than anything. There were quite a few creatures and places I would have loved to have seen explored in detail, but that's what fanfiction is for, no?

I also thought that the confrontation with Galbotrix was appropriate for the series as a whole. A theme of the series, imo, is that power isn't the solution to many problems. We see it in the end of the book with Galbotrix, when Eragon refuses to bind the magicians of the land (when Nasuada asks him to), and we see it in the hints throughout the series that the Riders were not an entirely benign presense-they did seem to cause stagnation, though since that info. comes from Galbotrix, it is suspect. So I thought the ending was a nice touch.


P.S.
Sesc: <3 your story

 

Well, while it wasn't completely terrible, it was quite lacking.

We're left with quite a few loose ends;

What are Brom's final words? For the father of the protagonist, his last words don't really play a factor in well, anything.

How did Saphira fall in love with some dragon she just met? Some may argue it's her last hope for a mate and everything, but well, it doesn't fit with Saphira's earlier characterization.

Murtagh was also kind of overdone, I feel CP didn't manage to make the readers feel his 'sorrow' as well as he could have.

Angela also feels really overdone, with her super sharp sword and whatnot. It feels like CP's trying to make her mysterious, but I only found myself confused.

Killing Galbatorix was alright, and felt true with the themes and such in the Inheritance universe.

Galbatorix seems like such a great character, but CP only introduces him in the final book, moments before his death. Before that in Eragon and Eldest, all he seems to be is a huge bogeyman.|:

But well, I didn't really expect much from the series after reading Brisingr, so Inheritance was not as bad as I expected. Not stellar, not shitty. Just.. lacking, I guess.

Who knows? CP's still young, and there's plenty of time (and room) for development. We may yet see something really good from him in the future.

 

So I just realized I forgot to post back here with how meeting Paolini went and I've got to say while he seems like a nice guy he also comes across as a bit of an idiot to be really blunt about it. I asked him most of the questions you guy put up here and his answer to all of them was literally either "Oh huh, I never thought about that" or "It sounded good in my head at the time." I was kinda waiting for him to toss out some joke and then actually explain things but I realized pretty quick he was serious about it.

 

He was 19 when his parents published his first novel. He's 28 now. He's nowhere near young enough to justify the type of self-insert tripe he's peddling.

 

I thought it was good but not spectacular. It was of pretty much the same standard as the rest of the series, good enough to read but but never exceptional.

It was almost as though he had big plans for the series when he started but either forgot or just left things out, until there was just a lot of loose ends. Particularly with Eragon and Arya.

It never said that she fell in love. The dragons don't mate for life, they just had a bit of a one night stand.

 

I see your point. I thought he was younger...
I should have looked it up. Thanks for clarification.

 

Much of his fame was kickstarted by heavy advertizing of a fifteen year old succesfully writing a novel. That number, fifteen, was thrown around a lot. He began thinking about writing a novel about dragon riders when he was fifteen. None of the text published came about until later, and was then heavily edited.

His parents published Eragon at fifteen. He went on tour, of sorts, attempting to peddle his wares like a wandering tinker, and was on the verge of giving up when he caught a lucky break; the niece of an agent read his book, loved it, and demanded that her uncle give it a chance. He read it, saw promise, and took a chance. From the point of view of the marketability, he succeeded.

Where Paolini fails as a writer, he's succeeded as a salesman. Although I despise him for half-assed writing and unmerited success, I do respect him for the effort he DID put into the early stages of pushing his work. He fails in the content of his prose rather than the prose itself, and therein lies my ultimate disappointment with him.

I'm probably overcritical of him, but damnit, he let me down.

 

Hmm.. she wasn't in love? But the whole sappy ending with Saphira parting with Firnen was wayy too fluffy for me. Didn't fit in the tone set by the other parts of the book either.

Never knew Paolini was 28 either. I always thought he was 'young' >_>