Brisingr (Inheritance, Book 3) (The Inheritance Cycle)
by Christopher Paolini
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Book Reviews of Brisingr (Inheritance, Book 3) (The Inheritance Cycle)
Book Review: This should have been the final book.
Summary: 2 Stars
I was disappointed when I first heard some months ago that the Inheritance trilogy would, in fact, become longer. Part of me wonders if the 4th book wont also end up being too long, and needing to be split. Eragon certainly has more to do now than he did at the end of Eldest, and Paolini has made it clear that whenever Eragon swears an oath to someone, we're going to devote a whole lot of time to watching him do it. Given that Eragon swears a new oath every 50 pages or so (give or take), it may be a while before he gets caught up.
I have long since given up on the tiresome fantasy series of Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind, and the like as I noticed that after about the 3rd or 4th book, nothing new happens. A series should be short, maintain our attention, and always keep in mind the primary conflict between hero and villian.
Books one and two of the Inheritance cycle did this. At the end of Eldest, Eragon has three things that need be done, fulfill his promise to Roran, return to Oromis, and defeat Galbatorix. The first of those is finished in the early pages of the book, but from there, we spiral away from the story and into tiresome cliche. Eragon spends pages moaning and groaning about how he has been forced to kill, but it never amounts to anything. Eragon and Roran spend pages pontificating at each other in conversations that make each of them sound as though they were raised in the hearts of academia, rather than on the farm.
As an aside, the characters talk way too much in this book. For pages. One wonders when they pause to take breath. Even other characters notice this "He certainly talks alot." says Saphira at one point. Yes, I suppose he does. But then, so do you, my dear blue dragon. So do you...
As for the plot, what is there to say? Of the three tasks Eragon had at the beginning, two are completed. But with much else along the way. Eragon visits and then leaves a mysterious hermit who'se only purpose in the book is so we wont be surprised again when he shows up next time, no doubt to give Eragon a crucial piece of information. We spend page after page waiting for the dwarves to elect the ruler we all know well in advance will be elected in a process that isn't the least bit interesting. One hopes that the elected leader is able to cut through the red tape.
We learn things about Eragon's father that don't suprise us in the least, and even dissapoint us, as they make Eragon a far less interesting character, and free him completely of the guilt that was the sole characteristic making him interesting. Galbatorix's and Murtagh's inexplicable strength is explained using a plot device that I'm sure Paolini developed only after making his two villians untouchably strong. And when Glaedr gives Eragon a gift towards the end, I knew it would mean only one thing.
This should have been the final book.
But instead of the planning and fighting against the forces of the empire, we get Eragon brooding whether or not he should eat meat or starve to death. (He eats the meat, but feels real bad about it.) Instead of studying new spells and magic, Eragon asks an Urgal for a bedtime story. And instead of a climactic battle between Eragon and Galbatorix, we get a deeper insight into the dwarven political arena than is needed or even wanted.
At this point, I'm invested in the series, however, and I await the fourth (but will it be the final?) book with the same anticipation as I await a trip to the dentist, or the DMV. It's just one of those things you don't really look forward to, except for the feeling of relief when it's all over.
Book Review: Did he forget how to write? (spoiler alert)
Summary: 2 Stars
Wow. This book is actually much worse than the first two. I liked the first one, tolerated the second, and now can't believe how bad this one is. It drags on, the plot moves slowly, and the characters are about as unengaging as I have ever seen. Eragon needs a real girlfriend, not a platonic dragon, or a frigid, unattainable elf. Blah. If I read one more paragraph with him mooning over one or the other, I am going to barf. All of his female characters in general need work. They are more two dimensional than anybody else in the whole book. For the most part, they are either simpering foolish creatures who serve to highlight the masculinity of his macho male characters, or they are sexless, distant, alien beings that are about what you would expect from a writer raised at home, who really, really needs to get out more often. And his battle scenes are a pathetic joke. Please. The guy with the warhammer standing on a 20 foot tall mound of bodies, single-handedly killing almost 200 people, as they wander towards him one at a time to be slaughtered? Are you serious? How exactly do you get them to fall neatly into a pile like that? And how do you stay on top of this ever-growing mound? Does the author have any idea exactly how many bodies it would take to make a 20 foot tall mound? Significantly more than his character would be able to smite in a day, much less the short time it takes to fight this battle. And then, of course, the hero gets flogged for disobeying his commanding officer during the course of his heroic battle. Where does he get this idiocy from? I am not even going to go into how badly the dwarves are written.
One of my other problems with this book is the author's backpedaling on some of the stances he took in the previous books. Notably on vegetarianism and religion. In the first two books, the wise, all-knowing (and very over-the-top stereotypical) elves convince him that eating meat is bad for moral reasons, and that there is no God/Gods and no afterlife. Eragon accepts this as the truth. The dwarves, who have their own pantheon of deities, are portrayed as being religious, superstitious nut jobs who refuse to see the enlightened truth of Atheism, as presented by the elves. In this book, Paolini tries to win back many of the readers he alienated by taking these stances by first having Eragon rediscover the joys of meat, and then meeting a dwarven God. Can you say pandering boys and girls? I enjoy a good steak as much as anybody. And I was annoyed at how preachy the author was about these two topics in the first couple of books. But to do such an obvious flip flop on one of the key tenants of his character's belief structure just to win back a few readers is really sad.
My final complaint is about the dragon. And some of the scenes where she is thinking to herself. Paolini uses a pathetic hyphenated-word-cluster format for describing the world as she sees it. So the sun is fire-that-burns-in-the-sky, and the polluted river is brown-water-not-for-drinking. Where did that brilliant idea come from? What, the dragon hasn't been able to handle simple nouns? Everything has to be referred to in her mind as a bunch of descriptive terms tacked together? Again, BLAH! Had this novel been written when he was 15, I would cut him a bit of slack. But he is what? 25 now? He needs to either figure out how to write again, or turn the series over to a ghostwriter. That is, assuming of course, that the series survives this latest piece of garbage.
-CR
Book Review: Anticipation
Summary: 2 Stars
When I was reading through Brisingr I kept waiting for all the exciting scenes to happen. After defeating the Ra'Zac I expected Eragon to keep going on more adventures. Instead, he sits in with the Varden, for oh too many pages, while I just want him to go off and do something.
I really couldn't understand Eragon's fascination with Sloan. He's a minor character and that whole subplot was not interesting enough to make in it in this book (well, guess you could say that for 3/4 of the book.) Anyway, I understand there's some need for Eragon's transformation as a character, but it should not be boring. I was excited when Arya met up with Eragon, because I thought well that's the whole point of this trip; they can be alone. And then they just talked, and talked.
I seriously hated Nasuada in this book. For all her wisdom, why did she have a Dragon Rider who's supposed to overthrow Galbatorix sit and listen to dwarves talk? When Orik wasn't around at the beginning I just assumed that he had become king. But no, they actually have some big debate thing, even though everyone knows Orik is going to win anyway. Why did Paolini make us listen to the dwarves? This whole book I was waiting for Eragon to go back to Ellesmera because I loved that part in Eldest. But no, politics.
My favorite part was when they finally arrived in Ellesmera, even though it was rushed. Everyone knew throughout the whole book knew that Eragon was going to find his sword under the Menoa tree. I was glad when he got it, but I didn't so much like the process. Eragon found out Brom is his father (uhm, what's the big deal?) and that dragons use their heart of hearts to live forever. This felt a little like Paolini thought of it out of thin air. It makes sense, but I wanted a better explanation.
Then, the big battle scene. Eragon shows everyone with his big blue dragon and fiery sword wo ho. What I don't understand is why Paolini keeps creating more villians for Eragon to possibly get killed by, when he does have to kill Galbatorix by the end of the 8th book. Though I'm glad there is probably a future for Eragon and Arya, even though they have a total of about 3 conversations in the book.
And we dont even get to see Murtagh and Oromis fight. I found this fight confusing, and then sad when Oromis and Glaedr die. Seriously, if Eragon's mentors cannot defeat Murtagh Eragon is going to die a brutal death. This scene would have been a great climax, if we didn't have to see it through Glaedr's POV (how does that even work anyway?)
Oh, I can't forget Roran and Katrina. Personally, I getting sick of their gushy loves scenes meant to spice up a book of fighting. And I get the importance of Roran (he's just a man, but he's awesome) even if you can kill 200 men, I still think you're boring. I get it, Roran's great, he rescued Carvalhall blah blah blah... I just don't want to have to read about him anymore.
Overall, I love this series, and I loved Eldest. I loved seeing Eragon study in Ellesmera and get turned into an elf. I even loved how he was bested my Murtagh and the father revelation. I don't understand how some are saying Brisingr is better than Eldest, because i was just bored with Brisingr. Eragon actually does important things in Eldest, while throughout Brisingr, I kept thinking: Do you really have to write about all this nonessential stuff, Christopher Paolini?
Book Review: The "fire" is gone!! This dull, ponderous dragon sinks under its own weight.
Summary: 2 Stars
pon·der·ous
1 : of very great weight
2 : unwieldy or clumsy because of weight and size
3 : oppressively or unpleasantly dull : lifeless
(Webster)
I was disappointed with this from the very first page. I only finished reading it because I enjoyed the first two and now I'm committed to knowing the rest of the plot! (I tried to just read the Wikipedia summary but it didn't make sense to me.) My issues with this book are:
1) The length is not justified. There are way too many minute details. Many things are detailed that should have been ignored, and vice versa. It could have been MUCH shorter, or the same length with meatier content. That's ironic considering it was meant to be the last book but Paolini decided the story had to be split because it couldn't be told in one book... I would beg to differ!
My guess is that he got so caught up in the success of his creation that he thought everyone would want to read about every little detail of every character and object and interaction in his world, and he just got swept away in the excitement of it all and didn't know when to stop... and unfortunately neither did his editor.
2) The writing is worse than the first two books. The way everyone talks (and talks, and talks) is unrealistic and stilted. The dialog is too formal, yet the storytelling is the opposite: too lowbrow, and very rarely poetic or elegant. It's almost like you're reading a plumbing manual in pseudo-Olde English... except that the grammar is bad too. I kept finding myself having to mentally correct the frequent errors in speech. He needs to learn to use prepositions and 'whom' correctly. And he definitely needs a better editor!
3) The characters are flat and lifeless. They pontificate and philosophize and have zero personality. Instead of being at the heart of the story, they are now just afterthoughts. It's like the 3D world we entered in the first book has suddenly become 2D. No spunk, no zest, no fire... another irony since "Brisingr" means fire.
4) GOBS of pages are devoted to ethics, religion and politics. Sir, you are in your 20s. You are a fantasy author. Your success at a young age does not give you some special authority on these matters. Please, spare us.
5) There are many unnecessary and way-too-detailed descriptions of gore. I didn't realize that this series is specifically directed at young adults until reading some of the reviews just now, and well, now I'm VERY shocked at the gore.
6) There are many parts that read like they could be describing a sexual encounter even though they had nothing to do with sex. My husband commented that maybe Paolini needs to, um, get it out of his system or something, so his writing doesn't read like a romance novel. It was really weird and we couldn't help laughing at this on almost every page.
7) Tons of things are just unrealistic, even for a fantasy story. There are too many to try to go into detail!
The one thing I felt was an improvement over the last two books is that Eragon is no longer constantly being chastised by everyone around him (including himself). He seems to actually have earned some respect and gained some self-esteem. But now I wonder... does he deserve it??
Book Review: Dissapointing, but worth reading to loyal fans.
Summary: 3 Stars
Both Eragon and Eldest were decent fantasy books that fleshed out the characters and universe they are set in. However, in Brisingr, it would seem that all of the detail and depth that Paolini has poured into the first two books characters are wasted.. The books attempts at character development outside of Saphira & Eragon are almost laughable to an expereincee reader of the Fantasy ganre'. There are many chapters and sections in the book that are simply unimportant to the overall plot or fail to seem significant in any way, leaving a feeling of "..so.. im supposed to care.. why?", or "..and the point of that was?...".
For all of Eragons' new training, the VAST majority of the book is spent in political bickering that is simply not interesting to read.. Yes, Eragon needs the backing and help of everyone who is not already sided with Galbatorix(spelling?), but he has sworn soo many oaths to soo many different leaders that he is nearly incapable of doing what he needs to accomplish his ultimate gaol.. His cousins revenge, his adoption into the Dwarven society, his service to Nasuada, his obligations to the elves & his Teacher, his own morals to what is "right" that endanger his entire cause, and finally, if he does not support or obey every other monarch in the land, it seems as if everyone will either lose faith in there cause and just go home...
While I understand and can appreciate the concept, it is both boring and frustrating to read to the extreme. To read a story about a young man with all the abilities that Eragon now has, to sit around and bicker with the books ultimatly unimportant characers for pages and pages is a waste of a book and a setting in my eyes. I'm by no means expecting the book to be about a Dragon Rider laying waste to armies here, but the unimportant political bickering is soo redundant and unimportant that you stop caring, your simply waiting to get to the part where something ELSE happens. The books battles seem to be thrown in just to keep your attention to the next moral dalemma or political arguement.. Overall the books is poorly written. I would have absolutly no problems reading everything the book has from cover to cover if it MENT something in the end of the book. But that is not the case. Instead you read through a 750 page book that could have been shortened down to about 300.. Soo many events that are drawn out and soo long that your original interest soon fades. The political bickering that takes up soo much space and ultimatly serves no overal purpose to the plot, and unimaginative characters or events being followed. That and having Roran's doings spliced inbatween whatever Eragon is doing is extremly annoying.
Upon reflecting on the entire series so far, Brisingr is the worst book by far. There are some very good and interesting developments in the book, but they are few and far between mountains of seemingly unimportant writing. While im not one to say comments like as this, it seems like Brisingr is a book that was written simply to set up the series finale, and to make an excuse to let Paolini publish another book. If you are a fan of the series, then go ahead and read the book, or find a summary of it somwhere online.. If you are not, then don't waste your time.