Inheritance: The Inheritance Cycle, Book 4

There's no question that author Christopher Paolini is able to tell an entertaining story; INHERITANCE is very readable and full of adventure. But that adventure is stretched out over more than 800 pages, too many of which are spent inside Eragon's head as he mulls over some decision or another, practices his swordplay, or moons over Arya. And at this point, Paolini has made Eragon so nearly perfect -- he's a killing machine, he's a powerful magician, he makes the right decisions in a crisis, and he doesn't even really need to sleep -- that he's a little bit boring; it's hard to be worried that he won't prevail in the end. The more humanly flawed Roran and Murtagh are often more compelling.

Inheritance has some very exciting set pieces, and it brings Paolini's Lord of the Rings-and-Star Wars-influenced saga to a mostly satisfying conclusion, but it also leaves some key questions and plot points unresolved -- which is frustrating after bearing with the story through four doorstopper-sized tomes. But the book also leaves the door open for more adventures in Alagaesia, so perhaps we haven't quite seen the last of Eragon and Saphira after all ...