Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Murtagh by Christopher Paolini

20 reviews

belady147's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Animal death, Blood, Confinement, and Torture

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, War, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Violence, Torture, Kidnapping, Xenophobia, Death, Slavery, Confinement, Child abuse, Grief, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Physical abuse, Gore, and Gaslighting

daniber's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Body horror, Blood, and Confinement

Moderate: Murder, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Gore, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Child abuse, and Death

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders

sanctuary_in_the_pages's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Animal death, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: War and Child abuse

Minor: Slavery

lizziaha's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Religious bigotry, Trafficking, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Violence, War, Gore, Slavery, and Torture

Moderate: Classism, Animal death, and Abandonment

loveat1stwrite's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Torture, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Trafficking, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Drug use, Blood, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, and Panic attacks/disorders

Murtagh and his dragon, Thorn, reflect upon the abuse they experienced as side characters in the original 4 books. This is reflected in Thorn's fear of confinement and panic attacks when in enclosed spaces in the current plot.

They are also drugged to become thralls as a plot point in this book, which is why I included the drug use/trafficking tags.

kattila's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Blood, Physical abuse, Bullying, Slavery, Torture, Drug abuse, Animal death, Violence, Drug use, Murder, Death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Child death, Trafficking, Alcohol, Animal death, and Child abuse

yellowbinge's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

The book as a meal: Tasteful jerky, but I am worried it might be poisoned as I chew ...

The book left me: Wanting more!!! Paolini, please continue writing!!!

Why did this call out me? 

Stunning cover. I have read all the other books in the series and just HAD to continue. I couldn't resist diving back into the world of Alagaësia. Preordered the moment it was available.

Pick-Up-able? Put-down-able?  

Thefirst 20-30% was slow and a little hard to properly get into and vibe with. At part 2 it picked up. From that point on I was looking froward to reading it at all times I wans't reading it (work, driving, socializing). I devoured the final 300 pages in a single day, and even conquered my car-sickness with my disgustingly high interest in the plot.

How is it paced? 

Ups and downsfor each part. The first few go smooth and then it all goes to shit. Repeat. Part three is more intense and the shit lasts for a while. By shit I mean dismay for the characters, but absolute bliss for me. I would say medium pacing, but it slows a little becasue of how Paolini writes scenery in detail. Skim if you find this kind of writing boring

What about progression? 

Starts slow, and picks up later. Most parts in the book follows the same format. It improves vastly as it goes on and you get sucked into the chaos and intruige. 

Issues:

Too vivid and detailed desciption of scenery and places, drags the plot and happenings down

Wish it was just a little more dragon and less assholes

Is our main character stupid or just stubborn?

Good things: 

The dragon feels, speaks, and reacts like an individual, almost person like. But still dragon enough to actualy feel like a dragon. 

Stakes go sky-high and the tension has me in a chokehold

The vibes and atmosphere feels just like the first books. I feel right at home here

What makes this different? 

The way Paolini writes dragons is just that different from other authors. The talk and think like individuals. They feel like relevant characters and not just a trope or another thing to ride. The world feels vast and every area has its own vibe. Our main character is very much a rogue, but not at all. It is simply circumstance that has brought us here. And of course, consequences do feel heavy. There is a lot of regret, remorse, and longing for a different outcome for our main characters. 

How did it feel to read? 

It felt like I was on a quest and my companion is telling me to slow down or else I get killed

What mood would i read this in? 

The book is fitting right now where I live as it is still quite cold, and the landscape here feels like what it was in the book. Read in early spring / later winter

Better or worse than expected? 

Much much better than expected. Paolini's wiriting has gotten so much better compared to the first four books in the series. I enjoyed this very much. 

Where does this fall in my tier list ranking? 

S tier all the way!!!!!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Slavery, and Gore

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

wookieepahookie's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Trafficking, Animal death, Abandonment, Violence, Alcohol, Gore, Torture, Blood, Death, and Slavery

sneha_sarcar's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Confinement, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Violence, Blood, Death, Slavery, and Torture