I started reading a series of books when I was in elementary/middle school that made me fall in love with books and reading. They were the only books that the author had ever released or planned on releasing, and I absolutely loved them and still love them to this day. Anyways, after all these years and thinking that I’ll never have the chance to experience this world again, he released a new and final installment to the series.
(SPOILERS KINDA)
The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm – Tales from Alagaesia was the ending to a world that you always want for a world, but you never seem to get. Christopher Paolini ended the “final” book in the series with a cliffhanger that left all of the characters across the world from each other, love stories were left unresolved, and the main character was cast out into the world alone because of a foreshadowed cryptic prophecy from book one that everyone forgot about. In my own personal opinion, it was probably one of the most infuriating series/book ending that I have ever read. After spending years falling in love with the characters and all of their separate, intricate story-lines and then pretty much having the author do that thing that some authors do where they leave the story open for the readers to imagine the ending was awful. Turning the last page of a four book series, after reading over a 1,000 pages, and turning the last page to have no closure was the worst thing that I didn’t plan on. That’s why having this extra, small book to cover the ends of the stories was almost enough to make me cry.
Paolini began the new, bonus stories book set a year after the final installment of the original series, writing out three brand new smaller stories inside the book to clear up all of the loose ends of the original series. We’re now able to see the end of Eragon and his family and friends, bringing it all to a final point, opening the way for a whole new set of books, but it isn’t clear yet if we’ll get them or not.
I’ve been a little vague with this book review because I am still trying to process the stories and ending of the newest book. I will say that these books are some of the most in-depth, world-building series I’ve ever read. Never have I read a series and understood the layout of the world as much as I did while reading the Eragon books. 10/10 would recommend.
