Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Murtagh by Christopher Paolini

55 reviews

belady147's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I love Murtagh as a character and I love this book. I honestly can’t think of anything I didn’t like about it. The writing, the pacing, the characters, the character growth, character relationships, the plot, everything was so so good. Obviously I’m biased as I already loved Murtagh as a character (like I already said) but I honestly believe that this is the best book of the Inheritance Cycle by far. It was also darker than any of the other books. I like darker, angsty things (which is another reason why I am biased towards this book) but pages 450-570 or so were rough even for me. 

What a fantastic book. I’m super excited to see where the story goes from here. I hope that we continue to get Murtagh’s POV in future books. 

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gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It took me many, many months to get through this, but my gosh it was a fantastic read. Murtagh has always been my favourite morally grey character and to have a whole 600+ page book dedicated to him and Thorn was everything I could have wanted (besides just being back in this world again). 
Getting to learn more about Murtagh's character arc and see where life took him and Thorn after all the events that transpired throughout the Inheritance Cycle  was fascinating. I felt as though we were really given a chance to get to know them as more than 'the vilains' and it was beautiful.

To see how their tortured past (especially with Galbatorix) triggers them still was heartbreaking and so realistic in a person. The empathy I felt was overwhelming at times - I just wanted to reach through the pages of the book and give them both a big hug. It warms my heart to know that they are least have comfort in each other.

The character growth from both of them in this novel was incredibly impressive, working through the torments of their memories and wanting and trying to get through the other side was so inspiring but what really drove that inspiration further was that it wasn't done overnight. With Thorn especially, we really got a deeper understanding of how his forced growth as a hatchling and cruel trials Galbatorix made him go through affected him still and how he struggled awfully with confined spaces because of that. It was was heartbreaking to see his frustration and fear, being stuck in the cruel moments of the past that brought the fear on.

A theme I really enjoyed in Murtagh was the significant role dreams played - I believe that was also a concept in TSIASOS, so I found it intriguing to see how differently Paolini explores that theme in his sci-fi and in his fantasy, respectively.

A little side note here, but I couldn't help but love the little notes of "mmm", or 'hrmph'.. It just felt so intrinsically human.

I loved getting to see more of the world and did get annoyed at Murtagh's endless curiosity always getting him into trouble, but the things we discovered about the goings on after what we hoped would be a long lasting peace was worrying and I'm so eager to find out what happens next!

What else is in store for Murtagh and Thorn?



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sanctuary_in_the_pages's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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lizziaha's review

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3.25

This book has a different tone than the original series and lower stakes. Because Murtagh and Thorn have essentially exiled themselves, they don’t have many close relationships, and other characters from the original series only make brief appearances. That being said I do love some of the new characters and I did especially love Alin’s arc. But this read more as a prequel than a fantasy standalone. There is necessary growth for murtagh and thorn, but I’m more interested in where it’s going to go than the growth itself. 

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loveat1stwrite's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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bethboo's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Murtagh, Murtagh, Murtagh! I was so happy to return to the world of Eragon, especially in the POV of one of my favorite characters. In this book, you get juicy glimpses into his very dark past, how his connection with Thorn happened, the horrors that baby dragon went through, as well as what he's doing now. Murtagh encounters a skull amulet with some strange magic woven into it. He's not sure what it means but he's going to find out. Thorn and him venture beyond the Alagaesia we all know and love, to protect what he loves. 

First off, who knew lil mormon boy Christopher Paolini had it in him, to write a back story so dark?? Like I though he'd you know make it a little easier to swallow....but no. The shit that happened to Thorn and Murtagh was sick and I was wading through tears every single time. Especially now that we get to see the inside of their heads and learn how eager and good they are. 
Next, Murtagh is such a little rich boy and I LOVED getting to see how that affected his POV. Like he's constantly wishing for a bath, wanting others/servants to treat him as his courtly position is due, he's comfortable being in charge, and misses the food that comes with money. Its so crazy that he is so much more educated than Eragon, he knows much more of the world, but he was never trained in magic and knows much less than Eragon. Ughhhhhh What I would do to see Eragon all giddy to teach Murtagh a magic lesson!!

If Christopher Paolini doesn't return to this story I will kms

Nal Gorgorath was absolute horror, omg I almost threw up when they were imprisoned again. And the parallels with Nasuada in the Hall of the Soothsayer, OMGGG Like I can't deal with more bad things happening to these babies. Bachel was a good and spooky enemy. I'm excited to see what becomes of the big creature underneath the mountain...the country?? 
It's also cute that he has a brother that's an urgal now and he's all not-racist now and he understands family!! 
AND NASUADA!!! HIMM STAYING???? HIM CRYING ON HER!!! HE SPILLED HIS TRAUMA AND THEY LOVE EACH OTHER!!!

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abby_can_read's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

📖
I had such a wonderful time reading this book. It was hard to put down. I loved this.

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offtheraels's review

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adventurous dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No
This book has all the usual issues of a Paolini story and had NO RIGHT being that long—but I had SO MUCH fun re-entering this universe and hanging out with my fave broody, poetry-writing, dragon-riding bad boy with parental issues. It was also good to read a YA fantasy sequel/spinoff that admits to the extensive PTSD of its characters, and I would have liked to see more ~healing~ instead of the more ~trauma~ (especially with Thorn, has he not been through enough???)

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kattila's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

dude, you mean to tell me the "enslaved guy who was enslaved and doesnt want to be enslaved again" is THAT careless when it comes to a cult he knows buys slaves and has a leader who's a powerful with? His decisions caused me immense pain whike the book othervise was great lol at least some good came out of tge temporary enslavement?

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shinybookvibes's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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