Search - Brisingr (Can.)

Once I start a series of books, I remain faithfully stubborn in my pursuit to see the series to its full conclusion. However, if The Inheritance Trilogy-turned-Cycle was any longer than the proposed four book length, I might have to break my own cycle and give it up.

This was an incredibly long book filled with a gratuitous amount of meaningless filler and pointless fluff. The story meanders a great deal. By the end of the book you realize that the story ends up not all that far from where it started.

One issue I have with this book is its identity crisis. I think that it is far too long and tedious for children to plow through, and yet not grown-up enough for adults to truly enjoy. Paolini's efforts to delve deeply into philosophy, morality, ethics, politics, and love mostly fall flat. I am normally not aware of an author as I read a book, but I kept being reminded of the author in this book. I kept thinking about how he was writing this story through the ignorance of observation and not from the wisdom of his own experiences. In short, I found most of the "deeper" parts relatively unbelievable.

I am also getting tired of Eragon. Instead of believing that he is this incredibly powerful warrior and magician that everyone claims him to be, I find him weak-willed and something of a prolific whiner. In this book I found Roran to be more of a true hero and more worthy of attention. He is also far less annoying.

The book is entertaining enough and did contain some interesting elements. I cannot say that I hated it, but I cannot in good conscience recommend it to anyone not yet invested in the series. This is not another Lord of the Rings. As long as everyone remembers that (Paolini most of all) then people should be able to enjoy it for what it actually is...a children's book playing dress-up as a sweeping epic of the ages for adults and connoisseurs of epic fantasy.