Product Description

OATHS SWORN . . . loyalties tested . . . forces collide.

Following the colossal battle against the Empire’s warriors on the Burning Plains, Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, have narrowly escaped with their lives. Still there is more at hand for the Rider and his dragon, as Eragon finds himself bound by a tangle of promises he may not be able to keep.

First is Eragon’s oath to his cousin Roran: to help rescue Roran’s beloved, Katrina, from King Galbatorix’s clutches. But Eragon owes his loyalty to others, too. The Varden are in desperate need of his talents and strength—as are the elves and dwarves. When unrest claims the rebels and danger strikes from every corner, Eragon must make choices— choices that take him across the Empire and beyond, choices that may lead to unimagined sacrifice.

Eragon is the greatest hope to rid the land of tyranny. Can this once-simple farm boy unite the rebel forces and defeat the king?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-20
• Released on: 2008-09-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 784 pages

About the Author
Christopher Paolini’s abiding love of fantasy and science fiction inspired him to begin writing his debut novel, Eragon, when he graduated from high school at 15. He lives in Paradise Valley, Montana.

Customer Reviews

Brisingr
Excellent read. Christopher has lived up to the previous books in this series. Can't wait for the next one

Dismal at best
As written by another reviewer "If you liked the Lord of the Rings series, then you'll probably like the Inheritance cycle as well."

Actually, The Lord of the Rings trilogy was a wonderful, well-written trilogy. This fantasy series is in essence a great first showing (Eragon) with an okay sophomoric offering (Eldest) and a dismal current contender (Brisingr).

I hope that this was more the fault of the publishers than Paolini's own writing. In many places the writing actually made me cringe and want to break out my red editing pen of death, ex. "Pointing with her chin past a row of spits and cauldrons suspended over a bed of coals, past a clump of men butchering a hog, past three makeshift ovens built of mud and stone, and past a pile of kegs toward a line of planks set on stumps that six women were using as a counter."

Yes folks, that is one, very long and exhaustive run-on sentence. Why they couldn't be bothered with proper grammar and punctuation we will probably not know.

I see no use of dramatic suspense in bridging chapters, or even within each chapter. Most of the dramatic scenes seem forced, almost as if the characters are being coached by a high school drama teacher from behind the curtain, "Now in this scene Eragon, you feel ANGER. Show me your anger, be a tiger and let it all out!"

All in all, I wish I hadn't picked up this book, because now I feel obligated to read the (nearly assuredly) fourth book of the series.

Paolini needs to relax
Brisingr, the third book of the Inheritance tri/quad/quintology? is written as if the author had had a gun placed to his head during the writing, which in a sense, I suppose he did. The plot is good, with a large amount of deviation from the overall storyline, which amounts to a slow, steady progression of the war of Surda vs. the Empire and Gallabatorix. The story flows well, but the devil crops up in the details.

Eragon, the now half-elf Dragon Rider, still reeling from his disastrous fight with Murtagh and Thorn, is sent scampering around the realm, rescuing Katrina from the Ra'zac, serving as emissary to the dwarven confederation while they decide on a new monarch, and being on call to defend the Varden from Thorn and the Empires army. During this time, Eragon tries to make up for past failures, suceeding somewhat, and failing somewhat as well. The detail and precision are a bit scattered, sometimes providing a rich background to the scene, and sometimes glossing over nut and bolts to advance the plot.

Paolini however, seems to suffer from a typical condition of series authors. He thinks everyone else is as familiar with the previous books as he is. While I could recall the general storyline of Eragon and Eldest, a synopsis, however brief, would've been a welcome refresher. As its written, you almost have to reread the prior books to be able to appreciate the plot currently being handled. Details, names, and places resurface regularly that make no sense given that theres no context or recap to place them. Dialogue has become more archaic, and sometimes confusing given the characters, with soldiers and random wanderers talking like wizened scholars and philosophers.

Magic continues to place the greatest role in the story, and while Paolinis use of it remains rather inventive, there are time when it would've been easier and simplier to deus ex his way through the encounter. Some instances are needlessly confusing or overly complex, although there are other that're rather pleasing for their originality. Paolini needs to pick a happy medium. While I want magic more complex than that of Harry Potter, with thought and planning put into it, making every spell its own Rubiks cube makes the usage of the device clunky and dull.

The Inheritance series latest installment is a worthwhile read, but you can almost feel the authors pain through the pages. He tried to make Brisingr too many things to too many people, and wound up with a novel that feels overly stretched and rather bland. That having been said, considering his prior successes, one hopes he takes this stride, and tells his publisher to cram it when it comes to volume 4's release date. So long as he is given time to write what he wishes, I feel confident it will return to his prior standard.