Reviews

I have never read the Inheritance Cycle (they’re on my list!), so this is my first experience with Paolini. I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I heard him explain in an interview that this was a love letter to science fiction &, I have to say, that sums it up perfectly. I see nods to Star Trek, Firefly, Star Wars (which is space fantasy, not science fiction, but it’s still in there), among many others! Paolini somehow gave us both hard science fiction & pulp science fiction. I’m not sure how it was possible, but I’m very thankful for it! The best & worst part of this book is the length. I’m conflicted on it. On one hand, it took much longer than most books (which wasn’t helped by a two week break), but he nails the world-building in those extra pages. It’s split into six parts. The first two seem slow, but once you hit part three, it just hits the gas & never lets up. The careful world-building before that is what gives the opportunity for that kind of storytelling. I was getting exhausted with all the characters changing around throughout the story. I’m a character guy, so that wasn’t doing it for me. But once the world was built & he introduced the actual main supporting cast of the book, I was completely invested all the way through the last heartbreaking page. You can hear the joy in Paolini’s voice throughout the book. You can tell how much fun he had coming up with aliens, languages, & culture. It made it even more fun for us & that is always appreciated! Especially The Soft Blade, which felt like Venom mixed with Green Lantern to me. Overall, this is a four star book & I am so excited to see where else he takes the Fractalverse!