Brisingr - Christopher Paolini

This third installment of what was originally supposed to be the Inheritance Trilogy, but I suppose now is a quadrilogy, is an adequate continuation of an excellent series. In Brisingr, Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, find themselves tangled in a web of promises and vows that they are struggling to keep. Eragon must help his cousin free his betrothed, help the Varden march against the evil king Galbatorix, all while continuing their training and increasing their strength so that they may defeat the newly emerged dragon rider and slave of Galbatorix, Murtagh and his dragon, Thorn. This is a really good book with a few really significant problems. To begin with, the Inheritance series was to originally only contain three books, but while writing it, Paolini realized that Brisingr was getting so long, it was better to make the final installment two novels. Upon learning this, I was by no means distraught. Much like most fantasy readers, I am always disappointed when a series I enjoy ends. However, after reading Brisingr, a 700+ page book, it seems a little ridiculous to me that Paolini required a fourth book. Paolini writes Brisingr similar to the way in which Dickens wrote, and I do not mean that as a compliment. He is writing as though he is getting paid by the word. He spends entire pages going into minute detail about things that are completely irrelevant to the story, which makes the book drag far longer than it needed to. If not for this, what has hopefully turned into only two 700 page books probably could have been just one. Second, at times, Paolini makes the relationship between Eragon and Saphira too mushy, more than seems realistic, even for a fantasy novel. I do not want to use any unfortunate slang, but their relationship, at times, verges on being gay. These more than frequent passages are almost embarrassing to read. Finally, Paolini uses the term 'waking dreams' copiously in Brisingr, and I do not think that he is using it correctly. Every time Eragon wakes up or falls asleep, Paolini says that Eragon is leaving or entering his 'waking dreams', i.e. the dreams he has when he is asleep. I may be wrong, but the term waking dreams to me implies dreams one has while awake, or possibly one's aspirations, but not their dreams at night. Even if he is using the term correctly, using it over and over and over again is annoying. All that said, I did enjoy Brisingr and look forward to what I hope is the final installment of the Inheritance series. I had a friend like Paolini in high school, he has great ideas, but his writing is not all that impressive. Compared to the second book, and especially the first in the series, Brisingr is not that great, but I am happy that I read it, and may someday read it to my children. This book, with a little tweaking, could have been great, but as it is, I am forced to give Brisingr only 2 and a half stars.

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