All 5 Eragon books, ranked worst to best

1) Inheritance

In top place for me is the final book in the series – Inheritance.

Far too often in book series, the final book misses the mark, doesn’t give us a satisfying ending, or finishes the series in a way where you can almost feel the author buckling under the pressure to tie up all the loose ends. Paoloni somehow manages to avoid all of these problems with Inheritance, and not only creates a deeply satisfying ending to the story but does so while leaving questions open (hence he wrote The Fork, the Witch and the Worm and is now extending the world further with Murtagh).

Given that this is the final book in the series, I don’t want to go into too much detail so as not to spoil it for anyone who has yet to read it. But in Inheritance we finally get the battle against Galbatorix which we have been waiting for. Another Dragon Rider emerges, and more secrets are revealed. All of the different storylines throughout Eldest and Brisingr which could at times feel convoluted come together in Inheritance in spectacular fashion, perfectly woven together to show why we needed to see all of those events take place. The characters we have come to love all have separate arcs which we follow through to the end, and we see how they connect to each other. Paolini pulls off a magnificent balancing act.

It is rare for a final book in a series to retain the same warm feeling of familiarity from the first book while also tying up every storyline and leaving room for the world to continue to grow, but Paolini manages it with Inheritance. I could very happily have left the story here, as he closes the final chapter so fantastically; but enough gaps are left that it doesn’t annoy me he’s expanding the world either. It simply makes sense.

Inheritance is the Inheritance Cycle at its best: a story of magic, loyalty, good versus evil, and ultimately the fierce and endless love between a boy and his dragon.

The Inheritance Cycle is available to purchase now wherever you buy books. Murtagh, the next book in the series, is due out on November 7. The Eragon TV show is currently in production on Disney+.

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