The End of the Inheritance Cycle

Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

The End.   The end of a cycle, the end of the story of Eragon and Saphira.  As the story concludes the Varden are still battling their way across Alagaesia to overcome the evil usurper king Galbatorix. 

It is hard to give a synopsis of such an incredibly large book.  So much takes place not only in the last book of the Inheritance Cycle, but throughout the story the audience watches Eragon and Saphira mature and come to be a Dragon and Rider to be reckoned with.  This has been a wonderful journey to experience with all of the characters of Alagaesia.  This blog is primarily for readers that have finished the series and enjoyed it, so from now on, please do not read on unless you want to read spoilers.  Again, SPOILER ALERT.  I’m about to talk about the book and all the details that I want to talk about.

Of course if you read my blog on Brisingr you’ll remember how upset I was about Arya and Eragon not hooking up.  At the very end of Inheritance, I cried, I could not believe that Arya took up the post of Queen of the Elves, surely she understood that it would end the possibility of a future with Eragon.  Then Eragon realizes that he has to move out of Alagaesia forever therefore, nailing the last nail in the coffin of no love with Arya.  That was the saddest ending that I could have thought of. 

I loved this series, of course it was easy to see the common themes between Harry Potter, which I have talked about in previous blogs and even Frodo from the Lord of the Rings, especially with Eragon’s decision to leave with the elves.  In the Lord of the Rings, after Frodo rids the world of the evil of Sauron he decides that this world is not for him and he is invited to spend the rest of his long life with the Elves.  As with Eragon, he will go with the Elves and protect the unhatched dragon eggs along with the Eldunari of the older dragons.  As dragons hatch and riders are chosen by their dragons Eragon and Saphira have chosen to leave everything behind to train up the next generation of Riders.  It is a noble quest, but very sad.  The parallels between Harry Potter and Eragon are quite obvious to me, but just in case you missed it.  The epic battle is very much the same; a larger than life evil villain against a kid that has become something great from hard work determination, his attitude, personality and the overall good versus evil, good will always overcome.

Well I hope you enjoyed the book.  Have you read the Inheritance Cycle?  What did you think of the last installment?  In my opinion it was the best book of the series.  Thoughts?  Keep Reading my friends!

Have you Seen Amy?

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Amy Elliot Dunne is missing.  The audience starts the book on the day that Amy goes missing and we follow Nick Dunne’s story along with excerpts from Amy’s diary.  As we venture through the story, Nick is the only suspect in his wife’s maybe murder especially when all clues lead back to him. 

I can’t tell my readers much about the plot without ruining some great surprises.  This was our September book club pick and it has been one of the only books that all members have liked.  We all pretty much had the same consensus about the book.  All parties involved were crazy. 

I had a few thoughts that I would like to share with you all in this blog, first sometimes a book will trigger a song.  It’s like the theme song for the book.  This book triggered Britney Spears, If you Seek Amy.  Yes, I know it’s a horrible song, but Amy is missing and so, one thing leads to another and I’m singing a dirty Britney song.  The song that it immediately led to after that was Britney’s Womanizer, depending on which character I was reading.  Just thought I would share that little tid-bit of information.

The next idea I had was just how many levels this book had.  It was like an onion.  The audience had to constantly peel that onion to get to the bottom of the story to the real truth.  I loved how every time I thought I had figured it out, there was an even bigger surprise than the last chapter.  I felt as I read the book I would start to understand the character and what was going on within the story and then the last sentence of the chapter would change everything.  A little sentence like “And that was the seventh time I lied to the cops.” Would sneak its way right at the end of the chapter and my mind would ask: What?!?!  I thought Nick was being absolutely honest and then Flynn drops that bomb on us.  I loved it!  This book was full of surprises and I loved how shocked I was at every turn. 

I don’t want to share too much, just let me know if you liked it.  Keep Reading my Friends!

   

How do you hide when everyone can hear your thoughts?

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Todd Hewitt is 30 days away from becoming a man.  Every boy in Prentisstown becomes a man at the age of 13 with 13 calendar months.  He doesn’t know what all it entails, but as the last boy in Prentisstown he knows it’s a big deal.  Not only is he the youngest in the town, there are no women in Prentisstown.  In New World, everyone can hear everyone’s thoughts and the noise is overwhelming and not only can you hear the men’s thoughts, but the animals talk and have noise just as loud as men.  One day Todd and his dog Manchee stumbles upon silence.  Like a whole in the Universe.  When this secret silence is discovered, Todd must leave the only settlement in New World to hide and escape.  The only problem is whoever is after Todd can hear every thought he has.

The Knife of Never Letting Go was a high thrills young adult novel that was action packed from start to finish.  When I began the book I knew that it had a cliff hanger ending.  My friend Kathy lent me her copy and said, “Here is the biggest cliff hanger ending of any book I’ve ever read.” Wow, thanks Kathy!  She said it was well worth the read though and I have to completely agree. 

I enjoyed the style in which the book was written.  Ness writes the book in Todd’s voice, it sounds just like it would if he were speaking.  The audience only knows what he allows himself to think and speak, we are in his inner thoughts as well as everyone else in the story.  I enjoyed when characters would interact with the unspoken words and of course correct his horrible grammar in his mind.  I also loved Viola and the relationship that buds between her and Todd.  I loved learning with Todd about a whole world that he knew nothing of.  I want to continue to read the series just to find out what was written in Todd’s mom’s journal and find out what’s going to happen with Todd and Viola. 

This is not a book that I think I would have ever come across if Kathy had not handed it to me.  I’m thankful that she did and I look forward to continuing the series. 

Do you ever borrow books from people and are so thankful for the chance to read it?  What books have you read that you borrowed and didn’t want to give back?  Twilight was probably my first borrowed book that I didn’t want to give back.  Keep Reading my friends!

Something Blue

Something Blue by Emily Giffin

Spoiler Alert for Something Borrowed!  If you have not read Something Borrowed first and plan to, do not continue this blog.  If you have read it and do not plan on reading either books, continue on!  Enjoy! 

 

Darcy Rhone, best friend of Rachel White and ex-fiancé of Dexter Thaler has been wronged.  She knows that she can never be second place, but somehow Dex is caught in the closet of Rachel on the day that their wedding is cancelled and Darcy had no idea.  Darcy has never come in second place especially not to Rachel.  Now she’s pregnant, alone for the first time in her life and has nowhere to turn because Rachel and Dex are dead to her.  So she does what any pregnant single woman would do, she escapes to London to stay with her childhood friend Ethan.  As her due date draws closer and she learns more about herself than she ever wanted to, changes take place that would surprise anyone who knows Darcy, especially Darcy herself. 

I enjoyed this book so much.  I loved Giffin’s writing, and her character development.  We met and got to know Rachel in Something Borrowed, of course Darcy is the bad guy in the first book so I was concerned starting Something Blue that I was going to hate Darcy throughout the book knowing all that I knew about her from book one.  I knew as Giffin was building her reputation and character that I was not going to enjoy her point of view.  I knew that there was going to have to be a redemption moment of some type and I waited patiently.  As the story continued there is a salvation moment and every once in a while the old Darcy would spring up, but the new Darcy would beat her back into submission. 

I loved the symbolism that Giffin used both in Borrowed and Blue.  With Something Borrowed, Rachel was going to be the loaner of a lace handkerchief in Darcy and Dex’s wedding.  Not only was the handkerchief borrowed, but also Rachel borrows the groom.  She literally goes throughout the entire book planning on giving Dex back to Darcy like she had just borrowed him for a short time.  Of course we do not lose any sentiment in Something Blue.  Darcy uses a piece of her blue baby blanket at the end of the book that has a lot of symbolism.  I love that it all ties together, maybe not everything is happy, so I wouldn’t call it a happy ending, but I would say that the books tied up nice and neat in the end.

In Something Blue, we knew that Darcy was pregnant, at the beginning of the book she just knows that the baby is a girl.  Well the audience should be bright enough to know that the baby is a boy with the title being “Something BLUE.”  No surprises on gender.  I will leave a few surprises for anyone who did not heed my warning of spoilers and you’ll just have to read the book to find out what happens. 

So, what do you think?  Have you read other Emily Giffin books?  What did you think of Borrowed and Blue?  Keep Reading my friends!

The Groom is Usually not the Something Borrowed!

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

Rachel White is an independent attorney that works and lives in Manhattan.  She is an easy going, dependable, ever present friend and if someone was to describe her while growing up the phrase “goodie two-shoes” might have been used.  Rachel turns thirty and her best friend Darcy throws her a huge party to celebrate, Darcy also gets wasted and has to leave the party a little early.  Dex, Darcy’s finance and Rachel’s Law school study partner and friend stays behind to keep the birthday girl company, one thing leads to another and Dex ends up in Rachel’s bed.  Rachel immediately regrets her actions and longs to put the one night stand behind her, but Dex has feelings deeper for Rachel than either one of them bargained for.  As the wedding date gets closer and Dex and Rachel’s hidden relationship grows more intense, Rachel is overcome with jealousy of Dex and Darcy’s real relationship and regret for what she is doing behind her longest closest friends back with her fiancé.  You’ll have to read it to see how the web of lies and deceit grow thicker as the novel moves forward.

This was a “beach read.”  This is the term I give chic lit usually, but mainly it was a fun book with great characters that give you enough depth to get to know the characters, but you don’t need a dictionary to understand half of the dialogue.  I enjoyed Rachel’s point of view and I’m always a fan of first person books. Rachel and I had several similarities and therefore I was able to connect easily with her character.  She was passive and allowed Darcy to walk all over her because Rachel could always see the good within her friend.  Rachel is a giver and therefore when she found that she was frustrated with her self-induced situation, it was hard for her not to give Darcy or Dex whatever they needed or wanted from her.  I also felt that Rachel knew herself.  She may not always understand or know why she was doing something, but she knew her thought process behind her actions and generally knew all of the possible outcomes.

I found the friendship dynamics interesting.  All girls know a Darcy, we may not have been friends with her, but we all know someone who is just like Darcy in every way.  I also know people who are not absolutely like Darcy, but maybe have several of her bad attributes, I find these people are usually selfish and do not have a lot of self realization, they usually don’t think anything is their fault and always find blame with others.  For this reason, I have a hard time relating to people like this and I am not exactly looking forward to Something Blue since it is from Darcy’s perspective. 

I am slowly trying to get through my stack of borrowed books, Something Borrowed is mine, but Something Blue is my friend Leighanne’s and therefore I am anxious to get it back to her since I’ve had it for quite some time.  

What’s on your “to read” book shelf?  Do you borrow more books than you can read in a year?  Keep Reading my friends!