Better than Lord of the Rings

I’m about to make a bold statement.

Last year, in my English 3 class, we had an elective called British Modern Fantasy, and in it we studied The Lord of the Rings saga (it’s not a trilogy). I loved it of course; it is pretty difficult not to love Tolkien. However, there is a certain similar set of books which I personally think are better than The Lord of the Rings.

The books I’m talking about are the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. The first book is called Eragon  and I read it for the first time when I was about 12-years-old. The series grew to be extremely popular among young adults as the second (Eldest) and third (Brisingr) books were released. There was a three year wait between each book, which meant that by the time the final book (Inheritance) was released I was almost 18, and I have to say that I was in no way patient in each of those three year gaps.

I had such conviction during the Christmas holidays that I was going to sit down and read every book on my list that I had been wanting to read but had not gotten around to. This failed miserably. I spotted Eragon on my bookshelf one day towards the end of the holiday and I couldn’t restrain myself from plucking it off the shelf and starting to read it. Before I knew it, I was just as engrossed in the series as I had been back in high school. I sat and read them at every spare moment. I sped through them at a pace that alarmed even me, especially since the entire cycle consists of about 2 779 pages. I realised with only 4 days to go in my holiday that I still had the whole of Inheritance to read. I knew that I couldn’t take it back to Rhodes with me because 860 pages was a few too many to fit into my carryon bag. Let’s just say I may not have spent as much time with my family as I should have in those last few days. (I did manage to finish it, in case you were wondering).

I have so many reasons to love this series. Eragon is a character that I somehow manage to relate to, despite the fact that he is quite literally the complete opposite of myself. I love Saphira just as much as I love Eragon, her wit and wisdom are fabulous and I adore the descriptions that Paolini used to create her as an important character. The bond between Eragon and Saphira is something that I think most people long for – whether romantically or simply platonic. I also loved the insanely frustrating chemistry between Eragon and Arya, the elf that he rescues from the Shade Durza during the course of the first book.

What I enjoyed so much about this series was that it was clear to the reader how the characters grew and changed throughout. Ergon is the best example of this, as he goes from a young, innocent farm boy to a brave, strong and mature man. However there are other examples of character growth, such as that of Eragon’s cousin Roran. The first time I read the cycle, I found that Roran annoyed me. He becomes a main character during the course of the second book (I think) after the evil creatures called the Ra’zac kidnap his love Katrina. Roran then takes it upon himself to lead his entire village on a long and treacherous quest in search of safety and, for him, the Ra’zac. He becomes a hardened man over the course of their journey, and *spoiler* even after he finds Katrina, he continues to lead in the army because of his bravery and strength of character.

Another thing that I loved about the series was the strong female characters. Arya is the first; she is cold and hard to crack open but she’s a warrior. She is a better sword fighter than Eragon, even after he gets his special abilities from the dragons and she is incredibly smart and wise. She also doesn’t fawn all over Eragon, which is usually what happens when there is a male and female lead character romance. The roles are swapped completely. Eragon drools over Arya from almost the beginning of the first book, all the way through to the end of the final one. Even at the end, they do not get together *more spoilers sorry*, but I will talk more about the ending later.

The other strong female lead is Nasuada. She becomes the head of the Varden after her father is killed by Urgals (more scary monsters, although they later become allies) in battle. She manages to move the entire Varden from Farthen Dur to Surda and then leads them into battle. She succeeds in joining the many races of Alagaesia so that they fight for the same side. She proves her strength again and again, although most impressively in the Battle of the Long Knives where she endures more long cuts along her arms than her opponent (who just happens to be a chauvinistic male pig). In the end, Nasuada takes over from Galbatorix after his death and becomes the Queen of Alagaesia, so that’s pretty cool.

The character of Murtagh is another complicated one. There are many twists and turns with his story. He and Eragon start out as friends, then they become brothers and enemies and by the end they’re half brothers and sort of friends again. Murtagh is a likeable character; he does many evil things, some under Galbatorix’s orders, but some on his own. There were a number of times where I wasn’t sure that I liked him much any more, but in the end he redeems himself and proves that he is worthy of Nasuada’s (and my) love.

I have a mix of feelings about the ending. Of the three main romances in the cycle, only one ends well – that of Roran and Katrina (who have a baby and live happily ever after). The strange love between Nasuada and Murtagh pretty much ends before it even begins because Murtagh and his dragon, Thorn, fly off to ‘find themselves’ after being slaves to Galbatorix for so long and doing all of his dirty work. There is no real answer about what will happen with their relationship, which makes me pretty sad because, for some reason, their love (which bloomed from being prisoners together and him sometimes torturing her) was actually my favourite. Finally there is the ‘love’ between Eragon and Arya (and also their two dragons) that finally starts to get exciting towards the end, with Arya hinting that she might like Eragon back (took her long enough). Naturally, after trying to win her love for like two years, his first move is to immediately leave the country and announcing that he will never be returning. Great move Eragon. Way to get the girl.

So to quote a comment that I saw on the Goodreads page for the Inheritance book, the ending leaves me ’empty, but satisfied’. Technically it’s a happy ending. Yay, the dragons aren’t going to be extinct. Yay, Eragon and his family and friends didn’t die. But also boo, Eragon decides to leave Alagaesia to raise the dragons somewhere else. It’s a bit of a difficult one and I guess it’s something that each reader has to figure out for themselves. This series is definitely one of my favourites, and I’d say it is by far one of the best stories to have been inspired by the great Tolkien.