Brisingr

The Low Down

Title: Brisingr
Author: Christopher Paolini
Publisher: Knopf
Date: 2008
Main Components: War, Fantasy and Intense Dragon Battles! YESS!

Interesting Detail: The dragon on the cover is named Glaedr and Paolini wrote the first book to this series at age 15.

The third book in the Inheritance Trilogy is Brisingr, written by Christopher Paolini. This book was to be the third and final book but after realising how tremendously long it was turning out to be, Paolini decided to cut it into two. What was originally a trilogy, is now being called the Inheritance Cycle. Brisingr is the continuation of Eragon and his dragon Saphira’s story about their quest to end Galbatorix’s reign of terror against the people of Alagaesia. Now, don’t worry if you have a hard time pronouncing these names like Microsoft word is, man there are red underlines everywhere, because as always there is a very helpful pronunciation guide at the back of the book. Paolini definitely delivered with this book. It was packed full of intense action, descriptions that keep you glued to the page, twists and turns that keep you guessing and of course as with all books that have war in them, emotionally distressing scenes that you can’t help but tear up at. This book had its reader’s waiting a very long time for its release. Personally, I didn’t want to read the other two books over again just so I could remember what happened. Have no fear though, for right smack in the beginning of the book is a synopsis of Eragon and Eldest, covering all the important events that happened, something I greatly appreciated.

This 748 page book was filled with excitement. It may possibly be better than the first two books in the series; however, I may not be the best judge of that as I read those books years ago. As great as this book was, there was a lull in it. This happened in the middle of the book and its reason was because Paolini went into too much detail of Dwarvish politics. He took it upon himself to name all the Dwarvish royalty and many details about them. Now, for a fan that was obsessed with knowing every detail possible, this was fine, but it did force me to scan through those pages as they were incredibly dull. But, for a 748 page book to only have a few pages that are boring, that is quite a feat.

There are possibly only two words to describe this book, emotionally distressing. I must have gone through every emotion possible during this book. The suspense in some scenes is so intense I found myself clenching the book. At one point, I will not say which in case you decide the read the book, I actually had to close the book to get my thoughts and emotions in order before I could continue. Paolini did an excellent job of describing the scenery, the action and the emotions Eragon was going through without over-doing it (well, except for the Dwarvish politics description.)

I personally cannot wait for the fourth book but I do agree with Paolini’s decision to cut the book in half. I cannot imagine the book twice as thick and I think that if it was I would get a little tired of the story. There is only so much of one book you can take before you need a break. Liane Vaz, a fellow Inheritance Cycle enthusiast, has this to say, "This was a captivating, if super-long, book. I can understand why Brisingr is so huge, as Paolini takes his time describing events and scenery in detail. This is, for the most part, a good thing. But I didn't like how Paolini went extreme detail with dwarvish politics."

Overall, I loved it and would recommend the whole series as I can’t just recommend this one since you would have difficulty connecting with the characters without all the background information the other two books provide.

I rate this book 4.5 late nights out of 5.

I was unable to give this book a full score because if I had read that one scene of politics at night then I would have found myself waking up the next morning with the details of Dwarvish politics imprinted onto my forehead.

Other Fancy Tidbits
Price: $32.00 (It is hardcover, what do you expect? Worth every dollar)
Other book by Christopher Paolini: Eragon, Eldest
Website: www.alagaesia.com

Christopher Paolini wrote Eragon at age 15 when finished high school after being homeschooled all his life. At age 19 he became a New York Times bestselling author and currently resides in Montana, where the landscape provides inspiration for his descriptions of Alagaesia.