B-

Though I truly enjoyed Eragon and Eldest immensely, I found Christopher Paolini’s third novel in the Inheritance Cycle to be simply boring. If you have read this book and you feel otherwise, just ask yourself what actually happened? See if you can come up with three things that were actually crucial to Eragon’s development as a character or in preparing him for confronting Galbatorix. Be warned: Spoilers ahead.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the novel wasn’t terrible and I did enjoy parts of it. The problem is that I just kept falling asleep while I was reading. I mean those endless meetings with Nasuada, the trip to Farthen-Dur, and Orik’s fight for leadership just took up so much of the book that could have been used for something more interesting.

But let’s start with the beginning. I really did like Eragon and Roran’s battle at Helgrind to rescue Katrina. Even though Eragon and Roran’s chat was very awkward, the battle was great, that is until Eragon found Sloan. Sloan then became a 50 page waste of time. What was the point of this? To prove to the reader that Eragon can show good judgment? Dumb. Sloan should have just been dead so we could move on with the real plot.

Shortly after Eragon finally returns to the Varden camp, Murtaugh attacks with an army of magically enhanced soldiers that can feel no pain. I thought the battle was good, but I found Eragon and Murtaugh’s battle to be useless. Eragon let him go when he should have destroyed him. If nothing else, they should have at least killed the dragon.

So next, Nasuada decides to send Eragon off to help Orik attain command of the Dwarves. Meanwhile, Roran has married Katrina and left for battle with the Varden. He proves his prowess in his first two missions, but the third battle was just stupid. I just cannot believe that Roran could kill 200 men. Nor can I believe that 200 men would be stupid enough to face him individually when they had the Varden completely outnumber and had superior weaponry. I wonder if the Empire even would have considered…umm…just not attacking Roran. Perhaps they could have finished off the other forces and just surrounded Roran’s small force. I found this completely unrealistic. Not to mention that Roran may have saved his men, but he secured the death of all the others. He deserved to be whipped. His actions were very selfish and I was not impressed.

There isn’t much to be said about Farthen Dur. The little skirmish was entertaining, but considering that even Eragon was bored, I found myself skimming these chapters just to get through them.

By the time Orik won the throne, I began to wonder, what is this novel building up to? It didn’t feel like there was any building suspense. And when Eragon decided to fly off to Ellesmera, I knew it meant that the novel would have no major climax, that we would not see Eragon face Murtaugh or Galbatorix and it became hard to finish the book.

Ellesmera wasn’t particularly exciting either. Eragon spent an entire chapter smelting a new sword. Cool sword, but I would have been happier if Paolini had just described the process with a brief paragraph. We also found out that Oromis and Glaedir intended to go into battle alongside the Elves. I wonder if anyone didn’t see his death coming shortly thereafter.

Despite how boring I found most of the book. There was at least some small entertainment at the end. The Varden were beseiging Feinster (still not sure what strategic value it held) and Eragon arrived just in time to help break in, capture the leader, and take down a Shade. During the battle, Eragon also learned of Oromis and Glaedir’s deaths, which was surprisingly sad.

I think the thing that I found most frustrating with this book was that it just didn’t accomplish enough. So many things like Orik’s ascension didn’t need elaborate descriptions or Eragon’s aide. I really wanted to see Eragon face Galbatorix or some other big villain in an intense and climatic battle. I guess that was probably too much to ask for in three consecutive books. Judge for yourself, but I think you could skip this book and finish the series without missing much.

It seems like every couple days I see another article about Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse. There has been a lot of rumors about how the show has been having trouble behind the scenes. The basic jist is that the coorporate executives are concerned that the plots are too complex and will not appeal to the mainstream audience.

I think the reason that there has been so much news though, is because there are so many people have are really rooting for this show to be a success. Unfortunately, only about 50% (at the most) seem to believe that there is even a chance that it won’t be cancelled.

It was recently announced that Dollhouse will air in the 9:00 timeslot on Fridays (also known as the “death slot”) starting on Febuary 13th. That’s right, the show’s premiere episode will be on Friday the 13th in one of the most poorly rated time slots on television. That just seems like a bad omen.

Despite all the bad signs, the core concept of the show sounds genuinely intriguing and Whedon’s loyal army of fans (among others) seem to be really embracing the show. There are a lot of people that remember the quality shows that Whedon has created including Buffy, Angel, and Firefly (my favorite) with reverence and hopefully this dedicated fanbase will help get the show off the ground.

In fact, I just read this great article over at io9.com that really pumps up the show. I’m becoming cautiously excited about the show. I’m not willing to get too excited because of the seemlingly high probability of cancellation, but I will definitely be giving the show a chance. With any luck, being paired with Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles (which is my favorite show right now) will be exactly the right combination to see both shows prosper.

Monday night’s episode of Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles might have been the best one yet. “Mr. Ferguson is Ill Today” proved yet again that this show is the best thing on television. In addition to some of the best action sequences this show has seen, the plot was deeply thought-provoking and the characters continued to exhibit a broad range of emotions.

The majority of the episode takes place in a small town in Mexico where John lived as a child. He and Riley sneak off for a night and all goes awry when Cromartie breaks into the Conner house and kidnaps Sarah. John gets into trouble and calls Sarah, but realizes that she is in trouble herself when she doesn’t respond correctly to the phone code. Cromartie grabs Sarah and takes off after John. John then sends a distress call to Reese, who also takes off to Mexico with Cameron. But the party isn’t over yet. A friend of Ellison’s finds out about John’s arrest and gives him a call. Ellison too makes his way down South.

I though it was really awesome they way the plot brought everyone together for one big confrontation. Ellison arrives first, right before Cromartie and helps John and Riley avoid being killed. They steal his car, only to realize that there is someone in the trunk: Sarah. The four of them evade Cromartie and hook up with Reese and Cameron. Together they plan the take down and pin Cromartie down in a crossfire in a church. Amazing scene. Very well done.

Fox revealed that one major character would be killed in this episode and I guess the title was a bit of a clue. Cromartie first appeared in Season One posing as substitute teacher in John’s class. His first words were “Mr. Ferguson is ill today.”

The weirdest part of the show was the whole “seduction” scene. Early in the episode, Cameron goes to talk to John, but decides to add a new variable to the mix: sex. Cameron leaves her sweater at the door and lies down on the bed (a nice little twin-size), next to John while she talks to him. It was definitely a little creepy, but at the same time…well, I won’t go there…it’s just not right.

I really like they way this episode played out. I think it was possibly the best yet. I think it was good timing to kill Cromartie. With him out of the way, the show can begin to focus on the real villain: Catherine Weaver.