Last of Eragon, for now

Christopher Paolini wrote Eragon when he was just 15. Photo / Supplied

Having spent nearly half his life chronicling The Inheritance Cycle, Christopher Paolini is experiencing mixed emotions as he brings the popular fantasy series to a close with the final volume, Inheritance. Having just turned 28, the Montana writer was a teenager when the first instalment, Eragon, was published through his parents' company Paolini International in 2002.

After attracting the interest of crime writer Carl Hiassen, it was quickly picked up by Random House. Since then, Eragon and its successors Eldest and Brisingr have sold more than 25 million copies, making Paolini a New York Times bestselling author at the tender age of 19.

"It's very strange," he says. "I've spent pretty much every single day from when I was 15 to about two months ago either thinking about the series or working on it. It's a huge shift for me now. Even in terms of my day-to-day schedule. If I'm not working on the series, what do I do? How do I restructure my life and where do I go from here? I'm not really concerned by how any of my future works might be received because by finishing the series, I feel that I've accomplished something rather large. I'm really proud of it and for the rest of my life I can look at it and say, 'I did that.' Whatever else happens I'm happy to have done that."

Set in the mythical land of Alagaesia, The Inheritance Cycle centres around young farm boy Eragon, who establishes a mystical bond with the dragon Saphira before being pitted against the forces of the nefarious King Galbatorix. Originally planned as a trilogy, the story proved so vast that Paolini was forced to expand it to a quartet.

"I had that common problem for fantasy authors where my books kept getting longer and longer," he laughs. "The last one got so long that if it had remained one book, it would likely have run to 2000 pages. I don't know about you but as a reader and an author, I draw the line at about 1000 pages."

Despite the text's considerable growth, the novel's conclusion remains essentially unchanged from when Paolini originally conceived it nearly 15 years ago. "Some of the smaller details are different since as I've worked through the storyline I have realised that some of the characters are no longer as I imagined them," he says. "Therefore I needed to change what happens to them because if I go with what I originally imagined, it would no longer fit who the character is.

"Hopefully the book will fulfil readers' expectations and provide a satisfying ending while, at the same time, providing them with some surprises along the way, which is always the challenge for wrapping up a series."

With Inheritance under strict embargo until its publication (it was released in New Zealand on Wednesday), Paolini is reluctant to reveal too many plot details. "The book picks up a short time after the last book and continues the adventures of Eragon and the dragons as they're pushing deeper into enemy territory heading towards the ultimate confrontation with King Galbatorix. There are lots of battles, villains and romance. All the good stuff a story needs. I'm very proud of it. It's a very intense book but there are also some very funny bits in it as well. There's something for everyone."

A fan of The Lord of the Rings' literary and cinematic incarnations, Paolini has never been to New Zealand although he often visits the Herald website. "I have it bookmarked in my browser and I go there for news on a regular basis," he says. "I subscribe to the philosophy that it's good to get news from a wide variety of sources and New Zealand is about as far from Montana as you can possibly get. It's a nice contrast to the news we get in the US."

He believes that New Zealand has much in common geographically with his home state. "The landscape in The Lord of the Rings films is very similar to where I live," says Paolini, who is based in Paradise Valley in southwest Montana. "The mountains that we have are very much like the ones you have in the South Island."

According to Paolini, his rural upbringing has influenced his work. "If I'd grown up in a city like New York, Los Angeles or London, I might still have ended up writing fantasy but it probably would have been a very different kind of fantasy. Growing up in an area where I was able to do lots of hiking, work with my hands a lot and make my own knives and swords and bows and arrows gave me an appreciation and understanding of them that I wouldn't have had if I was living in a city."

While The Inheritance Cycle is now complete, Paolini doesn't rule out eventually returning to Alagaesia's magical milieu. "I laid the ground in Brisingr and Inheritance for several other stories I wish to tell," he says. "But that's not going to be one of my next few projects as I've got a whole bunch of other stories I want to tell. Not all of them are fantasy; some of them are sci-fi, mystery, thriller or horror. You name it; I'd like to try it. But at some point in the future I will go back to Eragon's world. I've put too much work into creating this world and those characters that it would be a shame to walk away from it and never go back."