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bisexualwentworth's review against another edition
It's kind of astounding how much better this book is than Eragon and Eldest on a purely technical level. It really feels like Paolini finally learned how to put sentences together competently. He has an editor now. He's talked to a woman he's not related to, even if that woman was the aforementioned editor.
Where Eldest's use of multiple points of view felt awkward at times because we stayed with the same character for SO LONG before switching again, in Brisingr it feels much more natural. We spend three or four chapters with Eragon and then a chapter or two with Roran or Nasuada or even, in one of my favorite chapters of the whole book, with Saphira as she goes about her routine in Eragon's absence.
The pacing is definitely strange. The first 45% of this book happens over the course of about a week, and then an unknown amount of time passes in the middle, after which things speed up again and the last section also occurs over the course of a week or so. There’s more action than in book two, but the overall plot doesn’t progress much with the exception of two big battles and two major reveals. I didn’t mind that, but I think a lot of other readers likely would.
Paolini cuts down somewhat on the excessive descriptions here, and there are a lot more moments where his passion for describing absolutely everything are put to good use with more intentional and economical writing than in the first two books (though Brisingr is definitely still overly long and wordy in many ways): the descriptions of all of the dwarf clan leaders, the forging scene at the end, the description of Blödhgarm, etc.
Speaking of Blödhgarm, what an absolutely wild character. I remembered that he was an elf furry but I somehow forgot that he is 1) blue and 2) described as smelling EXTREMELY sexy.
I love Arya in this book, and her and Eragon's dynamic is actually really compelling. In a vacuum, I would absolutely root for them based on their interactions here. Unfortunately, there is still about an 85-year age gap and also he HARASSED HER for most of the previous book.
Roran and Katrina are annoying. The human gender roles continue to be absolutely horrendous, and nowhere are the worse than in the framing of this relationship. Paolini has said that they are based on his parents, and maybe his parents have a good dynamic, but I don't like this fictionalized version. It's odd, because normally I'd be all for a man who loves his wife as much as Roran loves Katrina, but it comes with such a strong paternalistic vibe that I simply cannot bring myself to care. The wedding vows? Ick. Like yes they fit the world Paolini has created, but that's his own damn fault for creating it like that.
Elsewhere, however, women do actually feel like people in this book. Nasuada is an excellent leader who makes hard choices and whose gender and culture feel like actually important aspects of how she is without defining her. The random women who get their fortunes told by Angela also feel like real people who have lives beyond what we see and beyond the viewpoints of Eragon and other main characters. Same with the dwarf women we meet in this book, especially the clan leader of the War Wolves. And we learn a bit more about Eragon's mother, though she is still very much defined by her relationships with two specific men.
And there is finally an actually cute romantic relationship: Orik and his wife Hvedra. They are adorable people who admire and support each other. I love them.
I know that a lot of people don't like the dwarf politics section, but I love it. There are so many good moments. It develops aspects of the world we're already familiar with without getting too bogged down in exposition and while still moving the plot along. And the religion stuff is fascinating and continues the philosophical discussions introduced in Eldest and that are also present in Eragon and Arya's scenes as well as the Sloan stuff.
The disability politics are still awful but are much less present. And the ending is heartbreaking.
The Urgals have some weird cultural coding going on, but Eragon's racism finally gets questioned and unpacked, and in general both the Urgals and the Wandering Tribes are portrayed much more normally and sensitively than in the first two books.
Parts of the plot are still Star Wars, but the family stuff gets more complicated, and the themes of inheritance come into play much more seriously.
There are also some interesting explorations of codependency in Eragon and Saphira's relationship that I really appreciated.
I discovered during the reread that a lot of people don't like Brisingr, or at least remember not really vibing with it at kids. I think that could partly be because it's so much more mature. Eragon and Eldest are all vibes and action and worldbuilding, and Brisingr gets much more philosophical and intentional. The author is in his twenties now, and he's grappling with different ideas than he was as a teenager, and so the conversations here are much more interesting to young adult readers (like I am now) than to the tweens and teens who were the target audience for the first two books.
I am genuinely excited to get to my reread of Inheritance. I remember it being incredibly divisive when it came out, and I am interested to see what my thoughts are on it now, more than ten years after I first read it. I remember the basic plot beats but very little else.
For the first time in my Inheritance Cycle reread, I would genuinely recommend this book with only a few caveats. Basically, if you slogged through the first two and are wondering if this one is worth it, or if you remember not liking this book as much as a kid, I think you should give it a try.
Where Eldest's use of multiple points of view felt awkward at times because we stayed with the same character for SO LONG before switching again, in Brisingr it feels much more natural. We spend three or four chapters with Eragon and then a chapter or two with Roran or Nasuada or even, in one of my favorite chapters of the whole book, with Saphira as she goes about her routine in Eragon's absence.
The pacing is definitely strange. The first 45% of this book happens over the course of about a week, and then an unknown amount of time passes in the middle, after which things speed up again and the last section also occurs over the course of a week or so. There’s more action than in book two, but the overall plot doesn’t progress much with the exception of two big battles and two major reveals. I didn’t mind that, but I think a lot of other readers likely would.
Paolini cuts down somewhat on the excessive descriptions here, and there are a lot more moments where his passion for describing absolutely everything are put to good use with more intentional and economical writing than in the first two books (though Brisingr is definitely still overly long and wordy in many ways): the descriptions of all of the dwarf clan leaders, the forging scene at the end, the description of Blödhgarm, etc.
Speaking of Blödhgarm, what an absolutely wild character. I remembered that he was an elf furry but I somehow forgot that he is 1) blue and 2) described as smelling EXTREMELY sexy.
I love Arya in this book, and her and Eragon's dynamic is actually really compelling. In a vacuum, I would absolutely root for them based on their interactions here. Unfortunately, there is still about an 85-year age gap and also he HARASSED HER for most of the previous book.
Roran and Katrina are annoying. The human gender roles continue to be absolutely horrendous, and nowhere are the worse than in the framing of this relationship. Paolini has said that they are based on his parents, and maybe his parents have a good dynamic, but I don't like this fictionalized version. It's odd, because normally I'd be all for a man who loves his wife as much as Roran loves Katrina, but it comes with such a strong paternalistic vibe that I simply cannot bring myself to care. The wedding vows? Ick. Like yes they fit the world Paolini has created, but that's his own damn fault for creating it like that.
Elsewhere, however, women do actually feel like people in this book. Nasuada is an excellent leader who makes hard choices and whose gender and culture feel like actually important aspects of how she is without defining her. The random women who get their fortunes told by Angela also feel like real people who have lives beyond what we see and beyond the viewpoints of Eragon and other main characters. Same with the dwarf women we meet in this book, especially the clan leader of the War Wolves. And we learn a bit more about Eragon's mother, though she is still very much defined by her relationships with two specific men.
And there is finally an actually cute romantic relationship: Orik and his wife Hvedra. They are adorable people who admire and support each other. I love them.
I know that a lot of people don't like the dwarf politics section, but I love it. There are so many good moments. It develops aspects of the world we're already familiar with without getting too bogged down in exposition and while still moving the plot along. And the religion stuff is fascinating and continues the philosophical discussions introduced in Eldest and that are also present in Eragon and Arya's scenes as well as the Sloan stuff.
The disability politics are still awful but are much less present. And the ending is heartbreaking.
The Urgals have some weird cultural coding going on, but Eragon's racism finally gets questioned and unpacked, and in general both the Urgals and the Wandering Tribes are portrayed much more normally and sensitively than in the first two books.
Parts of the plot are still Star Wars, but the family stuff gets more complicated, and the themes of inheritance come into play much more seriously.
There are also some interesting explorations of codependency in Eragon and Saphira's relationship that I really appreciated.
I discovered during the reread that a lot of people don't like Brisingr, or at least remember not really vibing with it at kids. I think that could partly be because it's so much more mature. Eragon and Eldest are all vibes and action and worldbuilding, and Brisingr gets much more philosophical and intentional. The author is in his twenties now, and he's grappling with different ideas than he was as a teenager, and so the conversations here are much more interesting to young adult readers (like I am now) than to the tweens and teens who were the target audience for the first two books.
I am genuinely excited to get to my reread of Inheritance. I remember it being incredibly divisive when it came out, and I am interested to see what my thoughts are on it now, more than ten years after I first read it. I remember the basic plot beats but very little else.
For the first time in my Inheritance Cycle reread, I would genuinely recommend this book with only a few caveats. Basically, if you slogged through the first two and are wondering if this one is worth it, or if you remember not liking this book as much as a kid, I think you should give it a try.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, War, Xenophobia, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Racism, Death of parent, Hate crime, Ableism, Medical trauma, Misogyny, and Pregnancy
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