I have to say, this series has gone downhill. To me, the first book was the best. This last one being the worst. Three years ago, I found Eragon on my brother's shelf, read the back and decided to read it. I never gave the book back. I went to my local library and got the next two books. I liked Eldest pretty well, not as much as Eragon, the action kept me going. But the book was so long that it just kept going. It felt repetitive, and boring. By the time I got around to reading Brisingr, I had almost given up hope of this series being on to complete on my bookshelf. It caught my attention to start out with. Then gradually I felt my mind losing interest. But this one was the last straw.
We start out in the middle of the siege of a major city. Within the first hundred pages, we have two more sieges. Then about page 300, the length kicks in. The repetition lulls the mind and leaves you wondering why you're even reading it. And the last hundred pages, seem like they were wasted. If he's planning on making a spin-off or continuing the story, it'd be okay, because it seems like he's setting up a new plot line. He could've just left the book off after they killed the king, and let Murtagh go. But no, he had to go on and on for another hundred pages.
And then there's the writing itself. It's twisted and wordy. It takes him an entire page to say something he could say in a single sentence. He dances around ideas, as if he's searching fro a word, can't find one and settles for one less appropriate for the circumstances. I understand that he's trying to make it sound more unique and old, but really? Can't you make it a little easier to understand?
Don't even get me started on the characters. They're constantly changing. I get that, because people change, but sometimes he went to the extreme. Murtagh, if you told me while I was reading the first book, that he would fall in love with Nasuada, I would've fallen over laughing. The thought is inconceivable! Even now, after I've read the book.
I think he tried to tie up all the lose ends he created in the first three books. Which is what made the book so long. And I hate that! I love lose ends. I read books partly for the story, partly for the opportunity to create my own little world within that world. Fan fiction is a great way to do that. But he basically to away any abilty to do that, because he didn't want any lose ends. He even brought back Katrina's father for crying out loud! I mean, really?
The thing is, though, if you look a little deeper, you'll see things that mean something completely different than they do in the concrete sense. to me, the dragons symbolize the belief in something greater than yourself. Paolini touches on that at some points in the series, and I think that's a good thing. Throughout the series, magic is used for good, and for bad. But the magic itself is not what makes the deed evil. It is the intentions. When the dragon rider killed himself in the home of the Dragon Riders, he destroyed the entire area, leaving hte island desolate, and uninhabitable. But he ensured that the secret of the eggs was safe. He represents courage, I think but he could alse represent cowardice. His dragon had died about a month earlier, and he was all too willing to die to join him. He didn't want to live without his dragon. To some, that would be considered loyalty, but to me, that's considered an escape from the pain.
All in all, as a story, I enjoyed it. It was a good book and a great conclusion to the series. But as a novel, it was sloppy and far below my expectations. And my expectations were allready low in the first place. And it took far too long to be released.
Half Summer faery princess, half human, Meghan has never fit in anywhere. Deserted by the Winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner to the Winter faery queen. As war looms between Summer and Winter, Meghan knows that the real danger comes from the Iron fey—ironbound faeries that only she and her absent prince have seen. But no one believes her.
