Christopher Paolini

Relish the incomparable imagination of Christopher Paolini in this thrilling collection of stories based in the world of Eragon and the internationally bestselling Inheritance Cycle. A wanderer and a cursed child. Spells and magic. And dragons, of course. Welcome back to the world of Alagaësia. It's been a year since Eragon departed Alagaësia in search of the perfect home to train a new generation of Dragon Riders. When a vision from the Eldunarí, unexpected visitors, and an exciting Urgal legend surface, Eragon is faced with a much-needed distraction that may lead to a new perspective. This volume features three original stories set in Alagaësia, interspersed with scenes from Eragon's own unfolding adventure. Included is an excerpt from the memoir of the unforgettable witch and fortune-teller Angela the herbalist . . . penned by Angela Paolini, the inspiration for the character, herself! Also includes four new pieces of original art by the author. "Christopher Paolini is a true rarity." --The Washington Post

Volume 1, Eragon

The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm

Jordan

I enjoyed it, although the urgal story was much too long.

as always paolini exceeds my expectations. Even the short stories had me engrossed and gasping along with the characters. 

Shai

C. J. Daley 

Below is some of my review posted on Inheritance, Brisingr, Eldest and Eragon with some rehashing/added stuff...

So this is my first time reading The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm: Tales from Alagaësia: Eragon, (Eragon, Eragon/Eldest, Eragon/Eldest/Brisingr, Eragon/Eldest/Brisingr/Inheritance...) this being my first time listening to the audiobook too. To put it simply, Gerard Doyle is fantastic. His character voices and narration fit perfectly, and I loved the job he did. My only complaint for this one is that he did a kind of less growly sounding voice for Saphira, and that the change after hearing the other voice for 4 much longer audiobooks was very off-putting. 

I obviously fell off for some years seeing that Inheritance was released 9 years ago, but what can you do...

I'm sure there's a hundred reviews on here talking about how this all started when Paolini was fifteen, and how at the time of Brisingr, he had spent a decade with Eragon, so I'll just say--WOW.

He takes so many things from others (in terms of influence) and handles them all so delicately that he created this wonderful, lush, dense lore that continues to grow throughout the rest of the novels. He was like a mini-Tolkien with his languages and flushed out geographic ideas. He created the Urgals and Kull instead of just recycling the typical Orcs and Uruk-hai. I found multiple points of similarity between Martin's 'Game of Thrones' dragons and Paolini's, and yet past those he once again branched off and created his own world and lore for them in a refreshing way. I think the training and wiseness from Brom most similarly matches the ideas of Obi-Wan and Luke Skywalker, including the necessary death of a mentor/father figure that thus propels the main character towards greatness. I suppose you could also easily argue that it is also like Gandalf/Frodo, however I think it's a harder argument to make that Frodo actually grew based off lessons from a knowledgable mentor (HE IS A HERO, JUST A DIFFERENT KIND!). Or, you could also point out Harry/Dumbledore--I'm sure we've all seen the memes about needing an old man mentor and a young hero to make a successful series--even though Dumbledore hid questionable important details from Harry, he still fulfilled that role. 


The Fork I enjoyed very much. I always liked Murtagh as a character. I've waited countless years to see him come back around to being a good guy and we are finally getting there. His change of name didn't really serve fans well in this audiobook because Doyle was clearly doing Murtagh's voice, but I was excited all the same. 

The Witch worked, but was far less exciting to me. As much as I enjoy Angela the Herbalist, and want to know more about her, her powers, and who she really is, this story doesn't really deliver on any of those things. Perhaps it is a start though? Maybe we'll get an entire anthology on who she really is...

The Worm was another that I didn't dislike, but I don't know if it really worked for me. I was interested to see more into Urgal life, and definitely excited to see an Urgal spell caster, but I didn't really like the concept of an evil dragon for this story. Even if the dragon was wild. It felt almost like backpedaling on the majesty that's been ground home for Paolini's dragons since day one.

However, I did enjoy them all. For the most part the thing that hurt these stories the most was the fact that they were simply too short, especially after the long series prior. I still look forward to more!

Rachel Kanyid

Enjoyed these shorts as an addition to the Alageasia world!

A lovely return to the world of the Inheritance series. A nice little pleasure read amidst all my finals studying. 

Jacque

Aditi

** spoiler alert **
           A 2.5 I think. This book needs better editing and more content. The story of the Worm was the most interesting part about it, followed by the story about Murtagh, which was left incomplete because we never find out what he's even looking for.

Aditi Verma

Sandra Tammaru

Oh damn I missed Eragon sfm and I didnt even notice before... Read it so long ago but this was a great peak into the amazing world of Eragon

a.girl.a.dog.and.books

Although it was nice to read about Eragon and his world again, it went by too fast! These are short stories that could have been whole books, but parts that could have been chapters were only sentences. The stories were really interesting and it is the fact that they were so small that makes me sad. 

Three new stories of Eragon set a year after he left Alaga©±sia to find a home to train the newest generation of Dragon riders.

Tales from Alagaësia

Katharina Hoffmann

First of all:
WOW. I got it this morning and devoured it. I can't believe that the wait (7 years since Inheritance!) is finally over. 😭
So many emotions, so many feels!

The book consists out of three short stories, all of them cleverly interwoven with each other and set against a larger background which is Eragon and Saphira building a new home for the next generation of riders.
The first story deals with a stranger, who calls himself Tornac and who might have something to do with *whispers* my precious bean Murthag.
The second one deals with Angela and her past (yess, we get to know *some* things!). It was great to get to know more about her as we readers know as much as Eragon knows (which is very little, let's be honest).
The last one is a story is about an Urgal woman, a gigantic dragon and uhmm, black-winged beasts that might or might not be the Ra'zac...

This book was way, way to short because it managed to suck me back into the world of Alagaësia and I didn't want to leave it. Paolini's style of writing is still beautiful, complex and he touches upon some unspoken secrets still lingering in the shadows, making me want to bang my head against the table, screaming for book IV.
This was perfect. I NEED MORE!

Áróra Lind 

Trula Rockwell

It has been a while since I have been back to the world of Alagaësia and I'm so glad that Christopher wrote and released this book. This is still one of my all time favorite series and I cannot wait until the next book.

While this really doesn't dive us back in, we do still get to catch up with Saphira, Eragon, and a few other characters that I have sorely missed since the end of Inheritance. In truth, if you want a short quick read, definitely add this to your list if you love Eragon's story. If not, then it's not a need to read for you. For me, I missed this realm of fiction and was more than happy to come back.

Maria Brogueira

Even though I love the inheritance world and all that it takes, I think most people were a bit disappointed by the ending. It felt vague and, in my opinion, the books and the story deserved more. 

And cue to this book, which I thought would quench my thirst for what happened next to eragon and saphira and the new future dragons, but also to arya, nasuada and murtagh.

And in the beginning it was helping to know how they were building the academy and then we had a story about murtagh (which didn’t have a lot of thorn and I was disappointed). And they we got a story about arya and eragon’s and their dragons reunion? NO. WE . DID. NOT. And I’m not okay with that.

So hence the 3 stars. Because once again I was disappointed.

It's been a year since Eragon departed Alagaësia in search of the perfect home to train a new generation of Dragon Riders. Now he is struggling with an endless sea of tasks: constructing a vast dragonhold, wrangling with suppliers, guarding dragon eggs and dealing with belligerent Urgals and haughty elves. Then a vision from the Eldunarí, unexpected visitors and an exciting Urgal legend offer a much-needed distraction and a new perspective. This volume features three original stories set in Alagaësia, interspersed with scenes from Eragon's own unfolding adventure. Included is an excerpt from the memoir of the unforgettable witch and fortune-teller Angela the herbalist, penned by Angela Paolini, the inspiration for the character, herself! Relish the incomparable imagination of Christopher Paolini in this thrilling new collection of stories based in the world of the Inheritance Cycle.

Tales from Alagaësia Volume 1: Eragon

Klára Posiřilová

I loved being able to experience more of Alagaësia. The stories were great, though i have to admit i saw the difference between Christopher's and Angela's writing and it made the witch tale bit off, but still good. I was so excited to see if here will be Murtagh and yay!! (Sorry that was probably spoiler), but i wish there was more about him. Maybe in volume 2 :) 

Kat Kooiman

This collection of short stories was good, but they didn't feel as cohesive as I think they were meant to.

Lila Raymond

This was definitely different from what I was expecting… I was excited for the story to develop but this really didn’t end up being the point of the book, I listened to it on Audible and found I really enjoyed it! Ugh Murtagh’s bit 😍 I loved it!! And the Urgal story at the end… yep it’s different but it was really enjoyable. 

Nikki Sojkowski

I don't know how I didn't hear about this earlier

Southern Today Gone Tomorrow

The Fork, The Witch, and The Worm by Christopher Paolini is the newest release (and I mean newest as in it came out at the start of this year I think more than 4 years after its last predecessor) and picks up with Eragon some time after the last book and gives us a look into his life as well as the history of his world.

This novel was an enjoyable read, and significantly shorter than anything else by him (only 288 pages), and wasn’t what I was expecting. I thought it would be either a) a variation on The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, which it was not, or just some short stories, which it wasn’t. Yes, there were three stories in this book, but they related to the world itself and fit into the novel as a whole. I really appreciated them, and this book.

This is a great novel for all ages, and just makes me want more of his writing again. It is marvelous to see how his writing has changed (I think he wrote Eragon when he was 16) and that it has actually grown.

Highly recommend this to fans of adventure, magic, tales, folklore, and fans of Eragon and dragons. And, no, there is no romance in this, sorry!

Katerina Thorson

⭐⭐⭐.5/5
Bookstagram

I will not lie, I had high expectations for this mini novel. I remember pouring endless hours into reading the Inheritance Cycle, clinging to every word that Christopher Paolini brought to life. Eragon was my escape, it was my savior in a dark part of my childhood. Reading the adventure of Eragon and Saphira was all I could think of. That is why, when I heard that Christopher was releasing a book based on the accounts after the last book Inheritance Cycle, I was flailing with joy.

Unfortunately, my expectations were not met. Nor was this book anything like I thought it would be. In the synopsis, we are told that we will get to read into the struggles of what Eragon faces: rebuilding an entire race from extinction, creating ties between all other races, building a dragon academy and so forth. All you get in the book is a tiny snip-it of him in a big-ass office looking at scrolls and wondering what the hell he got himself into. 

And if you were thinking that you were going to read about Saphira and their bond, well you might as well throw that notion out the window. I understand that the focus is on Eragon, but they are in this together and you do not hear much from her except a few sentences here and there. And literally I actually counted, she says 4 things the entirety of 270 pages.

As for the tales, they were a factor that I can't complain too much about. I believe that they should have been their own book and not included Eragon since it really had no relevance to him. Sure all the tales tell a lesson, but was Eragon really needed to be brought up? I think Paolini just needed him in there to bring in his readers. Just telling us that these are tales that took place in Alagaesia would have been enough. 

The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm just did not meet my expectations of what it would be. There were still quite a few loose ends at the end of Inheritance Cycle that could have been put into this novel...more like a novella. I wanted more Eragon, more Saphira, more of a story. Hell, more of a plot to this book would have been great. 

Will I read the next Volume? I think so, but that is just because I am having a small, SMALL, hint of hope that Paolini will redeem himself and actually bring in the after story of the Inheritance Cycle. 

XOXO,
Kat
(ACOURTOFBOOKSANDCOFFEE)

The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm Volume 1, Eragon

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