Book Review - the Inheritance Cycle

A young man named Christopher Paolini has written a wonderful 4 book fantasy series called the Inheritance Cycle.  I am just now wrapping up the 4th book.  It's about a boy and his dragon, essentially, but a wonderfully complex narrative, especially the last 2 books.  The first book, Eragon, was made into a movie that was only so-so, except for Jeremy Irons, who is always good.

The entire series is about various communities of humans, elves, dwarves, and other creatures fighting to overthrow an evil king.  Much of it seems borrowed from the Lord of the Rings, such as the nature and appearance of the elves and dwarves.  But, the way the evil king was defeated in the end seems quite original to me.  At least, I have never encountered anything like it.  Maybe someone out there has. 

(Spoiler Alert)  In essence, our hero sent the evil king on a guilt trip.  This king had great ESP powers and could force his victims to hear, see, or feel anything.  He could also inflict great mental pain.  But, in this series, dragons also have ESP power, as well as the humans they are attached to.  So, our hero, with dragon assistance, forced the king to hear the screams and feel the pain he had inflicted on his many victims over the years.  It overwhelmed him, and he committed suicide.  I've never heard of such a thing in a fantasy series.

I'm not quite finished with the book.  There is a star-crossed love match between a human and an elf, and I am eager to find out how that pans out.  But, it's a great series.