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The Inheritance Cycle #5
Murtagh
Master storyteller and internationally bestselling author Christopher Paolini returns to the World of Eragon in this stunning epic fantasy set a year after the events of the Inheritance Cycle. Join Dragon Rider—and fan favorite—Murtagh and his dragon as they confront a perilous new enemy!
The world is no longer safe for the Dragon Rider Murtagh and his dragon, Thorn. An evil king has been toppled, and they are left to face the consequences of the reluctant role they played in his reign of terror. Now they are hated and alone, exiled to the outskirts of society.
Throughout the land, hushed voices whisper of brittle ground and a faint scent of brimstone in the air—and Murtagh senses that something wicked lurks in the shadows of Alagaësia. So begins an epic journey into lands both familiar and untraveled, where Murtagh and Thorn must use every weapon in their arsenal, from brains to brawn, to find and outwit a mysterious witch. A witch who is much more than she seems.
In this gripping novel starring one of the most popular characters from Christopher Paolini’s blockbuster Inheritance Cycle, a Dragon Rider must discover what he stands for in a world that has abandoned him. Murtagh is the perfect book to enter the World of Eragon for the first time . . . or to joyfully return.
The world is no longer safe for the Dragon Rider Murtagh and his dragon, Thorn. An evil king has been toppled, and they are left to face the consequences of the reluctant role they played in his reign of terror. Now they are hated and alone, exiled to the outskirts of society.
Throughout the land, hushed voices whisper of brittle ground and a faint scent of brimstone in the air—and Murtagh senses that something wicked lurks in the shadows of Alagaësia. So begins an epic journey into lands both familiar and untraveled, where Murtagh and Thorn must use every weapon in their arsenal, from brains to brawn, to find and outwit a mysterious witch. A witch who is much more than she seems.
In this gripping novel starring one of the most popular characters from Christopher Paolini’s blockbuster Inheritance Cycle, a Dragon Rider must discover what he stands for in a world that has abandoned him. Murtagh is the perfect book to enter the World of Eragon for the first time . . . or to joyfully return.
688 pages, Hardcover
First published November 7, 2023
About the author
Christopher Paolini
76 books38.8k followersChristopher Paolini was born in Southern California and has lived most of his life in Paradise Valley, Montana. He published his first novel, Eragon, in 2003 at the age of nineteen, and quickly became a publishing phenomenon. His Inheritance Cycle—Eragon and its three sequels—have sold nearly 40 million copies worldwide.
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars
was his first adult novel.
Visit Paolini.net and Fractalverse.net for the latest news about this project and follow Christopher on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.
Visit Paolini.net and Fractalverse.net for the latest news about this project and follow Christopher on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,795 reviews
November 20, 2023
4.25 stars, I am so happy with this book.
Let's start this off with the caveat that I've been a fan of this series for nearly two decades so I cannot completely discount the possibility of rose-colored glasses, but this was a fantastic return to the world of Eragon.
My favorite favorite FAVORITE thing about the book that hit me almost immediately and that I continued to think about as I was reading it and that I'm still thinking about weeks later is just how different it feels, and yet the same. I promise that makes sense. Paolini walks this really great line of making things feel fresh and new and unique in a world we've already spent 2,500+ pages in without actually changing anything and retconning what's already been built and it's done so expertly and so simply because it all just comes down to the fact that Murtagh is a very different character than anyone we've read from before.
I know that sounds obvious, but it really colors the entire world in a whole new way and allows for new explorations in magic and culutre and all these things we had already established that are suddenly different when you shift the axis you view them from. Murtagh and Eragon are such exceedingly different people who've lead completely different lives that it makes this place we've known for so many years feel new.
Murtagh is a fantastic character. I loved him in the original series and I'm so glad we got to explore more with him in a full novel that is fully about him; because, unlike three of the four Inheritance books, this is single POV. It's just him. Thorn is a wonderful partner character and in much the same way that Murtagh and Eragon are different, so are Thorn and Saphira and we get a look at a slilghtly different relationship between dragon and rider.
If you're a Paolini fan, you'll know that the man is a bit...shall we say, long-winded. This book is no different. It's actually not as long as you might expect - it's longer than Eragon but shorter than Eldest, making it the second shortest book in the series - but I do think it drags a bit in the middle.
There's an interesting feeling that I experienced as well in reading this that goes back to the differences in character and that was a sense of frustration with some of the conflict in this book that once I examined that feeling I realized came down to the idea that Eragon - the character we've spent years with in this world - probably would not have gotten himself into many of the scrapes Murtagh does, inclulding the big main conflict. On the other side of that coin though was the realizaton that Murtagh absolutely would not have gotten himself into half the trouble Eragon did. So while the initial reaction to some things might have been frustration it morphed into this further positive feeling that Paolini has given us these characters that are so solidly established that I can feel those kinds of differences in the first place.
I don't know, that one is harder to articulate, but it makes sense in my head and it's a good thing
Overall I'm VERY impressed with this book, very happy with the return to this world, and I cannot wait to see more because this is very much setting up a new, big, overarching plot.
Let's start this off with the caveat that I've been a fan of this series for nearly two decades so I cannot completely discount the possibility of rose-colored glasses, but this was a fantastic return to the world of Eragon.
My favorite favorite FAVORITE thing about the book that hit me almost immediately and that I continued to think about as I was reading it and that I'm still thinking about weeks later is just how different it feels, and yet the same. I promise that makes sense. Paolini walks this really great line of making things feel fresh and new and unique in a world we've already spent 2,500+ pages in without actually changing anything and retconning what's already been built and it's done so expertly and so simply because it all just comes down to the fact that Murtagh is a very different character than anyone we've read from before.
I know that sounds obvious, but it really colors the entire world in a whole new way and allows for new explorations in magic and culutre and all these things we had already established that are suddenly different when you shift the axis you view them from. Murtagh and Eragon are such exceedingly different people who've lead completely different lives that it makes this place we've known for so many years feel new.
Murtagh is a fantastic character. I loved him in the original series and I'm so glad we got to explore more with him in a full novel that is fully about him; because, unlike three of the four Inheritance books, this is single POV. It's just him. Thorn is a wonderful partner character and in much the same way that Murtagh and Eragon are different, so are Thorn and Saphira and we get a look at a slilghtly different relationship between dragon and rider.
If you're a Paolini fan, you'll know that the man is a bit...shall we say, long-winded. This book is no different. It's actually not as long as you might expect - it's longer than Eragon but shorter than Eldest, making it the second shortest book in the series - but I do think it drags a bit in the middle.
There's an interesting feeling that I experienced as well in reading this that goes back to the differences in character and that was a sense of frustration with some of the conflict in this book that once I examined that feeling I realized came down to the idea that Eragon - the character we've spent years with in this world - probably would not have gotten himself into many of the scrapes Murtagh does, inclulding the big main conflict. On the other side of that coin though was the realizaton that Murtagh absolutely would not have gotten himself into half the trouble Eragon did. So while the initial reaction to some things might have been frustration it morphed into this further positive feeling that Paolini has given us these characters that are so solidly established that I can feel those kinds of differences in the first place.
I don't know, that one is harder to articulate, but it makes sense in my head and it's a good thing
Overall I'm VERY impressed with this book, very happy with the return to this world, and I cannot wait to see more because this is very much setting up a new, big, overarching plot.
March 27, 2024
EDIT: please someone tell me I’m not the only one who caught that Bon Jovi reference??
"releasing on Nov 7th", as if I wasn't going to bed every night BEGGING God for Nasuada/Murtagh crumbs
"releasing on Nov 7th", as if I wasn't going to bed every night BEGGING God for Nasuada/Murtagh crumbs
Want to read
November 2, 2023Uhhh Penguin sent me an early copy? weeping
__
You're telling me we're getting a full volume book about Murtagh after the events of Inheritance?!?!?
Release date: 7 November 2023
__
You're telling me we're getting a full volume book about Murtagh after the events of Inheritance?!?!?
Release date: 7 November 2023
November 28, 2023
my revieweing this is unfair and biased because eragon was the first ever fantasy book i read at the ripe old age of 8 years old, eldest was my favorite book (to the point of quoting entire chapters), the long ass time that it took the spanish publisher to translate brisingr was the reason i taught myself english, and inheritance was the first book ever that had me on the doorstep of the bookstore at 9am sharp on the day of release
if you're a fan, you'll love this. if you're not, all this book is going to do is remind you of all the things from paolini's style that you dislike. yes, the prose is still extremely simple, falling victim to "tell not show" way too often. yes,this story did not need to be told, and it is (very obviously) an afterthought to the original plot. yes, the plot is contrived, paolini cannot write a heist to save his life, and all of the lotr wannabe accussations in terms of races, magic system, and pretty much everything else still ring true
and yet
and yet, i read this in three sittings, of which the last one was the entire back 60% of the book. the characters were absolutely spectacular, and no one can write a dragonrider bond like paolini can. i was THERE with murtagh & thorn, i was THERE when they suffered, and i felt like i was 12 years old and holding my breath with a character in alagaesia again. the comfort that these characters bring, the absolute might of the villain, and overall the incredible charm, compassion, and understanding that is brought on by this book is simply too good for the contrived plot or below mediocre prose to affect them.
murtagh is an infinitely more interesting character than eragon ever was. thorn is well developed, well flawed, and deeply traumatized - they both are. the care, love, and empathy that emanates from the book is ENTIRELY on paolini, he knows what these characters have been put through and it comes across fiercely protective and representative of the world in which we exist. there is something so unbelievably powerful about owning up to your actions, even those who shame you, those you regret, those you can (and rightfully should) blame on others, growing from it, learning, moving forward, and refusing to let yourself be caged in the confines of how others understand you to be. paolini gets that perfectly right, and everything else, no matter how flawed, fades into the background
i think this book does exactly what it meant to do, and it dragged me right into this world. if i don't get book 5 soon i will be suing paolini for emotional damages
but what do i know, i'm an eragon fan. big dragons go vrooom
edit: this review has earned me my first goodreads hate DM. have i made it
if you're a fan, you'll love this. if you're not, all this book is going to do is remind you of all the things from paolini's style that you dislike. yes, the prose is still extremely simple, falling victim to "tell not show" way too often. yes,this story did not need to be told, and it is (very obviously) an afterthought to the original plot. yes, the plot is contrived, paolini cannot write a heist to save his life, and all of the lotr wannabe accussations in terms of races, magic system, and pretty much everything else still ring true
and yet
and yet, i read this in three sittings, of which the last one was the entire back 60% of the book. the characters were absolutely spectacular, and no one can write a dragonrider bond like paolini can. i was THERE with murtagh & thorn, i was THERE when they suffered, and i felt like i was 12 years old and holding my breath with a character in alagaesia again. the comfort that these characters bring, the absolute might of the villain, and overall the incredible charm, compassion, and understanding that is brought on by this book is simply too good for the contrived plot or below mediocre prose to affect them.
murtagh is an infinitely more interesting character than eragon ever was. thorn is well developed, well flawed, and deeply traumatized - they both are. the care, love, and empathy that emanates from the book is ENTIRELY on paolini, he knows what these characters have been put through and it comes across fiercely protective and representative of the world in which we exist. there is something so unbelievably powerful about owning up to your actions, even those who shame you, those you regret, those you can (and rightfully should) blame on others, growing from it, learning, moving forward, and refusing to let yourself be caged in the confines of how others understand you to be. paolini gets that perfectly right, and everything else, no matter how flawed, fades into the background
i think this book does exactly what it meant to do, and it dragged me right into this world. if i don't get book 5 soon i will be suing paolini for emotional damages
but what do i know, i'm an eragon fan. big dragons go vrooom
edit: this review has earned me my first goodreads hate DM. have i made it
November 12, 2023
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call this my most anticipated release of the year. I mean, a whole ass 700 page book dedicated to my biggest book crush ever? Frankly, in some ways I was fulfilled and in others quite disappointed. I think my actual rating sits at around 3.25 stars; I was still very engrossed by the book for nostalgia's sake, but I also can't deny that this book was just... poorly written in a lot of ways...
I think the core of what I'm feeling is a dissonance between the Murtagh that was in my mind and the Murtagh that was portrayed on the page. Listen, I've been rotating Murtagh around in my brain like a rotisserie since the wee age of nine; at this point he's practically my OC. I feel like I know him even better than the author which is an absolutely wild thing to say I KNOW but that's how I feel. There were some parts of the book that left me so bewildered like would Murtagh really say/do this? Would he really handle the situation like this? For someone who was on survival mode for so long he sure made some dumbass decisions that left me staring at the page like ?????
Personally, Murtagh is the OG classic leather bad boy with paternal issues that irrevocably altered my brain chemistry, and one of the many things I love about him is that despite being jaded by the world and everything it's done to him, he is still a deeply empathetic person. However, I also enjoy his more ruthless side as shown in Eragon and Eldest, and how he doesn't hesitate to put himself and Thorn above all else and do what must be done to survive, and I feel like we got none of that in this book. Instead he was 100% lawful good and often rushed headlong into situations without thinking or y'know. getting some backup? I get that pride may factor into that but still, both he and Thorn could've avoided piling onto their existing trauma if Murtagh had just assessed the situation a bit more.
The plot was also very odd. Idk how else to describe it. We start out with a side quest with Murtagh having to kill a demonic fish in order to get answers out of the werecat before the main quest can REALLY begin, which. okay, fine, I guess. Fun and games. This part was admittedly kind of entertaining but still strange as I wasn't sure where the author was going with this. And then once Murtagh actually got the information and went to Nal Gorgoth, that's when things started to drag... the cycle of questioning, hallucinations, nightmares, torture, flashbacks seemed endless. Like yes it did hurt my heart to see everything Murtagh went through in Uru'baen and I also appreciate the insight into Tornac and how he was truly a father figure to Murtagh, but at the same time HASN'T MY MAN BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH? I wanted this book to be about healing, not more trauma. Speaking of, I really thought this would be a more emotional, introspective journey with Murtagh navigating Alagaesia and coming to terms with his actions and their aftermath, but instead the story was very plot-driven, and the plot was very questionable at that. At times I found it hard to suspend my disbelief, not to mention the main villain of this installment and the cultists all felt very one-dimensional and boring.
Also I need to nitpick Christopher's writing style. Was it always... this bad?? I reread Eragon a few years ago and thought it held up just fine; idk if I'm just noticing it more now or if it's actually gotten worse. I don't mind that he likes to describe every piece of architecture or nature; he clearly loves the world of Alagaesia he's built and I enjoy the immersion too. My main gripe is the dialogue. Mygawd. Sometimes it sounds more modern and then other times it suddenly becomes more medieval/archaic and the shift is so jarring. Did they really speak like this in the rest of the Inheritance Cycle? Did Murtagh really speak like this? Either way it needs to stop. Just have them speak plainly.
Okay, now onto the positives. I enjoyed the relationship between Murtagh and Thorn; I find their bond more compelling than Eragon and Saphira tbh. I like that Thorn is sarcastic and has a sense of humor, and that there is some friction between him and Murtagh sometimes but that doesn't diminish how deeply they care for each other. Some parts really made me smile, like Murtagh playing with Thorn and dancing to entertain him (if the whole book had just been slice of life moments like these I would've been happy too). Also, Thorn facing his claustrophobia and overcoming it; I appreciate that this was addressed instead of just being brushed under the rug. And despite the dissonance described above I really did enjoy seeing Murtagh again; it's been so long. My heart hurt thinking about how he never got to be his own person and I was rooting for his journey of finding belonging and self-acceptance. I liked the mentions of Murtagh's mix of fondness and resentment toward Eragon and how he thought of visiting Roran and his family since Roran is his only living blood relation besides Eragon; I hope this is a promise of what will happen in future books. I love that Murtagh was basically pining for Nasuada every other page and I love that Thorn kept encouraging him to go to her; he is so real for that. Not to go too deep into it but I was so happy when finally, FINALLY, we got that beautiful reunion and payoff at the end, the yearning and the longing touches, everything said and unsaid, lbr I wish they'd kissed but alas we can't have it all.
That being said despite my general annoyances with the book I will still be picking up the next one if there's even a hint of Murtagh and Nasuada in it. When the series as a whole is mediocre at best but it still has you by the throat bc your favorite characters are being held captive... I've been down this road many times before.
I think the core of what I'm feeling is a dissonance between the Murtagh that was in my mind and the Murtagh that was portrayed on the page. Listen, I've been rotating Murtagh around in my brain like a rotisserie since the wee age of nine; at this point he's practically my OC. I feel like I know him even better than the author which is an absolutely wild thing to say I KNOW but that's how I feel. There were some parts of the book that left me so bewildered like would Murtagh really say/do this? Would he really handle the situation like this? For someone who was on survival mode for so long he sure made some dumbass decisions that left me staring at the page like ?????
Personally, Murtagh is the OG classic leather bad boy with paternal issues that irrevocably altered my brain chemistry, and one of the many things I love about him is that despite being jaded by the world and everything it's done to him, he is still a deeply empathetic person. However, I also enjoy his more ruthless side as shown in Eragon and Eldest, and how he doesn't hesitate to put himself and Thorn above all else and do what must be done to survive, and I feel like we got none of that in this book. Instead he was 100% lawful good and often rushed headlong into situations without thinking or y'know. getting some backup? I get that pride may factor into that but still, both he and Thorn could've avoided piling onto their existing trauma if Murtagh had just assessed the situation a bit more.
The plot was also very odd. Idk how else to describe it. We start out with a side quest with Murtagh having to kill a demonic fish in order to get answers out of the werecat before the main quest can REALLY begin, which. okay, fine, I guess. Fun and games. This part was admittedly kind of entertaining but still strange as I wasn't sure where the author was going with this. And then once Murtagh actually got the information and went to Nal Gorgoth, that's when things started to drag... the cycle of questioning, hallucinations, nightmares, torture, flashbacks seemed endless. Like yes it did hurt my heart to see everything Murtagh went through in Uru'baen and I also appreciate the insight into Tornac and how he was truly a father figure to Murtagh, but at the same time HASN'T MY MAN BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH? I wanted this book to be about healing, not more trauma. Speaking of, I really thought this would be a more emotional, introspective journey with Murtagh navigating Alagaesia and coming to terms with his actions and their aftermath, but instead the story was very plot-driven, and the plot was very questionable at that. At times I found it hard to suspend my disbelief, not to mention the main villain of this installment and the cultists all felt very one-dimensional and boring.
Also I need to nitpick Christopher's writing style. Was it always... this bad?? I reread Eragon a few years ago and thought it held up just fine; idk if I'm just noticing it more now or if it's actually gotten worse. I don't mind that he likes to describe every piece of architecture or nature; he clearly loves the world of Alagaesia he's built and I enjoy the immersion too. My main gripe is the dialogue. Mygawd. Sometimes it sounds more modern and then other times it suddenly becomes more medieval/archaic and the shift is so jarring. Did they really speak like this in the rest of the Inheritance Cycle? Did Murtagh really speak like this? Either way it needs to stop. Just have them speak plainly.
Okay, now onto the positives. I enjoyed the relationship between Murtagh and Thorn; I find their bond more compelling than Eragon and Saphira tbh. I like that Thorn is sarcastic and has a sense of humor, and that there is some friction between him and Murtagh sometimes but that doesn't diminish how deeply they care for each other. Some parts really made me smile, like Murtagh playing with Thorn and dancing to entertain him (if the whole book had just been slice of life moments like these I would've been happy too). Also, Thorn facing his claustrophobia and overcoming it; I appreciate that this was addressed instead of just being brushed under the rug. And despite the dissonance described above I really did enjoy seeing Murtagh again; it's been so long. My heart hurt thinking about how he never got to be his own person and I was rooting for his journey of finding belonging and self-acceptance. I liked the mentions of Murtagh's mix of fondness and resentment toward Eragon and how he thought of visiting Roran and his family since Roran is his only living blood relation besides Eragon; I hope this is a promise of what will happen in future books. I love that Murtagh was basically pining for Nasuada every other page and I love that Thorn kept encouraging him to go to her; he is so real for that. Not to go too deep into it but I was so happy when finally, FINALLY, we got that beautiful reunion and payoff at the end, the yearning and the longing touches, everything said and unsaid, lbr I wish they'd kissed but alas we can't have it all.
That being said despite my general annoyances with the book I will still be picking up the next one if there's even a hint of Murtagh and Nasuada in it. When the series as a whole is mediocre at best but it still has you by the throat bc your favorite characters are being held captive... I've been down this road many times before.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 8, 2023
This felt like coming home.
Want to read
March 8, 2023Returning to the world of Eragon?!
Hell yesssss!!!!! Sign me up 😊
Hell yesssss!!!!! Sign me up 😊
Want to read
April 11, 2023You're not kidding me, right? Right...? I never thought I would ever see the day this series continues. My 12-year old self is screaming right now.
February 3, 2024
Character: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Plot: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Prose: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ (I always forget how much Paolini loves making people tttrot~)
World: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
OVERALL: ★ ★ ½ ☆ ☆ ☆
Read my full, in-depth analysis and review of Murtagh and the wider Cycle on Substack. It doesn’t fit on Goodreads.
Let it be known that, just like Eragon, Murtagh is not very bright. It must be from Mum’s side of the family.
I wanted this to be more than it was.
This was one of my most anticipated books of the year, but I’ve had mixed feelings on the whole affair since the announcement. Like many, The Inheritance Cycle was my all-time favourite series from when I was about nine to somewhere in my early teens, and Murtagh left such a huge impression on me as a kid that his archetype (the angsty, angry, yet tragic bad boy loner with parental issues) is still one of my favourite things ever; I cannot stress how much the one proper chapter he has in Eldest drove me completely feral between the two years of my reading it and Brisingr’s release. That being said, I think the magic for the series started fading in my eyes with the release of Inheritance, which I didn’t love, and my admiration for Paolini as a writer dulled with his other novel To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, which I thought was pretty … meh; the only thing I could and can really say about it was, “yup, that was indeed a book I read”.
So I was excited to revisit my OG bad boy, he has so much potential from where we last saw him, but I was worried about Paolini’s ability to deliver a *good book*. And mixed feelings is a good way to put it now that I’ve finished.
Firstly, I adored getting to see Murtagh and Thorn’s psyches seventeen years after being introduced to them and deciding that these two would be my favourite poor little meow meows/blorbos (or whatever the kids say nowadays) forever. My throat did all the closing up and my heart ached whenever I read the passages about their experiences in Urû’baen at the hands of Galbatorix and his court. A shining beacon throughout the novel was in watching the two of them struggling with and addressing the trauma they experienced, most notable in Thorn’s fear of confined spaces and the ugly consequences that follow.
The book is very good at making me feel emotions for Murtagh and Thorn. But I wanted to feel, well, more. I wanted Murtagh to be a book about them navigating a post-Galbatorix landscape where they must deal with the fact that they’ve committed these atrocities, willingly or not. I wanted the main conflict to be centred around the fact that people don’t trust Murtagh and Thorn. I wanted a character-driven piece of storytelling.
Instead, the book is mostly a plot-driven sequel-setter. I’ve not been left a happy camper as it stumbles into the age-old sequel problem of oh shit, we need to escalate the stakes, and it’s decided to do this by introducing a Deep State, cheese-morality, Satanic Panic influenced, Westboro-fire-and-brimstone-esque Cthulhu cult that Murtagh and Thorn need to take out. But oops, we ran out of pages please buy the next book.
Man, when this was announced back in March, I thought was going to be a character study standalone D:
So, it’s an action-adventure book, it’s a book with all the swords and gore and magician duels of the previous books. It’s a winning formula, but, this time around, not for me. The characters stumble about from one plot point to the next through blind luck and by making strange (stupid) decisions, and I struggled to find a solid, motivational throughline for the events going on other than “we need to get the book to happen”. I found the main conflict centred around Bachel and her cult to be underwhelming at best, and downright boring at worst, and I just … I wanted more, and not in the way that more sequels! can fix.
In summary, Murtagh feels like a book teetering on the edge of having something to say, but never quite succeeding because instead of delving into what made Murtagh and Thorn so interesting in the first place, it’s more focused on doing, to be blunt about it, boring, tired, ill-thought out, and done-better-elsewhere plot things for later books. How can you have characters like Murtagh and Thorn, who have long been those with the most potential in the Cycle, and decide that this was the story that needed to be told about them? Setting them up to save the world isn’t why I found them interesting.
——
Criticisms from the original books that have been addressed and I am super happy about!
• The Empire is given more substance to it from the flat, evil entity it was in the previous books, hooray! The soldiers are talked about, the social classes are given more stage room, the economies and governments in cities and towns do exist; it was more than I was expecting upon coming into the book. Good job, I would like more, please.
• Murtagh is also, unlike Eragon, not ridiculously bloodthirsty. Sure, he is dangerous, but he’s not going about punching people so hard their hearts stop and coming away with the conclusion of “huh, I should change my knuckles to kill people even harder”, or “man, I wish I could kill a few more people for my literal murder mountain so I can have an even headcount of two hundred”. Murtagh and Eragon may be equally stupid, but at least Murtagh (mostly) escaped the psychopath gene that Eragon and Roran have.
[EDIT: Firstly, the bloodthirsty/psychopath comment was a joke; I was exaggerating to make a point. I do not believe these characters are literally psychopaths, but they do have callous relationships with death and killing. As Eragon walks around battlefields, he fiddles with human molars he finds on the floor, and gets more emotional about killing lizards than people; Roran gets sad that he can’t kill more people simply to round out numbers; and even in this book, . The heart of my complaint burrows more into how Paolini isn’t great at writing psychologically consistent characters, which is a problem scattered across all of his books and one that doesn’t seem to be getting better despite him being a professionally published author for twenty years. If you want to know my views on that, they’re in my comments and on Substack. If you have objections to how I’ve worded or view this, that’s fine, but I’m firm on my stance and am not interested in fights or Internet debates.]
However …
• Murtagh and Thorn’s relationship feels very much the same as Eragon and Saphira’s in that the Rider is definitely in charge and the dragon is, at best, a flying sidekick. Very frustrating. There are nice scenes between Murtagh and Thorn which show them as equals in the relationship, don’t get me wrong, and I love how they’re in each other’s corners, but Murtagh’s the one making the big decisions and calling the shots, with Thorn always going along with what Murtagh wants to do. So I’m not really sold on this being an equal partnership.
• We also return to the weirdly worded pseudo-medieval speak, and I’m still not a fan. Pls Chris. And whilst we’re on the subject of dialogue, can we stop with the written accents please. It’s so frustrating to read these “not-quite-Cockney-but-aping-on-something-vaguely-East-London”, are-youse-’avin-a-laff-at-me accents and I wish the trend would die. Just stop.
• Paolini still cannot write poetry and verse beyond the first two-ish lines of a stanza. I automatically skip these now because they’re the reading equivalent of nails on a chalkboard.
• There is still a looot of filler going on here. Flying around filler, random musings filler, random worldbuilding filler, descriptions that are so lengthy that they become, for me at least, ineffective. This book could have easily been 100 pages shorter if the filler was either cut or strictly edited down. This is something I always forget is a thing when I pick up a Paolini book until I’m like, “Oh…. Yeah.”
I will read the next book because Murtagh and Thorn are my favourites, but can it reach the heights of its potential? Well, that’s up to Chris and his team at Knopf Books, now.
If you would like to read an utterly exhaustive, in-depth analysis on this book that dissects the plot, characters, and writing, you can find my heinously long essay on Substack.
Also who decided that the world map at the front of the travel book would be in made-up runes? Sir, I just want to talk to the art department.
Plot: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Prose: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ (I always forget how much Paolini loves making people tttrot~)
World: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
OVERALL: ★ ★ ½ ☆ ☆ ☆
Read my full, in-depth analysis and review of Murtagh and the wider Cycle on Substack. It doesn’t fit on Goodreads.
Let it be known that, just like Eragon, Murtagh is not very bright. It must be from Mum’s side of the family.
I wanted this to be more than it was.
This was one of my most anticipated books of the year, but I’ve had mixed feelings on the whole affair since the announcement. Like many, The Inheritance Cycle was my all-time favourite series from when I was about nine to somewhere in my early teens, and Murtagh left such a huge impression on me as a kid that his archetype (the angsty, angry, yet tragic bad boy loner with parental issues) is still one of my favourite things ever; I cannot stress how much the one proper chapter he has in Eldest drove me completely feral between the two years of my reading it and Brisingr’s release. That being said, I think the magic for the series started fading in my eyes with the release of Inheritance, which I didn’t love, and my admiration for Paolini as a writer dulled with his other novel To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, which I thought was pretty … meh; the only thing I could and can really say about it was, “yup, that was indeed a book I read”.
So I was excited to revisit my OG bad boy, he has so much potential from where we last saw him, but I was worried about Paolini’s ability to deliver a *good book*. And mixed feelings is a good way to put it now that I’ve finished.
Firstly, I adored getting to see Murtagh and Thorn’s psyches seventeen years after being introduced to them and deciding that these two would be my favourite poor little meow meows/blorbos (or whatever the kids say nowadays) forever. My throat did all the closing up and my heart ached whenever I read the passages about their experiences in Urû’baen at the hands of Galbatorix and his court. A shining beacon throughout the novel was in watching the two of them struggling with and addressing the trauma they experienced, most notable in Thorn’s fear of confined spaces and the ugly consequences that follow.
The book is very good at making me feel emotions for Murtagh and Thorn. But I wanted to feel, well, more. I wanted Murtagh to be a book about them navigating a post-Galbatorix landscape where they must deal with the fact that they’ve committed these atrocities, willingly or not. I wanted the main conflict to be centred around the fact that people don’t trust Murtagh and Thorn. I wanted a character-driven piece of storytelling.
Instead, the book is mostly a plot-driven sequel-setter. I’ve not been left a happy camper as it stumbles into the age-old sequel problem of oh shit, we need to escalate the stakes, and it’s decided to do this by introducing a Deep State, cheese-morality, Satanic Panic influenced, Westboro-fire-and-brimstone-esque Cthulhu cult that Murtagh and Thorn need to take out. But oops, we ran out of pages please buy the next book.
Man, when this was announced back in March, I thought was going to be a character study standalone D:
So, it’s an action-adventure book, it’s a book with all the swords and gore and magician duels of the previous books. It’s a winning formula, but, this time around, not for me. The characters stumble about from one plot point to the next through blind luck and by making strange (stupid) decisions, and I struggled to find a solid, motivational throughline for the events going on other than “we need to get the book to happen”. I found the main conflict centred around Bachel and her cult to be underwhelming at best, and downright boring at worst, and I just … I wanted more, and not in the way that more sequels! can fix.
In summary, Murtagh feels like a book teetering on the edge of having something to say, but never quite succeeding because instead of delving into what made Murtagh and Thorn so interesting in the first place, it’s more focused on doing, to be blunt about it, boring, tired, ill-thought out, and done-better-elsewhere plot things for later books. How can you have characters like Murtagh and Thorn, who have long been those with the most potential in the Cycle, and decide that this was the story that needed to be told about them? Setting them up to save the world isn’t why I found them interesting.
——
Criticisms from the original books that have been addressed and I am super happy about!
• The Empire is given more substance to it from the flat, evil entity it was in the previous books, hooray! The soldiers are talked about, the social classes are given more stage room, the economies and governments in cities and towns do exist; it was more than I was expecting upon coming into the book. Good job, I would like more, please.
• Murtagh is also, unlike Eragon, not ridiculously bloodthirsty. Sure, he is dangerous, but he’s not going about punching people so hard their hearts stop and coming away with the conclusion of “huh, I should change my knuckles to kill people even harder”, or “man, I wish I could kill a few more people for my literal murder mountain so I can have an even headcount of two hundred”. Murtagh and Eragon may be equally stupid, but at least Murtagh (mostly) escaped the psychopath gene that Eragon and Roran have.
[EDIT: Firstly, the bloodthirsty/psychopath comment was a joke; I was exaggerating to make a point. I do not believe these characters are literally psychopaths, but they do have callous relationships with death and killing. As Eragon walks around battlefields, he fiddles with human molars he finds on the floor, and gets more emotional about killing lizards than people; Roran gets sad that he can’t kill more people simply to round out numbers; and even in this book, . The heart of my complaint burrows more into how Paolini isn’t great at writing psychologically consistent characters, which is a problem scattered across all of his books and one that doesn’t seem to be getting better despite him being a professionally published author for twenty years. If you want to know my views on that, they’re in my comments and on Substack. If you have objections to how I’ve worded or view this, that’s fine, but I’m firm on my stance and am not interested in fights or Internet debates.]
However …
• Murtagh and Thorn’s relationship feels very much the same as Eragon and Saphira’s in that the Rider is definitely in charge and the dragon is, at best, a flying sidekick. Very frustrating. There are nice scenes between Murtagh and Thorn which show them as equals in the relationship, don’t get me wrong, and I love how they’re in each other’s corners, but Murtagh’s the one making the big decisions and calling the shots, with Thorn always going along with what Murtagh wants to do. So I’m not really sold on this being an equal partnership.
• We also return to the weirdly worded pseudo-medieval speak, and I’m still not a fan. Pls Chris. And whilst we’re on the subject of dialogue, can we stop with the written accents please. It’s so frustrating to read these “not-quite-Cockney-but-aping-on-something-vaguely-East-London”, are-youse-’avin-a-laff-at-me accents and I wish the trend would die. Just stop.
• Paolini still cannot write poetry and verse beyond the first two-ish lines of a stanza. I automatically skip these now because they’re the reading equivalent of nails on a chalkboard.
• There is still a looot of filler going on here. Flying around filler, random musings filler, random worldbuilding filler, descriptions that are so lengthy that they become, for me at least, ineffective. This book could have easily been 100 pages shorter if the filler was either cut or strictly edited down. This is something I always forget is a thing when I pick up a Paolini book until I’m like, “Oh…. Yeah.”
I will read the next book because Murtagh and Thorn are my favourites, but can it reach the heights of its potential? Well, that’s up to Chris and his team at Knopf Books, now.
If you would like to read an utterly exhaustive, in-depth analysis on this book that dissects the plot, characters, and writing, you can find my heinously long essay on Substack.
Also who decided that the world map at the front of the travel book would be in made-up runes? Sir, I just want to talk to the art department.
November 29, 2023
Very different from Eragon but somehow fitting, very dark and absolutely brilliant!
This book started as a slow burn and ended up having one of the best third acts everrr. It was so good. The relationship between Murtagh and Thorn, the feels! I like it even more than I liked the dynamic between Eragon and Saphira (yeah, I can’t believe I’m saying that).
Murtagh is not as plot driven, which is one of the reasons why I loved Eragon so much. But the character development is so good it makes up for it.
This is a pretty self contained story but it sets up the future of the Inheritance cycle brilliantly! Oh and that ending. Absolutely beautiful and well earned. I can’t wait to see what comes next!
This book started as a slow burn and ended up having one of the best third acts everrr. It was so good. The relationship between Murtagh and Thorn, the feels! I like it even more than I liked the dynamic between Eragon and Saphira (yeah, I can’t believe I’m saying that).
Murtagh is not as plot driven, which is one of the reasons why I loved Eragon so much. But the character development is so good it makes up for it.
This is a pretty self contained story but it sets up the future of the Inheritance cycle brilliantly! Oh and that ending. Absolutely beautiful and well earned. I can’t wait to see what comes next!
November 5, 2023
I was lucky enough to get the book early, and though I did not plan on reading it right away, as I am currently very busy, I ended up doing so as the story of Murtagh was too tantalising.
To begin, kudos to those who designed the book as I think it may now be the most beautiful book in my collection. I absolutely love the design, artwork and the colors chosen.
As for the story, it is a riveting return to the world of Alagaesia. It adds a lot of intrigue and mystery to the world and builds on who Murtagh was before, during and after the story outlined in the first 4 books of the series.
For those returning to Alagaesia, I fully believe you will love Murtagh. It is a fantastic book that adds so much to the story. I grew up reading Eragon when I was in my teens and remember waiting for each sequel. When the books were released, I would read them typically in a day or two as I could not put them down. With Murtagh, I had the same feeling of needing to find out what happens next.
For those who have never read the series, I believe Murtagh is approachable and does not require reading the previous works as Paolini has threaded the line perfectly between telling a story for new and old readers of the series.
After reading Murtagh, I am looking forward to Paolini continuing the story of what is brewing in Alagaesia and I am so happy he decided to return to this land. Murtagh is a fantastic return to the world, and I hope to see a book perhaps titled Roran in the future 😉
To begin, kudos to those who designed the book as I think it may now be the most beautiful book in my collection. I absolutely love the design, artwork and the colors chosen.
As for the story, it is a riveting return to the world of Alagaesia. It adds a lot of intrigue and mystery to the world and builds on who Murtagh was before, during and after the story outlined in the first 4 books of the series.
For those returning to Alagaesia, I fully believe you will love Murtagh. It is a fantastic book that adds so much to the story. I grew up reading Eragon when I was in my teens and remember waiting for each sequel. When the books were released, I would read them typically in a day or two as I could not put them down. With Murtagh, I had the same feeling of needing to find out what happens next.
For those who have never read the series, I believe Murtagh is approachable and does not require reading the previous works as Paolini has threaded the line perfectly between telling a story for new and old readers of the series.
After reading Murtagh, I am looking forward to Paolini continuing the story of what is brewing in Alagaesia and I am so happy he decided to return to this land. Murtagh is a fantastic return to the world, and I hope to see a book perhaps titled Roran in the future 😉
November 23, 2023
AAAAIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
*bangs credit card on table*
NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW PLEASEEEEEEEEE
*bangs credit card on table*
NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW PLEASEEEEEEEEE
November 14, 2023
In a word; disappointing. I was so excited to return to Alagaesia, but this book has some serious missteps. The biggest by far is that it's far too long. For what this story is, it should have been at least one to two hundred pages shorter. Paolini really needs a good editor to help him trim the fat. It was very apparent in To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, and it's very apparent here.
This is a very different Murtagh than we encountered in the Inheritance Cycle. Paolini makes the classic mistake of over nerfing a villain after their redemption. It's revealed early on that Murtagh was only ever a threat because of the Eldunari he held. Beyond that, it's now unbelievable that he could have ever contended with Eragon with blades because he now routinely struggles with regular humans.
It's not all bad though. There are some good themes that are executed competently. Murtagh is ultimately a story of finding a new path and healing. It's about coming to terms with your past, accepting it, and finding a way forward. And in a timely fashion, considering the post covid world we now live in, it addresses the consequences of isolation and asserts that we are stronger with others than we are alone.
For a side story with the purpose of setting up the next epic saga, it's just too bloated and poorly executed. I wanted to love it, but I don't. I hope Paolini finds his way again and crafts a better tale next time.
This is a very different Murtagh than we encountered in the Inheritance Cycle. Paolini makes the classic mistake of over nerfing a villain after their redemption. It's revealed early on that Murtagh was only ever a threat because of the Eldunari he held. Beyond that, it's now unbelievable that he could have ever contended with Eragon with blades because he now routinely struggles with regular humans.
It's not all bad though. There are some good themes that are executed competently. Murtagh is ultimately a story of finding a new path and healing. It's about coming to terms with your past, accepting it, and finding a way forward. And in a timely fashion, considering the post covid world we now live in, it addresses the consequences of isolation and asserts that we are stronger with others than we are alone.
For a side story with the purpose of setting up the next epic saga, it's just too bloated and poorly executed. I wanted to love it, but I don't. I hope Paolini finds his way again and crafts a better tale next time.
Want to read
March 9, 2023
03/08/2023
after all this time my boy Murtagh is finally getting the respect he deserves
after all this time my boy Murtagh is finally getting the respect he deserves
January 26, 2024
DRAGONES!
Brujas, traiciones y enemigos despiadados🤩!
🌸Vamos, lo que viene siendo una aventura fantástica!
🌸Una de esas aventura que no puedes parar de leer por más que tu subconsciente te avise de que son las doce de la noche y que deberías de irte a dormir. (Ya te aviso, en según que personas, este efecto puede presentarse a las tres de la madrugada)
🌸Y es que, cuando llegas a cierta parte de la historia y conoces a cierto personajes, esto ya es un sálvense quién pueda, porque tú estás totalmente enganchada. Es tal tu afán por saber qué va a pasar, que tu subconsciente se tapa con una manta y se sienta a tu lado para disfrutar también de tu lectura (ya sabes, si no puedes con ellos, únete a su fiesta)
🌸Y, es que, si te gustan las sagas en las que no sabes que va a pasar en la siguiente página, este/os libros son para ti y, es que, MURTAHG es el quinto libro de la saga Ciclo El Legado, que empieza con ERAGON!
(Y, aunque se puede leer de forma independiente, es posible que te comas algún que otro spoiler... A ver, no me mires así, es que es una saga...🤭)
🌸Pero que no cunda el pánico, porque los demás libros son tan adictivos como este🤩!
Brujas, traiciones y enemigos despiadados🤩!
🌸Vamos, lo que viene siendo una aventura fantástica!
🌸Una de esas aventura que no puedes parar de leer por más que tu subconsciente te avise de que son las doce de la noche y que deberías de irte a dormir. (Ya te aviso, en según que personas, este efecto puede presentarse a las tres de la madrugada)
🌸Y es que, cuando llegas a cierta parte de la historia y conoces a cierto personajes, esto ya es un sálvense quién pueda, porque tú estás totalmente enganchada. Es tal tu afán por saber qué va a pasar, que tu subconsciente se tapa con una manta y se sienta a tu lado para disfrutar también de tu lectura (ya sabes, si no puedes con ellos, únete a su fiesta)
🌸Y, es que, si te gustan las sagas en las que no sabes que va a pasar en la siguiente página, este/os libros son para ti y, es que, MURTAHG es el quinto libro de la saga Ciclo El Legado, que empieza con ERAGON!
(Y, aunque se puede leer de forma independiente, es posible que te comas algún que otro spoiler... A ver, no me mires así, es que es una saga...🤭)
🌸Pero que no cunda el pánico, porque los demás libros son tan adictivos como este🤩!
February 23, 2024
Overall Rating : A-
"You could no more seek to control the wind or the rain than to control magic.
Then what hope has the ordinary man in a world of magicians?
The same hope any creature has when battered by the storms of fate."
Set a year after the events of Inheritance, Murtagh and Thorn roam the land, following rumors of a strange witch in a land of brimstone and sulfur. A witch that casts magic even the Name of Names cannot stop. Hoping to redeem themselves for the actions Galbatorix made them do, and the resulting trauma he inflicted on them, Murtagh and Thorn will discover what it means to be true to who you really are.
What. A. Story. Murtagh is so different - yet almost exactly the same - as Eragon. They are both reckless and have an "act first, think later" mentality that always seems to bite them in the ass. Only, Eragon has a more naive look at the world. Almost sheltered in how he views it because of the help he received. Whereas for Murtagh, his sense of betrayal, guilt, horror and loneliness has left him hesitant to even trust anybody. Alone, besides Thorn, they prefer it that way almost obsessively. To the point it almost becomes their very undoing.
Reading a first hand account of what exactly Galbatorix did to them was heartbreaking, and gives you an empathetic view of their situation. You can understand why they feel and do the things they do, and you wish them the opportunity to grow and become stronger than the fears they faced.
As far as baddies go, Bachel is okay. She's no Galbatorix, but definitely gave you the willies the longer you read about her. It almost feels like the book was too short for all the plot we got surrounding her and the Draumer cult. But, I guess that's why it ended the way it did 😉
A great edition to the series, even if it's over a decade in the making!
(P.S. don't go into this thinking you'll also get some Eragon and Saphira on the side. Barely more than a crumb 😢)
"You could no more seek to control the wind or the rain than to control magic.
Then what hope has the ordinary man in a world of magicians?
The same hope any creature has when battered by the storms of fate."
Set a year after the events of Inheritance, Murtagh and Thorn roam the land, following rumors of a strange witch in a land of brimstone and sulfur. A witch that casts magic even the Name of Names cannot stop. Hoping to redeem themselves for the actions Galbatorix made them do, and the resulting trauma he inflicted on them, Murtagh and Thorn will discover what it means to be true to who you really are.
What. A. Story. Murtagh is so different - yet almost exactly the same - as Eragon. They are both reckless and have an "act first, think later" mentality that always seems to bite them in the ass. Only, Eragon has a more naive look at the world. Almost sheltered in how he views it because of the help he received. Whereas for Murtagh, his sense of betrayal, guilt, horror and loneliness has left him hesitant to even trust anybody. Alone, besides Thorn, they prefer it that way almost obsessively. To the point it almost becomes their very undoing.
Reading a first hand account of what exactly Galbatorix did to them was heartbreaking, and gives you an empathetic view of their situation. You can understand why they feel and do the things they do, and you wish them the opportunity to grow and become stronger than the fears they faced.
As far as baddies go, Bachel is okay. She's no Galbatorix, but definitely gave you the willies the longer you read about her. It almost feels like the book was too short for all the plot we got surrounding her and the Draumer cult. But, I guess that's why it ended the way it did 😉
A great edition to the series, even if it's over a decade in the making!
(P.S. don't go into this thinking you'll also get some Eragon and Saphira on the side. Barely more than a crumb 😢)
December 29, 2023
Paolini is candid in admitting that, although the book acts as a stand-alone novel, certain storylines are far from concluded. This is certainly good news for his readers, but at the same time certain parts of the story do seem to be there just for the sake of planting a seed for future developments, while others are too stretched for my liking. All in all a more than enjoyable story and a very welcomed return to Alagaësia.
-------
Paolini è sincero nell'ammettere che, sebbene il libro sia un romanzo a sé stante, alcune trame sono lungi dall'essere concluse. Questa è sicuramente una buona notizia per i suoi lettori, ma allo stesso tempo alcune parti della storia sembrano essere lì solo come seme per sviluppi futuri, mentre altre sono troppo estese per i miei gusti. Tutto sommato una storia più che godibile e un gradito ritorno ad Alagaësia.
-------
Paolini è sincero nell'ammettere che, sebbene il libro sia un romanzo a sé stante, alcune trame sono lungi dall'essere concluse. Questa è sicuramente una buona notizia per i suoi lettori, ma allo stesso tempo alcune parti della storia sembrano essere lì solo come seme per sviluppi futuri, mentre altre sono troppo estese per i miei gusti. Tutto sommato una storia più che godibile e un gradito ritorno ad Alagaësia.
November 17, 2023
I picked up Murtagh tentatively, hoping that my childhood nostalgia for Eragon would remain unscathed. It's been 20 years, and sometimes, returning to a childhood favorite is a regret.
The story picks up one year after the events of Inheritance. Murtagh and Thorn have heard rumors of an evil lurking in Alagaesia, and they set out to uncover information about it. What they learn on the way has them battling foes they thought they had conquered, and uncovering new dangers threatening the peace that they fought so hard to establish.
Murtagh delivered more than I even knew to hope for! The characters, the writing, the pacing, the rich world--I loved everything. It was both the same Alagaësia that I had loved, and a new world to discover. The story continued building until I couldn't put it down.
In my opinion, this is Christopher Paolini's best novel so far. If you loved Eragon, you won't be disappointed. And if you have not read Eragon, Murtagh is an approachable and fun step into that world.
Content: 4.5/5: 7 uses of b-tard. Overall, a clean fantasy. Some violence/fighting but nothing explicit or overly gory. There are themes of loyalty, duty, trauma, and sacrifice.
The story picks up one year after the events of Inheritance. Murtagh and Thorn have heard rumors of an evil lurking in Alagaesia, and they set out to uncover information about it. What they learn on the way has them battling foes they thought they had conquered, and uncovering new dangers threatening the peace that they fought so hard to establish.
Murtagh delivered more than I even knew to hope for! The characters, the writing, the pacing, the rich world--I loved everything. It was both the same Alagaësia that I had loved, and a new world to discover. The story continued building until I couldn't put it down.
In my opinion, this is Christopher Paolini's best novel so far. If you loved Eragon, you won't be disappointed. And if you have not read Eragon, Murtagh is an approachable and fun step into that world.
Content: 4.5/5: 7 uses of b-tard. Overall, a clean fantasy. Some violence/fighting but nothing explicit or overly gory. There are themes of loyalty, duty, trauma, and sacrifice.
November 24, 2023
I can't even begin to describe how disappointed I am with this book. I was hoping for a book in which Murtagh navigates the aftermath of the original cycle and his position as the anti-hero. Starting out I was curious about the thoughts of introducing logic to the magic system. But instead of following through on these interesting themes, all we got was a side quest, a cult and torture porn.
November 30, 2023
Okay, let's try to make this flow somewhat coherently.
Obligatory disclaimer: I LOVE the Inheritance Cycle. As a kid it was nearly the only thing I read. Over the years I continue to reread it and each time I'll spot a new plot hole or inconsistency that I didn't notice when I was younger, but it doesn't mean I love it any less. You can still love something while acknowledging its flaws.
Secondary disclaimer: I am not a big fan of Brandon Sanderson's stories. However, I firmly stand by his First Law of Magic, and the difference between soft and hard magic. I only really get invested in fantasy that has a hard magic system. It's why I loved the world of Eragon as a kid so much more than other fantasy, because other than the occasional inconsistency it has a hard magic system that makes sense.
I guess I'll start with the broader story as a whole, then break it down to characters and then the nitpicky detail stuff after that.
The Story:
Overall the idea of the story is very appealing and I still like it. Outside of Alagaesia there is a Cthulhu-esque cult that worships an ancient giant monster sleeping underground. This monster sends out subtle mental influences that give people dreams and visions (the more I think about this the more it really does sound like Cthulhu). It's less generic than the "good heroes vs. evil tyrant" that the original series has. I like that. One problem: this doesn't take center stage until about 45% into the story. Up to that point it's a side quest to get a little bit of vague information. The proverbial "long walk for a short drink of water".
I say that because all of these side objectives don't even earn him information that is directly related to the main story. Murtagh goes through a scale heist that involves him use special magic that is so cleverly uninteresting and only goes to show that sometimes Murtagh can be clever with the way he uses spells.
Then there is the Moby Dick portion of the book that takes far too long and is also relatively uninteresting. (The only things of interest regarding the fishing trip was the fact that Murtagh really isn't trained very well in magic. I was screaming at him to stop trying to use a ball of fire as a source of light when underwater, but later we learn that he really doesn't know enough of the Ancient Language to do anything else. The second is that Murtagh actually felt some kinship to the Empire's soldiers, which I do think is interesting and I'll come back to).
After the Moby Dick section we then move to another heist. He earns gainful employment and uses it to get access to the special vault. Admittedly, going through the rooms of the vault were kind of interesting because of the strange artifacts, and he was clever with draining the door crystal of energy to power the wards. Well done Murtagh. Overall the heist was interesting enough, but was ultimately a let down because when he returns to Carabel he is given the information all of this was for: and it's barely anything new. Even the abduction of Silna by Wren might not even be related to the Dreamers at all. So now we're 45% of the way into the book and have only learned something that could have been discovered/found in a very simple way to leave room for more character development.
Next, he goes to Nal Gorgoth. He starts off his visit as a quasi-undercover mission, planning to get the information he wants through playing the game of customs and court etiquette. Okay, I guess. Unfortunately, this doesn't contain anything very exciting other than discovering a brooch and going on a royal boar hunt where he gets trampled into unconsciousness. And Bachel shook the mountain (which is the point that I figured out everything that was going on, making the mystery much less interesting). That's not enough interesting things to justify taking up 20% of the book.
Next we get 15% of endless torture, trauma, and slavery, which does nothing for the characters because they just escaped a life of torture, trauma, and slavery. Not only is it relatively uninteresting, it goes on way too long.
Then the last 10% is Murtagh spelunking with monsters while Thorn destroys a town. There are weird monsters in the caves. Why? Doesn't matter. Is it important? No. Did it make the story any more interesting? Not really. Finally Murtagh gets to the final boss. They fight. He wins. He is rescued. Flown halfway across the continent while unconscious, wakes up in a nice city already healed (Frodo, is that you?). Nasuada (but no kiss, boo). Roll credits.
Yes, my percentages only go up to 90% because on my reader the last 10% is the glossary and acknowledgements and I forgot to take that into consideration.
So, the cult/kaiju monster aspect is interesting and cool with greater implications, but it was twice as long as it needed to be with too many side missions that didn't contribute enough to the story to justify their existence. However, I am happily awaiting the next book because I am curious to see where the story goes. One misstep does not ruin the series and I do really like Paolini as an author.
The Characters (worth mentioning, it's not a lot):
Bachel: I'll start with her because I have the least to say. She's fine. I wouldn't really want to hear her life story to make her a sympathetic villain so I'm fine with that being left out. She's just a wide-eyed religious zealot and did a good job of it. Next.
Uvek: My man. Uvek is cool. Shaman. Lives alone. Best friend was a bird. When his new blood brother accidentally cuts off his horn he says, "No problem bro, it'll grow back and I'm not trying to get laid so I don't care if it makes me ugly. Let's go find someone else to kill." I like him. Next.
Thorn: Oh boy, this is tough. I LOVE the angle of his claustrophobia. It's nice to see his PTSD being addressed and manifesting in a way that has real consequences. It was done beautifully. *chef's kiss* Now, my issue with Thorn is that I feel like he is still a stranger to me. I wanted more of him in Inheritance, and was excited for him to be the main dragon of the new book. Unfortunately, it seemed like there kept being new ways to put him on the back burner. Whenever Murtagh was in towns he had to hide outside somewhere, usually too far for them to communicate regularly. Then in Nal Gorgoth he was there but again they talked very little. Then none at all during the drugged and tortured section. Then Murtagh was underground and couldn't talk to him. I don't feel like I got to know him at all besides his claustrophobia. I don't have a good grasp on his personality. (His somewhat arrogant attitude is normal for all dragons so that doesn't count).
Murtagh: The titular clumsy hero. His arc is... something. I kept thinking his decisions were odd and was trying to justify them by claiming his trauma gave him insecurities that were driving him, or other such deeper explanations. It wasn't until about 75% of the way through that I realized all of my attempts to explain his behavior was just headcanon, and the truth was that there was really only one reason for most of the decisions he made: plot. I could go on for an hour about him, but it would be way too much. This whole book had the stench of a story where the author would think of a scene he thought was cool, so then would try to force his characters to arrive at that situation, even if it didn't really make sense for them. I did appreciate seeing more of Murtagh's time with Galbatorix, both before his escape and when he returned and Thorn hatched for him. Also, I did enjoy seeing him long for the comradery he felt with the Empire's army. For one, it actually humanized the Empire's army in a way they hadn't before. Eragon slaughtered them by the thousands like they were faceless stormtroopers, but even just a few short lines in this book did remind us that they were just normal people too, most of them conscripted against their will. And it's nice to know that Murtagh actually did interact with them in their downtime, instead of him just being a brooding loner that always slept on a hill away from the camp. I like to think that after a battle he would walk among the men and help heal them the way that Eragon did with the Varden. Perhaps showing them some kindness because he understood their plight of being enslaved to do the King's bidding. I also liked Murtagh being sassy about Eragon. Also, I did like finding out that Galbatorix really didn't train him well at all. After the original series I was under the impression that he would be fluent in the ancient language and probably even some other unique magic Galbatorix learned and shared with him that Eragon never learned. But no, Galbatorix taught him the basics and juiced him up with some Eldunari steroids and sent him to fight Eragon. This forced him to be more clever with his spells which I liked, but that was also kind of ruined because of the inconsistency. By the end of the story I didn't really feel like he was any different than the character he was at the beginning, or even who he was at the end of Inheritance. His character wasn't ruined by any stretch, there's still room to do interesting things with him in the future, but I don't feel like much was done with him here, in his own book.
The Magic:
I'm not really even sure where to begin with this one. It felt like so many things were different. Not expanded upon, just different. The first thing that stood out to me was something that seemed to completely contradict what Brom said in his first lesson with Eragon, and the thing that shapes the rules of magic: the law of equivalent energy (as I'm calling it). After Murtagh catches his fish that seems to change size each time it's described (Also, why would Durza want to make such an intricately indestructible monster fish? Why not something cooler? Why a sea monster at all?), he needs to deliver the head to Wren as a job resume. From the outskirts of town, he wraps the fish head in a cloak and decides that it's so heavy that if he dragged it all the way to town he would be exhausted by the time he got there. So instead he uses magic to transport it there. Really? Wouldn't you be just as exhausted because of the energy rule? Now, I've seen people saying that it took less energy because he only used magic to lift it a little to avoid the friction of dragging it on the ground, so it was easier. Is that any different than slinging it over his shoulder though? But whatever, fineeee, I'll grant you your little loophole. But it's such an insignificant thing, so why would Paolini include this scene that needs outside explanation to avoid being a broken magic rule for something that amounts to nothing. Why are we spending time describing how Murtagh chooses to get a fish head to town without getting tired instead of devoting that time to something important?? So much unnecessary filler.
Then there's Murtagh's own loopholes. I like the idea of him having to find clever ways to use magic because of his limited knowledge of the Ancient Language, and I've seen some people even compare it to coding the way he sort of includes if/then statements in his spells (which seems like it should only be possible with extensive knowledge of the language, but whatever, it's still cool). The problem is that getting tricky with his spells means that it kind of steps over existing precedent.
The bird skull amulets. Sometimes when someone wears them it's as if it makes them entirely immune to spells. Murtagh will cast a spell at them and not feel any energy drain, as if it didn't even trigger a ward. Then other times, it's as if the amulet is just where a ward is stored, and is immune to being deactivated by the Name. No explanation of why the amulets have different results and behave differently at different times.
During Eragon's training with Oromis, we learned how important it is to word spells as a process, so that they can be abandoned if the completion of the spell would require so much energy that the caster would die. Does anyone remember that? I'm not sure Paolini does. Because in this book it seems that someone can cast a spell and if it seems like it will be too much energy they can just cut it off. I don't think this is a problem in itself, but it goes against what we have learned before. It's not always a complete refutation of previously established rules, but we often just gloss over them as if it isn't a problem and it makes magic seem so much more loose and easier and less dangerous to use. In older books we're told a few of the Forsworn died because they weren't careful with their magic use and accidentally killed themselves, but there doesn't seem to be any danger at all for Murtagh to be casting all kinds of spells at people despite not knowing their strength because he can just cancel the spell, even if it's not worded as a process. Murtagh knew Bachel had the power to literally shake the mountains, yet he was still casting non-process spells at her not knowing what wards she had. I think going by the rules of previous books that would have killed him.
Poor Brom. Brom died because Eragon didn't know the Ancient Language enough to properly heal his wounds (why didn't you have wards Brom???). "Waise heill" was only enough to heal the surface damage, but couldn't mend his internal bleeding and damage. Then in Ellesmera Eragon learned the language and how to heal more significant wounds with more complex spells. He even comments that with what he learned he could have saved Brom easily. Alas, it was not to be. But Murtagh? Murtagh could probably reattach someone's head with those two simple words. Why? No one knows. People will say "it's not just the words, it's the intent" but I call BS on that. Eragon had the intent to fully heal Brom. Elven spellcasters have the intent and anatomical knowledge to heal with simple worded spells, but they can't. They have to use longer more specific spells to heal different types of damage separately. Murtagh's a bad boy though, he doesn't play by the rules.
Enchanted objects. Another incredible method of healing is the special Urgal healing rock. I don't have an issue with enchanted objects in general, but it only makes sense that they would have to be really specific. Also, they need a specific energy source. The amulets? I figure they're programmed to take energy from whoever is wearing it. The Urgal stone? It can apparently store its own energy, even though we've clearly established only special crystals can store energy. But Murtagh transfers energy from the crystal to the rock, and then touching it can heal everything from punctured lungs to drug induced mental confusion. Why not? Just go with it. And although it wasn't confirmed to be true, Murtagh guessed that Nasuada is enchanting all of her currency to avoid getting dirty or tarnished. What?? First of all, why? Second of all, how? Where do the coins get the energy to stay clean? Arya's grass ship drew power from plants and life around/under it, so do the coins do that? If you work at a bank do you get tired faster because the coins are stealing your life force so they can stay clean?? I know this is weirdly nitpicky but if something is going to confuse the rules, just leave it out! Especially if it isn't even important. Who cares if Nasuada's coins get dirty?? It was such an unnecessary inclusion.
Mentioning Bachel again and how she shook the mountain. She was drawing energy directly from Azlagur, right? That's how I guessed there was a giant monster underground because how else would she get the energy for that? Murtagh even wonders the same thing. So if she has access to the energy of this kaiju, why doesn't she use it to power her wards? That seems straightforward enough. But her wards seem to only be tied to her own strength. That's convenient for Murtagh.
Not directly magic, but related to it: vorgethan. This has changed drastically since the previous books. In the original series it was basically a drug that just made the person so drunk out of their mind that they couldn't even remember any words in the Ancient Language (but still retained other memories/faculties). In this book, it serves as a really effective drug that completely cuts a person off from anything magical (magic, telepathy, energy transfer) without messing with their mind (and this actually makes much more sense than how it was in the first book). Murtagh says that his mental confusion only came from Bachel's fog she blew in his face, not the vorgethan. The vorgethan is apparently even stable enough that magicians in the kingdom microdose it unless they register with the magic police. Clearly this was a massive change. Why? Because plot.
Continued in comments...
Obligatory disclaimer: I LOVE the Inheritance Cycle. As a kid it was nearly the only thing I read. Over the years I continue to reread it and each time I'll spot a new plot hole or inconsistency that I didn't notice when I was younger, but it doesn't mean I love it any less. You can still love something while acknowledging its flaws.
Secondary disclaimer: I am not a big fan of Brandon Sanderson's stories. However, I firmly stand by his First Law of Magic, and the difference between soft and hard magic. I only really get invested in fantasy that has a hard magic system. It's why I loved the world of Eragon as a kid so much more than other fantasy, because other than the occasional inconsistency it has a hard magic system that makes sense.
I guess I'll start with the broader story as a whole, then break it down to characters and then the nitpicky detail stuff after that.
The Story:
Overall the idea of the story is very appealing and I still like it. Outside of Alagaesia there is a Cthulhu-esque cult that worships an ancient giant monster sleeping underground. This monster sends out subtle mental influences that give people dreams and visions (the more I think about this the more it really does sound like Cthulhu). It's less generic than the "good heroes vs. evil tyrant" that the original series has. I like that. One problem: this doesn't take center stage until about 45% into the story. Up to that point it's a side quest to get a little bit of vague information. The proverbial "long walk for a short drink of water".
I say that because all of these side objectives don't even earn him information that is directly related to the main story. Murtagh goes through a scale heist that involves him use special magic that is so cleverly uninteresting and only goes to show that sometimes Murtagh can be clever with the way he uses spells.
Then there is the Moby Dick portion of the book that takes far too long and is also relatively uninteresting. (The only things of interest regarding the fishing trip was the fact that Murtagh really isn't trained very well in magic. I was screaming at him to stop trying to use a ball of fire as a source of light when underwater, but later we learn that he really doesn't know enough of the Ancient Language to do anything else. The second is that Murtagh actually felt some kinship to the Empire's soldiers, which I do think is interesting and I'll come back to).
After the Moby Dick section we then move to another heist. He earns gainful employment and uses it to get access to the special vault. Admittedly, going through the rooms of the vault were kind of interesting because of the strange artifacts, and he was clever with draining the door crystal of energy to power the wards. Well done Murtagh. Overall the heist was interesting enough, but was ultimately a let down because when he returns to Carabel he is given the information all of this was for: and it's barely anything new. Even the abduction of Silna by Wren might not even be related to the Dreamers at all. So now we're 45% of the way into the book and have only learned something that could have been discovered/found in a very simple way to leave room for more character development.
Next, he goes to Nal Gorgoth. He starts off his visit as a quasi-undercover mission, planning to get the information he wants through playing the game of customs and court etiquette. Okay, I guess. Unfortunately, this doesn't contain anything very exciting other than discovering a brooch and going on a royal boar hunt where he gets trampled into unconsciousness. And Bachel shook the mountain (which is the point that I figured out everything that was going on, making the mystery much less interesting). That's not enough interesting things to justify taking up 20% of the book.
Next we get 15% of endless torture, trauma, and slavery, which does nothing for the characters because they just escaped a life of torture, trauma, and slavery. Not only is it relatively uninteresting, it goes on way too long.
Then the last 10% is Murtagh spelunking with monsters while Thorn destroys a town. There are weird monsters in the caves. Why? Doesn't matter. Is it important? No. Did it make the story any more interesting? Not really. Finally Murtagh gets to the final boss. They fight. He wins. He is rescued. Flown halfway across the continent while unconscious, wakes up in a nice city already healed (Frodo, is that you?). Nasuada (but no kiss, boo). Roll credits.
Yes, my percentages only go up to 90% because on my reader the last 10% is the glossary and acknowledgements and I forgot to take that into consideration.
So, the cult/kaiju monster aspect is interesting and cool with greater implications, but it was twice as long as it needed to be with too many side missions that didn't contribute enough to the story to justify their existence. However, I am happily awaiting the next book because I am curious to see where the story goes. One misstep does not ruin the series and I do really like Paolini as an author.
The Characters (worth mentioning, it's not a lot):
Bachel: I'll start with her because I have the least to say. She's fine. I wouldn't really want to hear her life story to make her a sympathetic villain so I'm fine with that being left out. She's just a wide-eyed religious zealot and did a good job of it. Next.
Uvek: My man. Uvek is cool. Shaman. Lives alone. Best friend was a bird. When his new blood brother accidentally cuts off his horn he says, "No problem bro, it'll grow back and I'm not trying to get laid so I don't care if it makes me ugly. Let's go find someone else to kill." I like him. Next.
Thorn: Oh boy, this is tough. I LOVE the angle of his claustrophobia. It's nice to see his PTSD being addressed and manifesting in a way that has real consequences. It was done beautifully. *chef's kiss* Now, my issue with Thorn is that I feel like he is still a stranger to me. I wanted more of him in Inheritance, and was excited for him to be the main dragon of the new book. Unfortunately, it seemed like there kept being new ways to put him on the back burner. Whenever Murtagh was in towns he had to hide outside somewhere, usually too far for them to communicate regularly. Then in Nal Gorgoth he was there but again they talked very little. Then none at all during the drugged and tortured section. Then Murtagh was underground and couldn't talk to him. I don't feel like I got to know him at all besides his claustrophobia. I don't have a good grasp on his personality. (His somewhat arrogant attitude is normal for all dragons so that doesn't count).
Murtagh: The titular clumsy hero. His arc is... something. I kept thinking his decisions were odd and was trying to justify them by claiming his trauma gave him insecurities that were driving him, or other such deeper explanations. It wasn't until about 75% of the way through that I realized all of my attempts to explain his behavior was just headcanon, and the truth was that there was really only one reason for most of the decisions he made: plot. I could go on for an hour about him, but it would be way too much. This whole book had the stench of a story where the author would think of a scene he thought was cool, so then would try to force his characters to arrive at that situation, even if it didn't really make sense for them. I did appreciate seeing more of Murtagh's time with Galbatorix, both before his escape and when he returned and Thorn hatched for him. Also, I did enjoy seeing him long for the comradery he felt with the Empire's army. For one, it actually humanized the Empire's army in a way they hadn't before. Eragon slaughtered them by the thousands like they were faceless stormtroopers, but even just a few short lines in this book did remind us that they were just normal people too, most of them conscripted against their will. And it's nice to know that Murtagh actually did interact with them in their downtime, instead of him just being a brooding loner that always slept on a hill away from the camp. I like to think that after a battle he would walk among the men and help heal them the way that Eragon did with the Varden. Perhaps showing them some kindness because he understood their plight of being enslaved to do the King's bidding. I also liked Murtagh being sassy about Eragon. Also, I did like finding out that Galbatorix really didn't train him well at all. After the original series I was under the impression that he would be fluent in the ancient language and probably even some other unique magic Galbatorix learned and shared with him that Eragon never learned. But no, Galbatorix taught him the basics and juiced him up with some Eldunari steroids and sent him to fight Eragon. This forced him to be more clever with his spells which I liked, but that was also kind of ruined because of the inconsistency. By the end of the story I didn't really feel like he was any different than the character he was at the beginning, or even who he was at the end of Inheritance. His character wasn't ruined by any stretch, there's still room to do interesting things with him in the future, but I don't feel like much was done with him here, in his own book.
The Magic:
I'm not really even sure where to begin with this one. It felt like so many things were different. Not expanded upon, just different. The first thing that stood out to me was something that seemed to completely contradict what Brom said in his first lesson with Eragon, and the thing that shapes the rules of magic: the law of equivalent energy (as I'm calling it). After Murtagh catches his fish that seems to change size each time it's described (Also, why would Durza want to make such an intricately indestructible monster fish? Why not something cooler? Why a sea monster at all?), he needs to deliver the head to Wren as a job resume. From the outskirts of town, he wraps the fish head in a cloak and decides that it's so heavy that if he dragged it all the way to town he would be exhausted by the time he got there. So instead he uses magic to transport it there. Really? Wouldn't you be just as exhausted because of the energy rule? Now, I've seen people saying that it took less energy because he only used magic to lift it a little to avoid the friction of dragging it on the ground, so it was easier. Is that any different than slinging it over his shoulder though? But whatever, fineeee, I'll grant you your little loophole. But it's such an insignificant thing, so why would Paolini include this scene that needs outside explanation to avoid being a broken magic rule for something that amounts to nothing. Why are we spending time describing how Murtagh chooses to get a fish head to town without getting tired instead of devoting that time to something important?? So much unnecessary filler.
Then there's Murtagh's own loopholes. I like the idea of him having to find clever ways to use magic because of his limited knowledge of the Ancient Language, and I've seen some people even compare it to coding the way he sort of includes if/then statements in his spells (which seems like it should only be possible with extensive knowledge of the language, but whatever, it's still cool). The problem is that getting tricky with his spells means that it kind of steps over existing precedent.
The bird skull amulets. Sometimes when someone wears them it's as if it makes them entirely immune to spells. Murtagh will cast a spell at them and not feel any energy drain, as if it didn't even trigger a ward. Then other times, it's as if the amulet is just where a ward is stored, and is immune to being deactivated by the Name. No explanation of why the amulets have different results and behave differently at different times.
During Eragon's training with Oromis, we learned how important it is to word spells as a process, so that they can be abandoned if the completion of the spell would require so much energy that the caster would die. Does anyone remember that? I'm not sure Paolini does. Because in this book it seems that someone can cast a spell and if it seems like it will be too much energy they can just cut it off. I don't think this is a problem in itself, but it goes against what we have learned before. It's not always a complete refutation of previously established rules, but we often just gloss over them as if it isn't a problem and it makes magic seem so much more loose and easier and less dangerous to use. In older books we're told a few of the Forsworn died because they weren't careful with their magic use and accidentally killed themselves, but there doesn't seem to be any danger at all for Murtagh to be casting all kinds of spells at people despite not knowing their strength because he can just cancel the spell, even if it's not worded as a process. Murtagh knew Bachel had the power to literally shake the mountains, yet he was still casting non-process spells at her not knowing what wards she had. I think going by the rules of previous books that would have killed him.
Poor Brom. Brom died because Eragon didn't know the Ancient Language enough to properly heal his wounds (why didn't you have wards Brom???). "Waise heill" was only enough to heal the surface damage, but couldn't mend his internal bleeding and damage. Then in Ellesmera Eragon learned the language and how to heal more significant wounds with more complex spells. He even comments that with what he learned he could have saved Brom easily. Alas, it was not to be. But Murtagh? Murtagh could probably reattach someone's head with those two simple words. Why? No one knows. People will say "it's not just the words, it's the intent" but I call BS on that. Eragon had the intent to fully heal Brom. Elven spellcasters have the intent and anatomical knowledge to heal with simple worded spells, but they can't. They have to use longer more specific spells to heal different types of damage separately. Murtagh's a bad boy though, he doesn't play by the rules.
Enchanted objects. Another incredible method of healing is the special Urgal healing rock. I don't have an issue with enchanted objects in general, but it only makes sense that they would have to be really specific. Also, they need a specific energy source. The amulets? I figure they're programmed to take energy from whoever is wearing it. The Urgal stone? It can apparently store its own energy, even though we've clearly established only special crystals can store energy. But Murtagh transfers energy from the crystal to the rock, and then touching it can heal everything from punctured lungs to drug induced mental confusion. Why not? Just go with it. And although it wasn't confirmed to be true, Murtagh guessed that Nasuada is enchanting all of her currency to avoid getting dirty or tarnished. What?? First of all, why? Second of all, how? Where do the coins get the energy to stay clean? Arya's grass ship drew power from plants and life around/under it, so do the coins do that? If you work at a bank do you get tired faster because the coins are stealing your life force so they can stay clean?? I know this is weirdly nitpicky but if something is going to confuse the rules, just leave it out! Especially if it isn't even important. Who cares if Nasuada's coins get dirty?? It was such an unnecessary inclusion.
Mentioning Bachel again and how she shook the mountain. She was drawing energy directly from Azlagur, right? That's how I guessed there was a giant monster underground because how else would she get the energy for that? Murtagh even wonders the same thing. So if she has access to the energy of this kaiju, why doesn't she use it to power her wards? That seems straightforward enough. But her wards seem to only be tied to her own strength. That's convenient for Murtagh.
Not directly magic, but related to it: vorgethan. This has changed drastically since the previous books. In the original series it was basically a drug that just made the person so drunk out of their mind that they couldn't even remember any words in the Ancient Language (but still retained other memories/faculties). In this book, it serves as a really effective drug that completely cuts a person off from anything magical (magic, telepathy, energy transfer) without messing with their mind (and this actually makes much more sense than how it was in the first book). Murtagh says that his mental confusion only came from Bachel's fog she blew in his face, not the vorgethan. The vorgethan is apparently even stable enough that magicians in the kingdom microdose it unless they register with the magic police. Clearly this was a massive change. Why? Because plot.
Continued in comments...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Want to read
March 10, 2023November 2003: An at the time 8 years old me met a dark haired anti-hero with father issues and falls completely in love with him.
He was the first of many.
I didn't know, at the time, of a British guy named Ben Barnes who will become the perfect fan casting for Murtagh and all my book boyfriends, for that we need to wait five more years.
But this is another story.
He was the first of many.
I didn't know, at the time, of a British guy named Ben Barnes who will become the perfect fan casting for Murtagh and all my book boyfriends, for that we need to wait five more years.
But this is another story.
January 28, 2024
I need to preface my review with the fact I loved the Inheritance Cycle, rereading it nearly every year as an early teenager. How, I can admit it wasn’t the best books ever, but it was my introduction to epic fantasy.
So, I came to this book with a mix of trepidation, alarm, expectation, and nostalgia.
Can you read Murtagh before The Inheritance Cycle?
No.
Seemingly, it has been marketed that you can, but I would really advise against that. You would be left feeling clueless, and not fully understand the character development or the predicament Murtagh and Thorn is in.
Murtagh takes place about a year after the events of The Inheritance Cycle. He’s living it up as a wanderer, picking fights and trying to heal from some severe war trauma with his bonded dragon, Thorn.
Their relationship is the heart and focus of this book.
Aside from those who had been present in Galbatorix's throne room at the end, no one knew about Murtagh’s role in Galbatorix's defeat, and no one cared. It is widely believed they had betrayed the Varden to Galbatorix during the war, so Murtagh and Thorn are outcasts, staying hidden and nameless.
Murtagh feels grief, anger, longing, resentment at his circumstances. Eragon escaped Murtagh’s fate and tragedy and had a life that could have been his. One filled with love, heroics, and known valour.
As a result of Galbatorix’s meddling, Thorn and Murtagh’s relationship isn’t as smooth as Eragon and Saphira's, and Murtagh didn't think it ever would be.
But that was all right. A dull thorn was no thorn at all.
Some parts did feel indulgent. For example, Murtagh composes random poetry verses to occupy his mind which Paolini includes to no greater effect.
I definitely preferred the first half and this was definitely a four star reading experience, but the second half felt repetitive, and I found myself skimming, not feeling anything of note was happening.
”They're just emotions. Emotions aren't you." He tapped Thorn's foreleg. "You can feel them, you can let them pass through you, but who you are doesn't change. Remember that.”
I am not sure I would be as interested in continuing reading in this universe unless there’s a bigger reveal or shift. Perhaps it’s better to leave the nostalgia for the past.
Bookstagram
So, I came to this book with a mix of trepidation, alarm, expectation, and nostalgia.
Can you read Murtagh before The Inheritance Cycle?
No.
Seemingly, it has been marketed that you can, but I would really advise against that. You would be left feeling clueless, and not fully understand the character development or the predicament Murtagh and Thorn is in.
Murtagh takes place about a year after the events of The Inheritance Cycle. He’s living it up as a wanderer, picking fights and trying to heal from some severe war trauma with his bonded dragon, Thorn.
Their relationship is the heart and focus of this book.
Aside from those who had been present in Galbatorix's throne room at the end, no one knew about Murtagh’s role in Galbatorix's defeat, and no one cared. It is widely believed they had betrayed the Varden to Galbatorix during the war, so Murtagh and Thorn are outcasts, staying hidden and nameless.
Murtagh feels grief, anger, longing, resentment at his circumstances. Eragon escaped Murtagh’s fate and tragedy and had a life that could have been his. One filled with love, heroics, and known valour.
As a result of Galbatorix’s meddling, Thorn and Murtagh’s relationship isn’t as smooth as Eragon and Saphira's, and Murtagh didn't think it ever would be.
But that was all right. A dull thorn was no thorn at all.
Some parts did feel indulgent. For example, Murtagh composes random poetry verses to occupy his mind which Paolini includes to no greater effect.
I definitely preferred the first half and this was definitely a four star reading experience, but the second half felt repetitive, and I found myself skimming, not feeling anything of note was happening.
”They're just emotions. Emotions aren't you." He tapped Thorn's foreleg. "You can feel them, you can let them pass through you, but who you are doesn't change. Remember that.”
I am not sure I would be as interested in continuing reading in this universe unless there’s a bigger reveal or shift. Perhaps it’s better to leave the nostalgia for the past.
Bookstagram
November 20, 2023
Well, after Sleep in a Sea of Stars I wasn’t expecting much, and that’s exactly what I got. I wanted so badly for this book to be on par with Eldest, and it wasn’t by a long shot. The potential for this story to be excellent was there if Paolini had decided to write true to Murtagh’s character and allowed him to deal with the repercussions of his choices in the Inheritance Cycle rather than jumping right into another action adventure plot driven narrative.
The pacing of this story was abysmal. The first third of the book was okay, but then I was just bored. The descriptions and stuff characters were doing was repetitive and downright dumb. I literally fell asleep twice reading the back half. I almost never fall asleep reading, that’s how slow and thoroughly tedious this was.
The plot in this one washed out the importance of what everyone did in the Inheritance Cycle. It made Galby into a puppet, it made the magic almost worthless, and was just the wrong direction to take the story. And the side quests, while stupid in their setup were way more interesting than the main plot line, although I kept wondering when we’d get back to the main point as we wandered through them.
Character development was lacking. Murtagh wasn’t very recognizable as a character. Where was the anti-hero we all loved? Nope, we were reading about a different guy who happened to have the same name, but who was thoroughly a “good guy”. And his dragon was a sidekick rather than a partner. All other characters were fairly one-dimensional. Then to top it off, Murtagh was dense to the point I was raging at him. The Murtagh we knew in Eldest would not have been so stupid. Literally so dumb. I just can’t even comprehend some of his decisions or reactions. I’m still angry at his idiocy.
The villain could have been awesome. She was almost an interesting character, but the way Murtagh interacted with her…I was just so disappointed in both of them. Then it turns out the big baddy of the series is so world-endingly large and powerful (*cough* Cthulhu *cough*) that Murtagh literally has no chance of defeating it and so I no longer care. You’ve written yourself into a Deus ex Machina corner if I’ve ever seen one coming Paolini. This alone makes me feel like reading on would just be to see how badly Paolini is going to fail trying to set up the save. I haven’t re-read the last two in the Inheritance Cycle because of this same thing. It hurts to think how that series was resolved. I don’t think I can do that again with the nostalgia I feel for Alagaesia.
Some of the storytelling decisions that left me frustrated with the lack of justification: Murtagh needs a dragon scale for a thing, but instead of using the resources he has (ie Thorn) he resorts to grave robbing and put himself even further from redemption. What? And the thing he needs the scale for? The damn fish eats everything and attacks everything, so why did it have to be a dragon scale to begin with? Once he knew where the fish was, the scale hardly even came into play. And the thing he needed the fish for? Gilead is riddled with tunnels! Going through the barracks wasn’t the only way. We literally see another tunnel he could have used to get where he was going. And let’s not forget the man can be invisible! If he can make his dragon invisible he can make himself invisible. He could have just walked in and on through without being seen! Why did he have to do it the way the werecat said when he had plenty of resources to work with? And why did the werecat have to tell him how to do it anyway? Her job was to set him the quest and give him a deadline. He should be smart enough to figure out the rest on his own, or at least with Thorn’s help. So why did he do it the way he did? Because there was something in the office of the guy in charge Paolini wanted us to see that didn’t even have any baring on the story in any real way anyway. *shrieks into a pillow*. The use of the magic was…nope. That whole arc while entertaining was full of holes. And when it came to the main arc, *shakes head*, nevermind, I’m done. So dumb I feel like I wasted my life reading this book.
Redeeming factors and why this book gets two stars rather than being DNFed: Nostalgia was the biggest driver for finishing this book. And because of that I found a bare few things I could like. Murtagh and Thorn’s relationship and how they tried to support each other while there was still tension there was actually well done. I enjoyed their interactions when they were alone in the wilderness together. The sidequests, while set up with stunning stupidity, were actually entertaining to read. Murtagh’s choice at the very end of the book actually made me choke up a little bit, even though getting there was such a drag.
Will I read the next one? Probably not unless someone whose reading tastes I trust gives me a compelling argument to do so. Congratulations on finishing reading my rant if you’ve gotten this far. Ranting was not intended, but is what happens when potential is so thoroughly spoiled.
The pacing of this story was abysmal. The first third of the book was okay, but then I was just bored. The descriptions and stuff characters were doing was repetitive and downright dumb. I literally fell asleep twice reading the back half. I almost never fall asleep reading, that’s how slow and thoroughly tedious this was.
The plot in this one washed out the importance of what everyone did in the Inheritance Cycle. It made Galby into a puppet, it made the magic almost worthless, and was just the wrong direction to take the story. And the side quests, while stupid in their setup were way more interesting than the main plot line, although I kept wondering when we’d get back to the main point as we wandered through them.
Character development was lacking. Murtagh wasn’t very recognizable as a character. Where was the anti-hero we all loved? Nope, we were reading about a different guy who happened to have the same name, but who was thoroughly a “good guy”. And his dragon was a sidekick rather than a partner. All other characters were fairly one-dimensional. Then to top it off, Murtagh was dense to the point I was raging at him. The Murtagh we knew in Eldest would not have been so stupid. Literally so dumb. I just can’t even comprehend some of his decisions or reactions. I’m still angry at his idiocy.
The villain could have been awesome. She was almost an interesting character, but the way Murtagh interacted with her…I was just so disappointed in both of them. Then it turns out the big baddy of the series is so world-endingly large and powerful (*cough* Cthulhu *cough*) that Murtagh literally has no chance of defeating it and so I no longer care. You’ve written yourself into a Deus ex Machina corner if I’ve ever seen one coming Paolini. This alone makes me feel like reading on would just be to see how badly Paolini is going to fail trying to set up the save. I haven’t re-read the last two in the Inheritance Cycle because of this same thing. It hurts to think how that series was resolved. I don’t think I can do that again with the nostalgia I feel for Alagaesia.
Some of the storytelling decisions that left me frustrated with the lack of justification: Murtagh needs a dragon scale for a thing, but instead of using the resources he has (ie Thorn) he resorts to grave robbing and put himself even further from redemption. What? And the thing he needs the scale for? The damn fish eats everything and attacks everything, so why did it have to be a dragon scale to begin with? Once he knew where the fish was, the scale hardly even came into play. And the thing he needed the fish for? Gilead is riddled with tunnels! Going through the barracks wasn’t the only way. We literally see another tunnel he could have used to get where he was going. And let’s not forget the man can be invisible! If he can make his dragon invisible he can make himself invisible. He could have just walked in and on through without being seen! Why did he have to do it the way the werecat said when he had plenty of resources to work with? And why did the werecat have to tell him how to do it anyway? Her job was to set him the quest and give him a deadline. He should be smart enough to figure out the rest on his own, or at least with Thorn’s help. So why did he do it the way he did? Because there was something in the office of the guy in charge Paolini wanted us to see that didn’t even have any baring on the story in any real way anyway. *shrieks into a pillow*. The use of the magic was…nope. That whole arc while entertaining was full of holes. And when it came to the main arc, *shakes head*, nevermind, I’m done. So dumb I feel like I wasted my life reading this book.
Redeeming factors and why this book gets two stars rather than being DNFed: Nostalgia was the biggest driver for finishing this book. And because of that I found a bare few things I could like. Murtagh and Thorn’s relationship and how they tried to support each other while there was still tension there was actually well done. I enjoyed their interactions when they were alone in the wilderness together. The sidequests, while set up with stunning stupidity, were actually entertaining to read. Murtagh’s choice at the very end of the book actually made me choke up a little bit, even though getting there was such a drag.
Will I read the next one? Probably not unless someone whose reading tastes I trust gives me a compelling argument to do so. Congratulations on finishing reading my rant if you’ve gotten this far. Ranting was not intended, but is what happens when potential is so thoroughly spoiled.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 5, 2023
4.5
Murtagh by Christopher Paolini was everything my teenage self could have asked for and so much more than my younger self ever could have dreamed of. Murtagh was always one of my favourite characters in the original Inheritance Cycle and his was one of the stories I desperately wanted more of. To have this wish finally come true is honestly incredible and I was smitten by the deep dive into Murtagh’s mind right from the opening page.
What makes Murtagh such an interesting and moving character to me is how completely and utterly broken he is. He’s a character who has had one of the most difficult lots in life and he’s forced to deal with the fallout of being enslaved to Galbatorix and all of the horrible deeds he was forced to carry out. This has broken him down even further into a bitter, lonely man which is so heartbreaking to read. His one saving grace is his dragon, Thorn, who I was equally happy to see more of. The trauma that these two have to endure and try to overcome through this book is absolutely heartbreaking and it had me so devastated reading of the horrors that have them struggling to find their ways.
Murtagh and Thorn are searching for information on strange rocks that have appeared in the land, sulfurous and bringing with them something insidious. Though warned away from pursuing this knowledge, Murtagh is obsessed with finding out the origins of them and what could be behind their appearance as it seems to be a brand new threat that has come to Alagaseia. The book sees him and Thorn throughout many adventures as they seek answers and try to find where these strange rocks can be found, and the two are also forced to deal with their status as outcasts in a land that sees them only as traitors.
His journey for more information takes him on a quest to find the mysterious Bachel, a magic user whose name keeps popping up at every turn, and who supplied powerful amulets to people seemingly who follow her, and who attacked Murtagh. The more Murtagh and Thorn found out about this insidious location the unknown stones came from, the more ominous things seemed to grow in the story and I really loved the tone it set and how almost dark it made things feel. It was such a good match of the mindset both dragon and rider are stuck in upon the opening of this story and I felt it was such a well matched journey for these two.
It was both everything I’ve always wanted, and get so brutally hard to read about Murtagh and Thorn’s time enslaved to Galbatorix. They were so abused by the King and it messed with them both physically and mentally, and scars both visible and not are forcefully on display throughout this book. Every second that one or both of them were brought down by their mental injuries just broke my heart, and it happens frequently and painfully. Murtagh’s inner turmoil over feeling he is a bad person for all the bad deeds he was forced into shows how incredibly broken he is from his time enslaved and it’s so tough to read about his self-loathing for something he literally had no control over. And even harder is the fact that everyone who knows of his horrid deeds blames him just as much and condemns him for the horrors he partook in, which made me so sad for both Murtagh and Thorn considering they were quite literally incapable of not following Galbatorix’s orders. Suffice it to say it could be a very emotional read at times. And not just in the memories of the past. The present had its moments too, so basically I was an emotional wreck constantly.
But through all that is the bond between Murtagh and Thorn which is so pure despite everything the two have endured. It’s the most meaningful and beautiful part of this book and I couldn’t get enough of it. Even through the tough, heartbreaking moments they are forced to endure in the present in this book, their bond shines through all. There were multiple moments between them that just knocked the breath out of me with feeling (I’m not crying, you’re crying), particularly a moment at the end that had me more than a little teary. I may never emotionally recover from this book, honestly. I am definitely going to take some time to recover from this read, and it’s going to be on my mind for quite a while. Suffice it to say, if you loved the original series in this world, you absolutely need to read this latest installment. I for one and so incredibly excited to see more of this world going forward and I cannot wait until the next from Christopher Paolini in Alagaesia.
Murtagh by Christopher Paolini was everything my teenage self could have asked for and so much more than my younger self ever could have dreamed of. Murtagh was always one of my favourite characters in the original Inheritance Cycle and his was one of the stories I desperately wanted more of. To have this wish finally come true is honestly incredible and I was smitten by the deep dive into Murtagh’s mind right from the opening page.
What makes Murtagh such an interesting and moving character to me is how completely and utterly broken he is. He’s a character who has had one of the most difficult lots in life and he’s forced to deal with the fallout of being enslaved to Galbatorix and all of the horrible deeds he was forced to carry out. This has broken him down even further into a bitter, lonely man which is so heartbreaking to read. His one saving grace is his dragon, Thorn, who I was equally happy to see more of. The trauma that these two have to endure and try to overcome through this book is absolutely heartbreaking and it had me so devastated reading of the horrors that have them struggling to find their ways.
Murtagh and Thorn are searching for information on strange rocks that have appeared in the land, sulfurous and bringing with them something insidious. Though warned away from pursuing this knowledge, Murtagh is obsessed with finding out the origins of them and what could be behind their appearance as it seems to be a brand new threat that has come to Alagaseia. The book sees him and Thorn throughout many adventures as they seek answers and try to find where these strange rocks can be found, and the two are also forced to deal with their status as outcasts in a land that sees them only as traitors.
His journey for more information takes him on a quest to find the mysterious Bachel, a magic user whose name keeps popping up at every turn, and who supplied powerful amulets to people seemingly who follow her, and who attacked Murtagh. The more Murtagh and Thorn found out about this insidious location the unknown stones came from, the more ominous things seemed to grow in the story and I really loved the tone it set and how almost dark it made things feel. It was such a good match of the mindset both dragon and rider are stuck in upon the opening of this story and I felt it was such a well matched journey for these two.
It was both everything I’ve always wanted, and get so brutally hard to read about Murtagh and Thorn’s time enslaved to Galbatorix. They were so abused by the King and it messed with them both physically and mentally, and scars both visible and not are forcefully on display throughout this book. Every second that one or both of them were brought down by their mental injuries just broke my heart, and it happens frequently and painfully. Murtagh’s inner turmoil over feeling he is a bad person for all the bad deeds he was forced into shows how incredibly broken he is from his time enslaved and it’s so tough to read about his self-loathing for something he literally had no control over. And even harder is the fact that everyone who knows of his horrid deeds blames him just as much and condemns him for the horrors he partook in, which made me so sad for both Murtagh and Thorn considering they were quite literally incapable of not following Galbatorix’s orders. Suffice it to say it could be a very emotional read at times. And not just in the memories of the past. The present had its moments too, so basically I was an emotional wreck constantly.
But through all that is the bond between Murtagh and Thorn which is so pure despite everything the two have endured. It’s the most meaningful and beautiful part of this book and I couldn’t get enough of it. Even through the tough, heartbreaking moments they are forced to endure in the present in this book, their bond shines through all. There were multiple moments between them that just knocked the breath out of me with feeling (I’m not crying, you’re crying), particularly a moment at the end that had me more than a little teary. I may never emotionally recover from this book, honestly. I am definitely going to take some time to recover from this read, and it’s going to be on my mind for quite a while. Suffice it to say, if you loved the original series in this world, you absolutely need to read this latest installment. I for one and so incredibly excited to see more of this world going forward and I cannot wait until the next from Christopher Paolini in Alagaesia.
November 30, 2023
Murtagh is a whiny little bitch. The moping never ends.
November 8, 2023
AYO WE BACK BABY
November 13, 2023
This book was really disappointing. Paolini has some issues he has to work out. His symbolism is completely upside down and backwards. I was hoping that this wouldn't be like To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, which I could not even get through the first 100 pages of. There were parts of it that kept me engrossed, admittedly, but other parts... Just grossed. Bachel putting a man's bloody innards on an altar as a sacrifice to a big black dragon? Ugh! Gross. Who even is the audience this book is intended for? It's certainly not appropriate for younger kids, and most of us who read Eragon for the coming of age story of a regular kid who becomes a hero aren't necessarily going to be into this gory anti-hero emo fest.
I really wanted to like this book. But there was a LOT I had to skim through starting around 70% through the book. The graphic torture scenes were too much for this particular set of stories, and REPETITIVE. It's better and more effective to leave things implied. I could have lived the rest of my life without some of that imagery in my mind. I have read a lot of horror in my life and I'm just not into it anymore - if I wanted this dark, depressing, gory mess I'd have picked up my Stephen King collection. The violence in this book is all the wrong kind - it's disturbing torture porn in some places and then vengeance in others, which does nothing to redeem Murtagh as a person. I've recently read books where the protagonists were Assassins that were less graphic than this one.
Another annoying thing is the character says or thinks one thing, like "I hate unnecessary killing, violence is wrong, I'll never hurt children, I won't tolerate the innocent being hurt, etc., then he has a temper tantrum and turns around and stabs the poor young man who looks up to him as a hero - couldn't you have just knocked him out? Paolini turned Murtagh into a self-loathing bullied kid who keeps doing the wrong thing instead of breaking the cycle. No character growth at all. But then the narrative says again and again that Murtagh has a firm grip on who he is because of the abuse of Galbatorix.... He'll NEVER submit to that again... until 2 chapters later, he completely loses himself because of painstakingly described repeated torture, and kills a bunch of men, women, and CHILDREN, who he's solemnly sworn to himself to protect. Murtagh's grip on his identity is slippery at best, if it were ever there at all, contrary to what the book keeps saying. The story narrative is completely divorced from the character's actions, and in many cases, seems diametrically opposed to them.
We also don't really know how and to what extent Murtagh has actually sworn fealty to Bachel. Maybe the scene where he dreams of Galbatorix torturing Thorn and swears fealty was a trick of Bachel to get him to swear fealty..??? Or whether he just looses his grip on himself because of the weird ritual torture? Then one day it seems like he just suddenly knows who he is again, Bachel has stopped torturing him because he's been following her around like a lap dog for an unspecified amount of time, only vaguely indifferent to the fact that he's disconnected from Thorn and all he can sense is that Thorn is being abused and he doesn't even react. So after this confusing mess, he spends 3 days working the drugs out of his system, and somehow Thorn and their Urgal friend, both still heavily drugged, manage to snap out of it and use magic as well at just the right moment to prevent Murtagh from committing MORE senseless violence, I guess? Where was the gem the entire time Bachel was stripping him naked and tearing strips off him in her dragon costume? Why isn't it with all the rest of his affects she took? How was it suddenly in his cloak?
Anyway, they finally unleash the gem, but of course, the violence can't stop there. You have to have the epic battle with the childhood bully, and the tacky one liner when the bully calls him a bastard with his dying breath and all he can think to say is "Eragon was the bastard. Not me." OK but wasn't this series about Eragon at first? Murtagh's feelings about Eragon and a lot of our other favorite characters from earlier in the series make sense but the narrative would be more effective from a first person perspective. The way it's currently written, it seems like the narrator just can't decide how he feels about the others.
Let's also add that magic, and the ancient language, are suddenly super unimportant (except where that doesn't match up with previous events, then it worked for some reason) and we suddenly find out Murtagh is basically untrained in magic, even though he seemed pretty damned adept in book 4... Wait, what??!
I could go on, but I don't want to keep complaining. I'm sure Paolini put a lot of effort into this. I recently reread the Inheritance cycle and found that I felt the same frustration with book 4 this go around as well. As Paolini gets older, I can't help but think his writing increasingly reflects one of those angry former Protestant atheists who is shackled to the corpse of a god he supposedly doesn't believe in. I think that often taints the perspective of his protagonists to the point of disrupting the plot. Once he comes to terms with whatever religious background he was raised with, it will allow him to see a lot of the things he's overlooking and misrepresenting symbolically in his stories.
I really wanted to like this book. But there was a LOT I had to skim through starting around 70% through the book. The graphic torture scenes were too much for this particular set of stories, and REPETITIVE. It's better and more effective to leave things implied. I could have lived the rest of my life without some of that imagery in my mind. I have read a lot of horror in my life and I'm just not into it anymore - if I wanted this dark, depressing, gory mess I'd have picked up my Stephen King collection. The violence in this book is all the wrong kind - it's disturbing torture porn in some places and then vengeance in others, which does nothing to redeem Murtagh as a person. I've recently read books where the protagonists were Assassins that were less graphic than this one.
Another annoying thing is the character says or thinks one thing, like "I hate unnecessary killing, violence is wrong, I'll never hurt children, I won't tolerate the innocent being hurt, etc., then he has a temper tantrum and turns around and stabs the poor young man who looks up to him as a hero - couldn't you have just knocked him out? Paolini turned Murtagh into a self-loathing bullied kid who keeps doing the wrong thing instead of breaking the cycle. No character growth at all. But then the narrative says again and again that Murtagh has a firm grip on who he is because of the abuse of Galbatorix.... He'll NEVER submit to that again... until 2 chapters later, he completely loses himself because of painstakingly described repeated torture, and kills a bunch of men, women, and CHILDREN, who he's solemnly sworn to himself to protect. Murtagh's grip on his identity is slippery at best, if it were ever there at all, contrary to what the book keeps saying. The story narrative is completely divorced from the character's actions, and in many cases, seems diametrically opposed to them.
We also don't really know how and to what extent Murtagh has actually sworn fealty to Bachel. Maybe the scene where he dreams of Galbatorix torturing Thorn and swears fealty was a trick of Bachel to get him to swear fealty..??? Or whether he just looses his grip on himself because of the weird ritual torture? Then one day it seems like he just suddenly knows who he is again, Bachel has stopped torturing him because he's been following her around like a lap dog for an unspecified amount of time, only vaguely indifferent to the fact that he's disconnected from Thorn and all he can sense is that Thorn is being abused and he doesn't even react. So after this confusing mess, he spends 3 days working the drugs out of his system, and somehow Thorn and their Urgal friend, both still heavily drugged, manage to snap out of it and use magic as well at just the right moment to prevent Murtagh from committing MORE senseless violence, I guess? Where was the gem the entire time Bachel was stripping him naked and tearing strips off him in her dragon costume? Why isn't it with all the rest of his affects she took? How was it suddenly in his cloak?
Anyway, they finally unleash the gem, but of course, the violence can't stop there. You have to have the epic battle with the childhood bully, and the tacky one liner when the bully calls him a bastard with his dying breath and all he can think to say is "Eragon was the bastard. Not me." OK but wasn't this series about Eragon at first? Murtagh's feelings about Eragon and a lot of our other favorite characters from earlier in the series make sense but the narrative would be more effective from a first person perspective. The way it's currently written, it seems like the narrator just can't decide how he feels about the others.
Let's also add that magic, and the ancient language, are suddenly super unimportant (except where that doesn't match up with previous events, then it worked for some reason) and we suddenly find out Murtagh is basically untrained in magic, even though he seemed pretty damned adept in book 4... Wait, what??!
I could go on, but I don't want to keep complaining. I'm sure Paolini put a lot of effort into this. I recently reread the Inheritance cycle and found that I felt the same frustration with book 4 this go around as well. As Paolini gets older, I can't help but think his writing increasingly reflects one of those angry former Protestant atheists who is shackled to the corpse of a god he supposedly doesn't believe in. I think that often taints the perspective of his protagonists to the point of disrupting the plot. Once he comes to terms with whatever religious background he was raised with, it will allow him to see a lot of the things he's overlooking and misrepresenting symbolically in his stories.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 4, 2024
This is book five of The Inheritance Cycle, however it is not the book five that the author previously had in mind as one day coming out (aka hell yeah there’s still more). This also features the same story shown in The Fork, just from Murtagh’s perspective.
It’s only been a year since the end of the fourth book, and yet so much has happened and so many things are going on. Murtagh and Thorn are desperately searching for a path forward, in desperate need of figuring out who they are without the traumatic hand of Galbatorix overseeing them. Neither are sure if word has spread of their hand in bringing about the king’s end, so they travel on the very outskirts of society, camping out at night and constantly traveling. Murtagh keeps up his false identity we met in The Fork, but he just can’t help getting involved when things happen. This need, this desire to be good, this curiosity, is the impetus for everything that follows.
Paolini really pulled back the curtain with this one. Murtagh was the jaded, traumatized bad boy long before it was cool. And he doesn’t shy away from telling the reader just how horrible his time at Urû'baen was. From the memories of him as a child, living under the temperamental (at best) Morzan, to being bullied and overshadowed during court life, to his captivity and subsequent torture with Thorn. All while they were forced under oath. And don’t forget that Murtagh is only twenty at the end of the series! They really are just damaged boys. Beat down and trapped over and over again.
Sadly, for most of this new novel, that truth doesn’t change. Perhaps that’s just their lot in life (and Paolini does enjoy torturing us readers too). I will say again, kind of like my recently re-shared ‘review’ of Inheritance and the series in general, there was a part in this new one that involves a fish that had me shaking my head and wondering why I was reading about it. But again, the author reels it in and by the end you’re left not feeling like you’ve had enough. Each trial takes Murtagh and Thorn back through something that triggers a trauma, reliving the worst of their lives. And each time they must adapt, persevere, and fight back. They consistently claw their way out of the trouble they’ve walked into, and both end up way more dynamic for it.
Murtagh’s curiosity leads them down a path that involves a witch and her unruly cult. More than once they question if they should contact Nasuada, Eragon, or Arya so that they aren’t alone. Part anti-hero rashness, and part not knowing if they’ll be accepted by the others, they push on alone. This does not go well for them. There is even a part where Murtagh pushes a healing charm to Thorn’s nose that I could feel actual tears brewing. This witch makes a lot of heavy claims. Whether or not she’s telling the truth, or if those things come to pass, we may get to experience some things that make us say, “Galbatorix who?”
I really enjoyed that Paolini only has Murtagh use a handful of spells in the ancient language. He tends to get whatever he needs done, somehow, but it’s pointed out how he has quite large gaps in his education (unlike Eragon) and I felt like this was actually one of the author’s subtle ways of showing it. I feel like this book is half “Eragon ain’t the only dragon rider, I don’t need him,” and half “oh damn, we really should have called Eragon.” It’s hard to be the older brother.
I think it’s obvious that Paolini has clearly grown and learned a lot. The writing is powerful and each word is packed with meaning. Not only are his characters growing, but he has as well. His style still feels well within the world of Alagaësia, however I really wouldn’t tag this one as young adult at all. The themes are dark, the descriptions are brutal, and they have grown out of adolescence themselves. This was absolutely incredible, and I’m so excited that he’s stated he’s not running out of ideas anytime soon. Personally a 5/5*
https://fanfiaddict.com/review-murtag...
It’s only been a year since the end of the fourth book, and yet so much has happened and so many things are going on. Murtagh and Thorn are desperately searching for a path forward, in desperate need of figuring out who they are without the traumatic hand of Galbatorix overseeing them. Neither are sure if word has spread of their hand in bringing about the king’s end, so they travel on the very outskirts of society, camping out at night and constantly traveling. Murtagh keeps up his false identity we met in The Fork, but he just can’t help getting involved when things happen. This need, this desire to be good, this curiosity, is the impetus for everything that follows.
Paolini really pulled back the curtain with this one. Murtagh was the jaded, traumatized bad boy long before it was cool. And he doesn’t shy away from telling the reader just how horrible his time at Urû'baen was. From the memories of him as a child, living under the temperamental (at best) Morzan, to being bullied and overshadowed during court life, to his captivity and subsequent torture with Thorn. All while they were forced under oath. And don’t forget that Murtagh is only twenty at the end of the series! They really are just damaged boys. Beat down and trapped over and over again.
Sadly, for most of this new novel, that truth doesn’t change. Perhaps that’s just their lot in life (and Paolini does enjoy torturing us readers too). I will say again, kind of like my recently re-shared ‘review’ of Inheritance and the series in general, there was a part in this new one that involves a fish that had me shaking my head and wondering why I was reading about it. But again, the author reels it in and by the end you’re left not feeling like you’ve had enough. Each trial takes Murtagh and Thorn back through something that triggers a trauma, reliving the worst of their lives. And each time they must adapt, persevere, and fight back. They consistently claw their way out of the trouble they’ve walked into, and both end up way more dynamic for it.
Murtagh’s curiosity leads them down a path that involves a witch and her unruly cult. More than once they question if they should contact Nasuada, Eragon, or Arya so that they aren’t alone. Part anti-hero rashness, and part not knowing if they’ll be accepted by the others, they push on alone. This does not go well for them. There is even a part where Murtagh pushes a healing charm to Thorn’s nose that I could feel actual tears brewing. This witch makes a lot of heavy claims. Whether or not she’s telling the truth, or if those things come to pass, we may get to experience some things that make us say, “Galbatorix who?”
I really enjoyed that Paolini only has Murtagh use a handful of spells in the ancient language. He tends to get whatever he needs done, somehow, but it’s pointed out how he has quite large gaps in his education (unlike Eragon) and I felt like this was actually one of the author’s subtle ways of showing it. I feel like this book is half “Eragon ain’t the only dragon rider, I don’t need him,” and half “oh damn, we really should have called Eragon.” It’s hard to be the older brother.
I think it’s obvious that Paolini has clearly grown and learned a lot. The writing is powerful and each word is packed with meaning. Not only are his characters growing, but he has as well. His style still feels well within the world of Alagaësia, however I really wouldn’t tag this one as young adult at all. The themes are dark, the descriptions are brutal, and they have grown out of adolescence themselves. This was absolutely incredible, and I’m so excited that he’s stated he’s not running out of ideas anytime soon. Personally a 5/5*
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Shelved as 'wishlist'
March 13, 2023i'm a in a very dark place right now going through some heavy stuff but man you know what? life may be good after all because this book exists
December 24, 2023
Thirteen years later, Christopher Paolini has decided to bring us back to Alagaësia and the world of Eragon. This time, we follow anti-hero and Eragon’s half-brother, Murtagh, and his dragon Thorn, after the conclusion of Inheritance. Without feeling like he has a place to belong and talks of his misdeeds and loyalty to Galbatorix (though readers know the truth), Murtagh feels ostracized but is still determined to be in service to the queen. He gets his chance when strange amulets and sulfurous rocks show up during a fight. Murtagh and Thorn go off seeking answers that lead them on wild adventures like giant fish hunting, running through catacombs and eventually to a weird cult led by a powerful half-elf, half-human witch named Bachelor. Here is where the second half the book takes place and we learn much from Bachel about the world, expanding it beyond our previously conceived notions. There is a great power and evil at hand than the previously defeated Galbatorix, he was just a pawn.
This book is awesome! First, I have been so intrigued by Murtagh so it was nice to spend some time with him and get to know both he and Thorn better. Their story is a really sad one, my heart was ripped over for poor baby Thorn! I loved discussing thoughts and theories with friends, and looking online at fan theories, about what was revealed in this installment. This world just got bigger! Like giant black slumbering ancient dragon bigger! And I cannot wait to see where Paolini takes us on this journey because it is definitely not over!
This book is awesome! First, I have been so intrigued by Murtagh so it was nice to spend some time with him and get to know both he and Thorn better. Their story is a really sad one, my heart was ripped over for poor baby Thorn! I loved discussing thoughts and theories with friends, and looking online at fan theories, about what was revealed in this installment. This world just got bigger! Like giant black slumbering ancient dragon bigger! And I cannot wait to see where Paolini takes us on this journey because it is definitely not over!
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