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Brisingr (Inheritance, Book 3) |  | Author: Christopher Paolini
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Category: Book
List Price: $27.50
Buy Used: $5.20
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New (93) Used (123) Collectible (31) from $5.20
Seller: curtsbooks
Rating:  661 reviews
Sales Rank: 2613
Media: Hardcover
Edition: First Edition
Reading Level: Young Adult
Pages: 763
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 2
ISBN: 0375826726
EAN: 9780375826726
ASIN: 0375826726
Publication Date: September 20, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| • | ISBN13: 9780375826726 | | • | Condition: NEW | | • | Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark. |
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Product Description
OATHS SWORN . . . loyalties tested . . . forces collide.
Following the colossal battle against the Empire’s warriors on the Burning Plains, Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, have narrowly escaped with their lives. Still there is more at hand for the Rider and his dragon, as Eragon finds himself bound by a tangle of promises he may not be able to keep.
First is Eragon’s oath to his cousin Roran: to help rescue Roran’s beloved, Katrina, from King Galbatorix’s clutches. But Eragon owes his loyalty to others, too. The Varden are in desperate need of his talents and strength—as are the elves and dwarves. When unrest claims the rebels and danger strikes from every corner, Eragon must make choices— choices that take him across the Empire and beyond, choices that may lead to unimagined sacrifice.
Eragon is the greatest hope to rid the land of tyranny. Can this once-simple farm boy unite the rebel forces and defeat the king?
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 661
 This book was horrible March 6, 2010
Elizabeth A. Fager
I read eragon a couple of years ago and remember liking it. Brisinger sucks. It is so unrealistic in its desperation to be epic, that it just fails. At one point this farmer kills like 400 enemy soldiers by himself or something. they all get in a nice neat line and he kills them over the course of a half a day? said the bodies stacked up like 20 feet. Absolutely disgusting after having read the lord of the rings. He steals almost all his ideas out of LOTR anyways and then distorts them horribly. I couldn't finish this book.
 Currntly, 244 people in America are very STUPID!! March 6, 2010
Cam McGown
ITS NOTHING LIKE STARWARS WHERE THE FREAKIN' PICKLE DID ANYONE PICK UP THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(it is a little bit like lord of the rings BUT ITS NOT COPIED)This is one of the best books in the world ANYONE WHO SAID OTHERWISE IS MY ENEMY!!!!!!!!!!!! Such as the 244 people that voted 3 stars or under (right now)
wow February 25, 2010
this is the best book ever! cant wait til` the 4th!!
 So dissapointing I haven't even bought it February 24, 2010
nefer ib
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I would like to say I enjoyed Brisingr, or that I bought "The Deluxe Edition" and eagerly scanned for the places in which an incredibly awesome thing happened, but I can't. I looked at "Brisingr" at my local bookstore, and could not even find a part that interested me.
No matter how rich the "setting" of the story is, a book (or series of books, in this case) must have STRONG CHARACTERS. Any great story you will always view it through the eyes of the characters. If you look at any great piece of "storytelling" (because that is essentially what the written work is, the telling of a story), like Tolkien's, McCaffrey's, Orson Scott Card with "Ender's Game", or even movies such as "The Matrix Trilogy", the characters draw you in, not the world in which it takes place. The richness of the world that you have created takes place through the "main" character's eyes
When I first saw "The Matrix" I knew that it would be interesting, because of the world created by the Wachowski brothers, but when Trinity looked at the garbage truck pulled up so it would crush the phone booth (and they had already established the "men in suits" are the "bad guys"; the woman in black leather is the a "good guy"), and she ran toward the phone booth at the same time the truck was set to crush the booth, I sat up in my chair and went, "Whow". At that moment (less than ten minutes into) the "story" hooked me, through the characters eyes, and drew me in to such a place that i would rent the movie for two months, buy a DVD player so i could get it on DVD, and watch it over and over again, and go see the two sequels back-to-back (so I wouldn't miss a thing.
Same thing when I was in the 6th grade, and we read "Dragonsong" by McCaffrey. The place is unique, but the "story" was captivating because you saw the world of Pern through Menolly's eyes, and McCaffrey only took the first 2 pages to hook you. As a result of that, I went out (well, checked out of the library) not only "Dragonsinger" and "Dragondrums, but the three books which were for adults. The stories were so vivid in my mind's eye, because of the characters, that I remembered the plot for each of those books 20 years after having read them. The Harper Hall trilogy I bought for my son as soon as he was old enough to read them. Not only that, but they are falling apart because I have read them so many times.
That's what great stories do. They draw you in with the characters and let you see the world through their eyes. Paoloni did that quite successfully in "Eragon", but in "Eldest" and especially "Brisingr" the characters failed and thus everything about the world of Alagaesia failed.
The main character, Eragon, doesn't develop at all. That he stays the same is incredibly disappointing because the first of the series, "Eragon", introduced us to a boy who was thrust into a position he wasn't prepared for. I thought the rest of the series would show him "growing up" and becoming a man.
Unfortunately, that never happens. Eragon remains a "teenage" punk who never grows up, despite his responsibilities. Saphira, who I have to say as a dragon she was unique, even though the part where she hatches is just a rip-off of Anne McCaffrey's books. I thought one scene in the horrible movie "Eragon" that I did enjoy was Saphira's hatching where she catches a rat, instead of Eragon feeding her. Instead that part was so unlike Saphira that it stood out. Otherwise, Saphira is actually a well-rounded character, unlike her Rider. So, why did she pick him in the first place?
When you have a main character like Eragon, he should grow and change -- especially in relation to Saphira. The best book I have read that has a relationship between a dragon and his rider is "The White Dragon" by McCaffrey. Much changed over the course of the book that Pern became a rich backdrop for exploring the relationship between Jaxom and Ruth, who both went through the course of less than a year with dramatic changes in both of them. The "boy" who started at the beginning of the story was in no way, shape or form to take over as Lord Holder of Ruatha, yet by the end of the book, he grew and changed so much that him going back to Ruatha to assume Lordship seemed inevitable, and you were cheering your guts out at the end of the book.
Those are stories where the action takes place on a distant planet, but it becomes a rich world where the characters grow and change; the emphasis is on the characters.
"Brisingr" also disappoints in relation to Arya, previously a strong and independent character, who is as foreign to Eragon as anyone would get. In the first book, which is by far the best of the series, Arya is introduced as a strong character, but independent and "strange" as the wind; which means Eragon falls for her, but she obviously will not be dominated, even while tortured and set to take her own life before going before Galbatorix. In "Eldest" she continues to be a strong character, while subtly allowing the reader seeing her through Eragon's eyes, while it is revealed that her past is surprisingly a stark contrast to how Eragon previously viewed her. It's all the things Arya doesn't say which are the real beauty of her character. In "Brisingr", Arya "became more human". In fact, except for the flying, magical boat she makes, just takes an easy way out of dealing with her past and becomes a "human" who makes light of her past around the campfire. What a cop-out that turned out to be. Eh, let's just make her "human", forget the past so she can fall in love with a boy who still has a "crush" on her, rather than layered emotion that should be present when she decides to go after him in the first part of the book.
Nasuada "changes" for no reason. All of the sudden she becomes someone who you used to root for, yet there is no defining moment as a cause for the change. The Behavior Analysis Unit of the FBI alwayd looks for a "stressor", usually the death of a loved one, or something else dramatic that once they know what it is, that's the point where there's a "turning point" that leads to them quickly narrowing their search, and becoming pro-active in their pursuit of the un-sub instead of being reactive up until that point. Nasuada never encountered such a thing, and the battle of cutting herself really became a non-factor. Why would she even have to do this with some previously unknown person who shows up out of nowhere? The more likely events would have to be something more along the lines of her being in love with Murtagh, and "snapping" because of what Eragon has to do to Murtagh. Nasuada could be the only person who truly believes there is good inside him.
That brings me to another problem with "Brisingr" -- Murtagh has become a shallow enemy whose only appearance is to show up and be a bad guy. He's just a paper cut-out of what could have been a rich character.
Galbatorix -- he is nothing more than another one-dimensional bad guy. Look, in our own history (I mean planet Earth) the "bad guys" who truly caused problems for everyone, like Hitler, Stalin, and Mengala -- actually believed they weren't doing bad things, they were "saving" parts of the human race that "deserved" to be saved. In their minds, they were the "good guys". I thought that Murtagh believed in the system of government that Galbatorix had set up, even though he recognized Galbatorix was evil. Again, another idea which could have been great, except it was discarded by the end of "Brisingr", replaced by another cardboard cut-out named "Galbatorix", who became just a plot device with no more character, just a nondescript bad guy.
In fact, this is the problem I have with "The Inheritance Cycle". The characters who are really interesting are characters who were minor in nature, but had more development than the main characters did. okay, Brom was a main character in Book 1, but the plot point where he is revealed to be Eragon's father kind of takes all that and flushes it down the toilet. Oh, of course Brom is Eragon's father. Silly me, I didn't think that Brom acted in a way a father should treat his son, even when they traveled together for months. It would have been more interesting if Brom "knew" Eragon's father, and watched over him in Carvarhall as a debt of love towards the other man.
Angela and Solembum are two characters who I always enjoyed, yet their inclusion wasn't part of the original plan. It would have been much better finding out about the werecats, their history and origins rather than waste time with 200+ waste of pages on their "politics". I found Jeod Longshanks, again, written as a minor character more interesting than Roran. In "Eldest" I skipped the parts with Roran until he ran into Jeod.
Roran became an idiotic nightmare. How in the world did he kill so many enemy soldiers with no more than his own "brute strength. Paolini, take a note, nobody kills that many soldiers by themselves without magic. It's impossible. And then to get whipped by Nasuada for disobeying his "commanding officer". Geez, after seeing the way that Ajihad dealt with Orik, seemingly "punishing" him by giving him the best assignment that he thought was swell, but which couldn't be challenged by the Twins, because it was "punishment". Again, Nasuada comes across as a totally different character.
When you start out and introduce your main characters, you are setting up certain parameters for that character. As the story progresses, the characters change for better or for worse, depending on what happens to them. If Nasuada is laer on going to become a problem for the Varden, then you must show why in the previous narrative that you set up for the character all along. For instance, Nasuada could have felt "inadequate" to lead the Varden, and so therefore, all the decisions she makes turn out well, then that would open the door for her to get an inflated 'ego'. Then we would view Nasuada's "mistakes" in leading the Varden as something that naturally flowed from Nasuada "misreading" her success as something that became all about her.
Of the elves, Rhunon is one of the best yet she's a "minor" character. Islanzadi, Oromis and Glaedr are interesting characters, particularly how Islanzadi relates to Arya and Oromis/Glaedr relate to Eragon/Saphira. Instead we get 200+ pages of the dwarf's political infighting. Who cares about the dwarves? Especially since the better developed race; the one you really wanted to know about was the elves.
I am sorry to say that I don't recommend "Brisingr", even for those who loved the first two books. Read 'Percy Jackson & the Olympans' series. The technical aspect of writing style is woeful, but Rick Riordan does such a great job of drawing you in to Percy's world the technical aspects of writing become totally ancillary to what will draw you in, Percy Jackson and the characters he meets going along the way of his journey.
This is coming from someone who can read anything at a PhD level, yet talking about books that are written at a 5th grade level, the "Percy Jackson" series, to the 8th grade book "The Inheritance Cycle" (I would not recommend Paloni's work to anyone at the 9th grade level on).
I gave "Brisngr" 1 star out of 5, and that's only because you can't rate a 'half-a-star'. I would rate "Brisingr" as a 1/2 star out of 5.
 Creates a riveting and unique relationship February 16, 2010
Pamela J. Bolton (Austin, TX)
The third - and, to my surprise, not final - epic involving Eragon poignantly shows Christopher Paolini growing as an author and becoming an emotionally sensitive adult. Eragon's growing connection with Saphira is highlighted alongside the realization and terror that both Eragon & Saphira feel about the possibility of ever being separated. This is an unusual relationship - one I've not come across before. There isn't a romantic relationship, yet it goes far beyond friendship. It's almost like they're platonic soul mates. Paolini does an impeccable job of creating this unique relationship and making it feel very believable to the reader.
But this isn't the only highlight of the book. Eragon discovers many more things about his personal past and about the history of Alagaesia that spur him to grow as a person.
Even though the first book in this series was far from spectacular, I've stuck with this series because it concerns a theme with which I'm fascinated: adolescents struggling to accept incredible amounts of unasked-for responsibility heaped upon them. This (for me anyway) is the heart of Harry Potter and Ender's Game, and it is the core of Eragon as well. And in this regard, Paolini - an adolescent himself when he began writing Eragon - has done a masterful job of portraying a boy desperately trying to cope with the expectations of a nation and the weight that has put on his soul.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 661
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