Murtagh: The World of Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Murtagh was a relative turned baddie in the earlier books in the series. Now he is the "good guy" in his own book. He talks to his dragon. they fight. He seems to be "smarter" than others. It goes on for a long time.
Very few of the characters in this series take themselves seriously. The few that do stick out and contribute to the light tone.
And these are just the sideshows.
The main plot centers around Queen Etheldredda and her diabolical plot for immortality. That requires some harm to the main characters. But, of course they are not going to go down so easily.
Looking Glass Wars uses the story of "Alice and Wonderland" as a starting point for fantasy adventure. Alice actually lived in a place like wonderland. After a rebel takeover she ended up in an orphanage on earth. Nobody believed her adventures in wonderland. The author of Alice and Wonderland did believe her and offered to write her story. However, she was upset that she made it so fantastical that it was not real. Eventually, she adopted to the "normal" world. She was eventually engaged to marry a prince when she got sucked back into a battle in Wonderland. The book is fantastical tale that is continually questioning "what is real?" The author does a great job of weaving together familiar characters and events to make a very accessible fantasy work.
Inheritance is the final big thick book in the inheritance cycle. More big things happen. We build up to more great battles. The actual defeat of the evil villain seems too easy, and it happened with about 20% of the book still remaining. The end had some political intrigue and explored the "how will we keep this coalition together after our quest is done" area that is often not covered. Eragon continues to show mercy and puts what is best for the world ahead of what may appear to be beneficial to himself. It made the end seem to drag out, but in retrospect, I like it that way.
The third Inheritance book is another long one. They are now out there working to complete the revolution. Eragon learns more about his life, including the true identity of his dad. We also learn about abilities of dragons. An interesting scene has a dragon battle a tree to try to get a special metal to fashion a sword. Eragon gets his sword, but also loses some friends. He is also getting experienced at defeating evil "shades". We also run into more people that have sworm unbreakable oaths to "bad guys", yet they still have some ways of obeying the "letter" of the oath while being part of the rebellion.
Eldest is a long fantasy novel. I managed to get into the first book, but this one was harder. Eragon finds out more about his real family. They discover another dragon (his dragon is really happy about that.) He starts to look more like and Elf. They have some battles. There is some conflict between the sides. Is he really on the good side? Is the other side really that evil? Those are some of the key points. There is a lot of fluff in between.
Eragon is the rare fantasy book that is easily digestible. Eragon is a an orphan who has been raised by a friendly "uncle". He discovers a small stone that he tries to use to buy meat. The butcher wont take it. That is for the good as it ends up being a dragon egg. He bonds with the dragon, and eventually leaves town with a storyteller who has dragon experience. Dragon riders had been nearly extinct as the evil king had subsumed their power. There is also magic, some large beasts, half-human magical creates and other typical fantasy creations. However, they are easy to tell apart. Eventually, Eragon discovers his magic and helps the good guys win a battle. In the middle of the book, he swaps travel partners. Things also get a bit confusing at the end. However, the book remains engaging, and is long, but not too long.
