La Bene Vita

The Inheritance Cycle

I've spent the last several weeks reading Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, and Inheritance, the four books that make up Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle. After I finished the fourth book last night, I couldn't sleep. The ending was unsatisfying, but necessary, and the arguments back and forth kept me awake. I finally picked up my tablet and started reading a new book just to try to get my mind onto something else, and it helped, but when I woke up again four hours later, there was no silencing the "Inheritance" analysis.

Therefore, I got out of bed in the wee hours and started reading reviews and commentary.

I discovered that the whole 4-book series totals 2,700 pages! No wonder it's taken me so long to read. Since I've been reading electronic versions, I had no idea. I'm annoyed that I spent so much time reading it, but I don't wholly regret the experience. Reading the reviews and commentary is very eye-opening, and it makes me reconsider my style (and my skill) as an author.

It's all about pacing and characterization.

Paolini, the author of the Inheritance Cycle, is verbose. If 2,700 pages in four books isn't enough of an indicator, check out this passage:

Eragon picked up the hawthorn staff that lay by his side. He rolled it between his palms, admiring the play of light over the polished tangle of roots at the top and the much-scratched metal ferrule and spike at the base.

Um, what?

Despite that, I plowed through the series without analyzing. When I'm engrossed in a book, I'm engrossed. I'm also not the kind of person to stop reading a book because I'm not enjoying it. For example, even though I could see where the ending of the final book was headed, and even though I passed the climax and still had 100 pages of denouement left to read, I kept going, like a loaded freight train with no brakes heading for a ravine at the end of the tracks. I... just... couldn't... stop... myself.

SPOILER ALERT...

I'll be honest. I didn't notice the glaringly obvious Star Wars parallel until it was pointed out to me on blog post after Goodreads review after comment after entire webpages dedicated to the topic. How could I have been so blind? Strong-willed and dedicated princess and member of a rebel force opposing the evil empire and its evil self-appointed emperor is ambushed by minions of said emperor while transporting Something of Value to the Rebels, which could be the undoing of the Empire. Just before capture, said Princess sends said Something of Value out of the hands of her captors, toward an elderly and only remaining representative of a formerly thriving peacekeeping order made up of individuals with special powers, who have since been overthrown by the evil Emperor, but the Princess "misses" and accidentally sends said Something of Value to a humble farm boy of unknown parentage who lives with an uncle in a tiny, overlooked corner of the Empire. Uncle and farm are destroyed by the Empire, who wishes to retrieve the missing Something of Value, and Farm Boy, with his newly acquired Something of Value, in his grief, stumbles across said Elderly Representative who trains Farm Boy in the ways of the Order and helps Farm Boy hone his own Special Powers, the most powerful of which includes the control of minds. Farm Boy joins the rebels (and is attracted to Princess), but takes time out to travel to a distant, forested land where he trains under a more powerful mentor from the former Order. Both the Elderly Representative and Powerful Mentor perish before the end of the series, leaving Farm Boy feeling all alone and vulnerable. Also, Farm Boy must leave his training incomplete to go fight and defeat the mighty and all-powerful Emperor against all odds. Meanwhile, somewhere in the middle of the story, Farm Boy learns his true heritage during a dramatic reveal of a Secret Relative who happens to be one of the highest-ranking minions of the Emperor, which makes Farm Boy question his own inherent Goodness. Secret Relative gets redemption in the end by turning on his master and helping Farm Boy defeat the Evil Emperor.

Yeah. That glaringly obvious Star Wars parallel.

It's a good plot, so I'm not complaining, but I can't believe I missed the parallels. What I *am* struggling with is the characters in the books. For all the words that make up the four books of this series, one might think that the characters would be very well developed. But, like many of the critics, I kept noticing things that didn't make sense and seemed like a cop-out, even deus ex machina in some cases.

I agree wholeheartedly with the criticism that the characters were not only underdeveloped, but at times, contradictory. I also agree with the other primary complaint of critics, that the majority of Paolini consists of detailed description, side plots, eloquent dialog (in some cases inappropriate, such as for an uneducated Farm Boy), and purple prose consisting of ridiculous and unnecessary flaunting of an extensive (and possibly superhuman) vocabulary.

But... so does Tolkien.

I understand now why the majority of critics call this work "derivative." It reminds me of Glenn Close performing the part of Norma Desmond in the musical Sunset Boulevard. Whereas most Broadway actors have their own style and sound, Glenn's performance sounds like a faded carbon copy of Patti LuPone's original performance, and let's face it: nobody, and I mean nobody, is Patti LuPone except for Patti LuPone.

Paolini is no Tolkien.

All that said, I still enjoyed reading Eragon as much as I enjoy listening to Glenn Close singing Norma Desmond (admit it: y'all didn't even know she sings, did you?)

HOW IT ALL APPLIES TO MY OWN WRITING:

I suffer from one of Paolini's afflictions: scope creep. He planned the "Cycle" to be a "Trilogy" but realized halfway into the third book that he would have to split it into two books. That created two problems: (1) He'd been referring to his project as a "Trilogy" up until that point, and two out of three books were already published and bestsellers, and (2) he needed to come up with a sub-plot for Book 3 (Brisingr) with a satisfactory conflict and resolution. In my opinion, he did okay, because I didn't finish Brisingr feeling cheated, but many critics complained about it. And I did have to admit that Eragon's search for a new light sabersword after his original weapon (given to him by Elderly Representative during his initial training) was confiscated by Secret Relative was overly long and annoying. I got to a point where I really didn't care if he ever found another sword. I feel like the extended search for a sword was invented as a plot to carry Book 3, forced into being by the need to split the last book in half.

My current project is in a similar state: It started out as a book, which turned into a trilogy, which has since morphed into a four- or five-book series (at a minimum.) I find myself having to re-evaluate each book and decide what story I'm trying to tell, because my original story idea has turned into a story arc. I need subplots that stand alone to carry the individual books.

The difference between my project and Paolini's is that mine isn't published yet, so I have the freedom to adjust the project.

I also suffer from Paolini's tendency toward the verbose (case in point: this blog post), but that's not always a bad thing and can be a matter of opinion. I've read varying opinions on whether the side plots or even all the plot points in the primary plot were necessary. For instance, some critics claim the story would have a more exciting pace if all the scenes featuring Roran (Eragon's cousin) were removed. Other critics claimed that Roran's story was the most interesting part of Brisingr. Also, Books 3 and 4 chronicle the path of the Varden (the rebels) from battle to battle, as they conquer one city at a time in their quest for the capital city. Some critics claimed that chronicling each and every battle might not have been necessary. I find that ironic since so many of the same critics complain that the characters are underdeveloped, while the majority of those scenes helped build the characters and relationships.

But the problem with Paolini's characterization has more to do with the paradox between what he shows and what he tells about the characters.

Eragon ("Farm Boy") turns into a vegetarian and becomes physically ill when he takes the residual energy from the corpses of dying livestock, and yet he kills soldier after soldier - hundreds at every battle - without even flinching at the deaths.

Arya ("Princess") has repeatedly said she does not want her mother's throne, and she withstood unspeakable tortures at the hands of the evil king's minion without giving him what he wanted, proving that she is incredibly strong-willed; yet she agrees to take the throne upon her mother's death after only a week of pestering by her fellow elves.

This second example demonstrates how Paolini has grown as an author over a decade of writing the series, because I think the problem is not in Arya's decision to take the throne. I think it's in her initial proclamations that she had no interest in the throne ("I walk alone"). She shows a sense of duty throughout the series that makes it hard to believe she would not ascend the throne for the good of her people, unless another viable alternative was available. The "I walk alone" refusal is more out of character. But Paolini had already created the conflicting characterization by the end of the fourth book, he had not introduced the reader to a suitable alternative, and he was in the middle of another problem: trying to tie up loose ends in his already-100-page-denouement. Arya had no choice but to take the throne. However, it felt unsatisfactory because her "I walk alone" proclamation was weakly explained. That's all Paolini had time for. As it was, he left several ends untied.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Paolini's mistakes in characterization and plot (the need for deux ex machina) highlight the importance of Prepping your novel, trilogy, or epic series BEFORE writing it. (See "October Novel Prep Challenge"  [13+]). Also, hire a good editor before you publish.

I can't believe I read all 2,700 pages in a row, but I'm glad I did. Not only did I enjoy the books, but I learned a lot about what works and what doesn't work from reading all the analyses. I might incorporate some new ideas into this year's Prep, not to mention my own epic projects. I learned some pretty impressive vocabulary words, too.