The Inheritance Cycle Begins

Eragon by Christopher Paolini

Eragon reminds me of another of my favorite heroes in literature, Harry Potter. Neither character chose their path, but neither backed away from the destiny that was selected for them. Both of these characters are strong willed and have a great heroic personality. Eragon is one of those characters that you feel like you get to know them inside and out. He is adventurous, but he also wants to do the right thing. Some of his decisions are spontaneous and mislead by hatred or hurt, but as long as he has Saphira with him, she helps him with his decision making. Saphira is a great character as well. She is almost like a mother figure for Eragon, even though she is only months old, she has hundreds of years of wisdom to share with her young Rider.

I enjoyed this book. Even though it was written by a very young author, it was well done. He presented the story well and kept the plot stable. There are always things that I could point out that were not perfect, but I’m going to give Paolini a break since he was like 15 when he wrote Eragon. I’m leaving this blog sort of short, I have read a few books since I read this particular book and I can’t remember a lot of details to blog about. Below is a synopsis, although it is sloppily written I think you will get the point.

Synopsis:
Eragon is a fifteen-year-old farm boy, orphaned at birth, lives with his uncle Garrow and cousin Roran in Carvahall, a small village in Alagaesia. His uncle raised him to live independently; he hunts and helps around his uncles small farm. Eragon grows up with his cousin Roran and they are very close, as close as brothers.

In the first chapter Eragon finds a small oval stone, mystified by the stone, he sees the value in it and tries to sell it for money for food, but is unable to get rid of it because he found it in the Spine. The Spine was thought of as a place that thought of to be haunted. Low and behold, the stone hatches a small blue dragon, she names herself Saphira. Eragon hides the dragon from his uncle and cousin and he thinks of no trouble until one day, two strangers go to Garrow’s house looking for the stone, they kill Garrow and destroy the farm. Saphira takes Eragon away in order to save his life, when they come back they find Garrow and the farm. Eragon must leave Carvahall immediately, Brom, an old story teller takes Eragon away and the true journey begins. Brom teaches him some of the ancient language/ magic, and also teaches him to fight with a sword. Brom presents Eragon with Zar’roc, which was the sword that belonged to Morzan, the Forsworn. Morzan is known as the Forsworn because he was one of the last Riders, he gave the turned Rider’s over to Galbatorix, and Galbatorix destroyed and killed all of the Riders and Dragons. All the while, he has a recurring dream of a girl that is in trouble.

The Ra’zac , creatures that work for the King that do his evil bidding, who we find out are the two strangers that killed Garrow, find Eragon and his traveling partners. They kill Brom and try to capture Eragon and Saphira to take them to King Galbatorix. Luckily, they are saved by Murtagh a young man probably a year older than Eragon. Murtagh joins Eragon in his quest but informs Eragon that he will not be joining the Varden if that is Eragon’s choice.

Murtagh and Eragon travel to Gil’ead a large city controlled by the empire, they sneak in and are able to save Arya the woman that Eragon has been having dreams about. He finds that she is an elf. Eragon is able to get into the mind of the elf and she tells him that she must stay unconscious because she has been given a poison and without the antidote she will die. She instructs him to go to find the Varden (an anti-Empire movement that lives with the Dwarves). Farthen Dur is where the Varden hide, some are excited that there is a new Rider, and others are quite upset. Orik, a dwarf and is the nephew of the King of the Dwarves, Hrothgar, becomes one of Eragon’s greatest companions. At the end of the first book, Farthen Dur is attacked by Urgals because of the Varden’s disloyalty to the Empire and because the King wants Eragon as his Rider. Eragon finds that a Shade (demon/evil worker for the King) is in control of the Urgals, Eragon destroys him with help from Saphira and Arya’s distraction. Eragon wakes up after destroying the Shade, the Shade struck him with his sword and scared him from his shoulder to his hip.

Please leave me a message and let me know what you think about this book. Have you read it? Do you plan on reading it? Give me your opinion. Thanks!

“Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun…”

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins


This book was Phenomenal. Once I started I couldn’t put it down. From beginning to end it was non-stop action. The story is so heart wrenching that I couldn’t wait to turn the page. Reading this book was easy, finding this book was a little harder. The way I found this book was through my online book reading community. The first time I heard about it, I saw it on Stephenie Meyer’s website about a year ago and I made a mental note to check it out. I even remember going to the library and searching for it, with no luck. For Christmas 2008, Simon and I received a gift card to Barnes and Noble, since we don’t have a B & N in our town, we had to spend it when we went to Little Rock a few months later. This was one of the books I decided to buy. Of course it has sat on my shelf for quite a while; until one not so special week I decided to pick it up. And I am so glad that I did. With the second installment coming out the following week, I thought what a perfect time to read it. Well, my reading went way too quickly, and then I got stuck with nothing to read for a couple of days.

The Hunger Games is set in the near/distant future, where 12 districts now live in a place called Panem that was once North America. The Capitol rules and no one dares to come up against them. Katniss Everdeen, a sixteen year old girl from the smallest most run down district, District 12, the coal district, doesn’t have a perfect life. Her life has not been easy, with her father’s death in the coal mines and her mother going through a deep depression, Katniss steps up to the plate to provide for her family. She manages to hunt outside the district illegally to provide for her mother and beloved little sister Prim. To keep the Districts in line, once a year, the Capitol hosts The Hunger Games. This event keeps peace in the Districts and keeps the civilians in their place. Every district has 2 Tributes drawn, a boy and a girl between the ages of 12 and 18, and they will travel to the Capitol to compete in the Hunger Games where, one person will be the victor and the other 23 Tributes will be dead. Every year the Districts assemble together to see which family will lose their child and which families are safe for another year. This year will be change Katniss’s life forever.

This is a story of war where no one truly wins. Even when the victor goes home to fame and fortune with a new life, they never really come home. Every victor has to live with the fact that they are now a killer and the only reason they survived was because others died. They may be the only ones going home, but they will never be the same.


It also is a story of love. There is a very complicated love triangle in the story, which Katniss is totally unaware of until she is faced with certain death. When Peeta Mellark’s name is called Katniss automatically is pained. Peeta has already saved her life in a way she can never pay back. He gave her a will to live when no one else cared and now they are matched up as enemies. The other part of this triangle is Gale. Her best friend in the world and he is left behind while she goes to the games to fight for her life. During the training before the games and during the event itself, Katniss is faced with a hard reality and she is totally blindsided by several revelations. I won’t ruin it for you because it is amazing writing that gets you to the point of no return.

Praise for The Hunger Games:
I have to start with writing style, Suzanne Collins does an amazing job. She writes with such description that I can feel the fire or taste the water. Whatever Katniss is feeling you will feel it along with her. Another concept that I enjoyed was Katniss and her inability to decide what she wants. Because she didn’t know what she wanted, I couldn’t make up my mind what I wanted for her. She was a great character and I enjoyed learning about her as the book went on.

Complaints about The Hunger Games:
One warning that I must include, is that there is quite a bit of political propaganda. There is definitely a political background to the story that could be overlooked, but was definitely underlying throughout the story. I’m never too keen on books that try to push their political views on me, but I found it quite easy to ignore. Therefore I ignored it and enjoyed the book.

So, for those who have read it, which is your favorite? Gale or Peeta? What did you think about the book? Have you read book #2 Catching Fire? Leave me a comment about your thoughts on the series or about my blog!