Inheritance

I recently read Inheritance the final book in The Inheritance Cycle.  The series revolves around Eragon and his dragon, Saphira.  The books take place in a fictional world called Alagaësia.  In Alagaësia there are five main races: Urgals, Humans, Elves, Dwarfs, and Dragons.  The elves and the dragons had a long bloody war and in order to make peace they created the dragon riders; many of the dragons' eggs would only hatch when exposed to their rider and once they hatched the dragon and its rider would be able to telepathically communicate.  The humans joined the treaty between the elves and dragons and for hundreds of years, the riders governed over the dragon riders.  Then a corrupt human dragon rider named Galbatorix and several other rebel dragon riders slew every other dragon rider and destroyed every dragon egg except for three eggs.  A hundred years later a human, Eragon, discovers a dragon egg in the woods and it hatched for him.  Eragon and Saphira, his dragon, help a rebellion fight Galbatorix and the empire he had created over the last century.  The series is very well written and very descriptive and the author does a great job at creating Alagaësia.  Parts of the series are very fast paced while others are very slow and unnecessary.  Over the series, the author develops great characters and in Inheritance the author does a great job at finishing the series.  Overall, The Inheritance Cycle was a great read and I wish there were more books in it.

The Outcasts

Recently, I read a book called The Outcasts. I discovered this book because it is by the same author of one of my favorite series Ranger's Apprentice. The Outcasts takes place in the same universe as Ranger's Aprentice and revolves around a 16 year old kid named Hal. Hal lives in a nation called Skandia, which resemble medieval Scandinavia. One of the Skandian traditions is when a boy turns 16 he competes in the Brotherbands to prepare him for military service. Boys are tested in fighting, races, and sailing. Hal is not the most athletic kid but is a great inventor. Hal is put into a brotherband team with other outcasts like him and together they compete in the Brotherbands. I loved the writing in this book; it was very descriptive and developed great charecters. I also like how it took place in a farmiliar setting. The book has a great plot and is very suspenseful however, parts of it are slow. In the ending, the author did not resolve all the issues in the book and it is very open ended. This is fine as long as the author writes a sequel; I hope he does. The plot of the book is very similar to Ranger's Apprentice books and is predictable. I love how this book has a large collection of supporting characters who are also developed throughout the book.  Overall, I thought The Outcasts was a great book and I'm excited for a sequel.