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bisexualwentworth's reviews
685 reviews
The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie by Jaclyn Moriarty, Susan Lyons (Narrator)
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I don't like The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie (originally published in Australia as Becoming Bindy Mackenzie) as much as I like the other books in this series. The pacing is really strange, the suspension of disbelief is harder, and being in Bindy's head the whole time can be kind of a struggle.
However, this is one of the best character portraits I've ever read. Jaclyn Moriarty once again draws a detailed, compassionate, and accurate portrait of a flawed teenager and captures that teenager's voice perfectly. She expands the cast of characters at Ashbury High. She explores a very silly but also very high-stakes murder mystery plot.
Bindy Mackenzie is an insufferable character with every reason to be how she is. I adore the scene late in the book when her FAD group analyzes all of the reasons why she's like this. It's exactly what the reader will have already been doing, and yeah it's a bit obvious, but it's also very in-character for everyone involved.
Bindy reminds me of myself in a lot of ways, though I was kind of the opposite high-achieving student: I was so good at school that I never learned how to study, and when I finally had to, I crashed and burned.
Not to diagnose fictional characters, but WOW is Bindy undiagnosed autistic. I don't think Moriarty did this on purpose, but it's very much there.
And also, I really hope that she will work through her comphet eventually and realize that she's a lesbian.
However, this is one of the best character portraits I've ever read. Jaclyn Moriarty once again draws a detailed, compassionate, and accurate portrait of a flawed teenager and captures that teenager's voice perfectly. She expands the cast of characters at Ashbury High. She explores a very silly but also very high-stakes murder mystery plot.
Bindy Mackenzie is an insufferable character with every reason to be how she is. I adore the scene late in the book when her FAD group analyzes all of the reasons why she's like this. It's exactly what the reader will have already been doing, and yeah it's a bit obvious, but it's also very in-character for everyone involved.
Bindy reminds me of myself in a lot of ways, though I was kind of the opposite high-achieving student: I was so good at school that I never learned how to study, and when I finally had to, I crashed and burned.
Not to diagnose fictional characters, but WOW is Bindy undiagnosed autistic. I don't think Moriarty did this on purpose, but it's very much there.
And also, I really hope that she will work through her comphet eventually and realize that she's a lesbian.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Murder, and Child abuse
Additional content warning for poison
The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
2024 reread of this book that I loved as a tween and somehow I might like it better than I did then?
The Year of Secret Assignments (originally published in Australia as Finding Cassie Crazy) is a contemporary YA novel that centers on a pen pal program between an English class at a fancy private school called Ashbury and an English class at the neighboring public high school Brookfield. The entire book unfolds through the letters and through other pieces of in-universe writing from the characters, from emails to journal entries to the titular secret assignments. This is my favorite part of the book. Jaclyn Moriarty captures each character's voice so vividly and uses the epistolary format so creatively in this and in all of the Ashbury/Brookfield books. I love how the transcript introduces us to Bindy Mackenzie's quirks and POV (and sets up her dynamic with Emily in the next book). I love Lydia's sassy exchanges with her NotebookTM. And I love how Emily's father conducts his life the same way as his work through the endless legal memos and emails. Excellent touch.
The characters feel so accurate to the high school experience, and their arcs are so well-executed.
Emily's silly misuse of words, the realization that she usually does know what she's saying and is making intentional choices that just read as wrong, and then her victory in the mock court scene is such a satisfying progression. Her relationship with Charlie is real and vulnerable and I really was rooting for them. Also on the Emily front, I really liked how this book handled fatphobia? It's subtle, but there's this moment where it becomes clear that Emily's fatphobia is internalized. And Charlie drops the issue when that comes up. It's definitely something that Emily should work on, but it was also nice to have that highlighted as wrong, to be shown where it was coming from for the character, and then to drop it. Other readers might disagree, but it worked for me.
Lydia was my favorite when I first read this, and I still have a soft spot for her. Her tough girl exterior hiding a plethora of insecurities. Her mysterious sexy persona, under which she just wants to be known and loved for who she is. Her unending sassiness. Love her.
Cassie is the central character of this book plot-wise, gas leak call notwithstanding, and she has the subtlest characterization out of everyone. Her seeming naivete, her hidden self-destructiveness, and her very real hurt and vulnerability, coupled with her more out there talents, make for a complex character who only truly reveals herself near the end of the book. And I have rarely seen such a realistic portrayal of how someone in her situation would react to the death of a parent. Wow.
Seb you will always be famous. Sebastian is in some ways the least complex character. His and Lydia's plot is pretty straightforward, despite the thing he keeps from her and the generally convoluted nature of their relationship. I was OBSESSED with them as a kid, mind you. This is exactly the sort of relationship I went feral for. Nowadays I'm more in the Emily/Charlie camp, but these two are still SO FUN and it's impossible for me not to root for them. And for Seb generally.
Charlie is a sweetheart who is also very much a teenage boy who likes to be right and has reductive ideas about girls. He grows on both counts. Love him.
"Matthew" is such a convincing YA contemporary villain. I genuinely feared for Cassie at times. Screamed at her not to give him so much information. No one dies. Nothing truly unfixable happens. But the stakes are real and they are high.
Anyway, it's a great time, and I absolutely hope to learn lessons from this book about epistolary writing techniques. It is so rich with them.
The Year of Secret Assignments (originally published in Australia as Finding Cassie Crazy) is a contemporary YA novel that centers on a pen pal program between an English class at a fancy private school called Ashbury and an English class at the neighboring public high school Brookfield. The entire book unfolds through the letters and through other pieces of in-universe writing from the characters, from emails to journal entries to the titular secret assignments. This is my favorite part of the book. Jaclyn Moriarty captures each character's voice so vividly and uses the epistolary format so creatively in this and in all of the Ashbury/Brookfield books. I love how the transcript introduces us to Bindy Mackenzie's quirks and POV (and sets up her dynamic with Emily in the next book). I love Lydia's sassy exchanges with her NotebookTM. And I love how Emily's father conducts his life the same way as his work through the endless legal memos and emails. Excellent touch.
The characters feel so accurate to the high school experience, and their arcs are so well-executed.
Emily's silly misuse of words, the realization that she usually does know what she's saying and is making intentional choices that just read as wrong, and then her victory in the mock court scene is such a satisfying progression. Her relationship with Charlie is real and vulnerable and I really was rooting for them. Also on the Emily front, I really liked how this book handled fatphobia? It's subtle, but there's this moment where it becomes clear that Emily's fatphobia is internalized. And Charlie drops the issue when that comes up. It's definitely something that Emily should work on, but it was also nice to have that highlighted as wrong, to be shown where it was coming from for the character, and then to drop it. Other readers might disagree, but it worked for me.
Lydia was my favorite when I first read this, and I still have a soft spot for her. Her tough girl exterior hiding a plethora of insecurities. Her mysterious sexy persona, under which she just wants to be known and loved for who she is. Her unending sassiness. Love her.
Cassie is the central character of this book plot-wise, gas leak call notwithstanding, and she has the subtlest characterization out of everyone. Her seeming naivete, her hidden self-destructiveness, and her very real hurt and vulnerability, coupled with her more out there talents, make for a complex character who only truly reveals herself near the end of the book. And I have rarely seen such a realistic portrayal of how someone in her situation would react to the death of a parent. Wow.
Seb you will always be famous. Sebastian is in some ways the least complex character. His and Lydia's plot is pretty straightforward, despite the thing he keeps from her and the generally convoluted nature of their relationship. I was OBSESSED with them as a kid, mind you. This is exactly the sort of relationship I went feral for. Nowadays I'm more in the Emily/Charlie camp, but these two are still SO FUN and it's impossible for me not to root for them. And for Seb generally.
Charlie is a sweetheart who is also very much a teenage boy who likes to be right and has reductive ideas about girls. He grows on both counts. Love him.
"Matthew" is such a convincing YA contemporary villain. I genuinely feared for Cassie at times. Screamed at her not to give him so much information. No one dies. Nothing truly unfixable happens. But the stakes are real and they are high.
Anyway, it's a great time, and I absolutely hope to learn lessons from this book about epistolary writing techniques. It is so rich with them.
Murtagh by Christopher Paolini
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Well, I finally did it. After a fun but frustrating reread of the Inheritance Cycle, I have at last read Murtagh.
Some spoilers for this book and the previous books to follow.
This book was published twelve years after Inheritance and more than twenty years after the initial publication of Eragon. In that time, Christopher Paolini has definitely grown as a writer. His descriptions are tighter and more vivid. Side characters are differentiated in ways that they weren't before. Murtagh's character arc is difficult and mostly well-executed. And unlike in the previous books, the ableism, in this case Murtagh and Thorn's internalized ableism around their PTSD, feels more like an intentional character choice and less like the author violently hating disabled people.
Elsewhere, Paolini has also learned how to write evil girlbosses. Yay?
And he seems to have developed a more nuanced understanding of cult members and survivors of trauma in the intervening years, though that understanding still feels incredible surface level.
While I know that there is an overarching thing that he's aiming for with further installments in this series, it felt to me like half of this book was just Paolini realizing that he'd broken his magic system in Inheritance and trying to find ways to deal with that. On the whole, I didn't mind this. Murtagh encounters challenges that can't be surmounted using the Name of Names. He realizes how limited his vocabulary in the Ancient Language really is. He finds creative solutions to his problems. I liked this.
What I did NOT like was the reveal that the new big bad had been the big bad the whole time and the reason why Galbatorix was the way he was. Maybe this is a personal taste thing, or maybe it's just down to the execution, but I was so excited when there was a new threat that was different from Galbatorix and so disappointed at the reveal that *gasp* it was Azlagur the whole time! It felt lazy to me.
The pacing was, as usual with Paolini's books, horrendous. I know that a lot of the side quest things (like the stuff with the werecat children) will be picked up again in a later book, but it was still very inelegantly done. Even if plots are ongoing, the main threads of a book should be resolved in that book. There was definitely a better way to weave things together.
And the one long chapter in Ilirea at the end to wrap everything up and attempt any sort of proper development of Murtagh and Nasuada's relationship? Silly. Ridiculous. Yes, better than the 200 pages of conclusion at the end of Inheritance, but come ON. Both characters deserved more than that.
Overall, this book is generally better than the previous installments on a craft level, and Murtagh is a more compelling character than Eragon, who also faces much harder personal challenges, but the pacing was so bad and the Nal Gorgoth section dragged SO MUCH and overall it needed some restructuring and reconsidering in places. Also, I didn't have any nostalgia making me like it more than I naturally would have (other than a general fondness for Murtagh and for Nasuada), and this made the rough parts even more difficult for me.
Some spoilers for this book and the previous books to follow.
This book was published twelve years after Inheritance and more than twenty years after the initial publication of Eragon. In that time, Christopher Paolini has definitely grown as a writer. His descriptions are tighter and more vivid. Side characters are differentiated in ways that they weren't before. Murtagh's character arc is difficult and mostly well-executed. And unlike in the previous books, the ableism, in this case Murtagh and Thorn's internalized ableism around their PTSD, feels more like an intentional character choice and less like the author violently hating disabled people.
Elsewhere, Paolini has also learned how to write evil girlbosses. Yay?
And he seems to have developed a more nuanced understanding of cult members and survivors of trauma in the intervening years, though that understanding still feels incredible surface level.
While I know that there is an overarching thing that he's aiming for with further installments in this series, it felt to me like half of this book was just Paolini realizing that he'd broken his magic system in Inheritance and trying to find ways to deal with that. On the whole, I didn't mind this. Murtagh encounters challenges that can't be surmounted using the Name of Names. He realizes how limited his vocabulary in the Ancient Language really is. He finds creative solutions to his problems. I liked this.
What I did NOT like was the reveal that the new big bad had been the big bad the whole time and the reason why Galbatorix was the way he was. Maybe this is a personal taste thing, or maybe it's just down to the execution, but I was so excited when there was a new threat that was different from Galbatorix and so disappointed at the reveal that *gasp* it was Azlagur the whole time! It felt lazy to me.
The pacing was, as usual with Paolini's books, horrendous. I know that a lot of the side quest things (like the stuff with the werecat children) will be picked up again in a later book, but it was still very inelegantly done. Even if plots are ongoing, the main threads of a book should be resolved in that book. There was definitely a better way to weave things together.
And the one long chapter in Ilirea at the end to wrap everything up and attempt any sort of proper development of Murtagh and Nasuada's relationship? Silly. Ridiculous. Yes, better than the 200 pages of conclusion at the end of Inheritance, but come ON. Both characters deserved more than that.
Overall, this book is generally better than the previous installments on a craft level, and Murtagh is a more compelling character than Eragon, who also faces much harder personal challenges, but the pacing was so bad and the Nal Gorgoth section dragged SO MUCH and overall it needed some restructuring and reconsidering in places. Also, I didn't have any nostalgia making me like it more than I naturally would have (other than a general fondness for Murtagh and for Nasuada), and this made the rough parts even more difficult for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Confinement, Death, Torture, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, and Ableism
Circe by Madeline Miller
Did not finish book. Stopped at 37%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 37%.
Will probably finish eventually cause I want to have an educated opinion on it but oh boy do I dislike Madeline Miller’s approach to gender. Also it was due back at the library.
Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
There's a lot that I love here: the worldbuilding, the magic system, the prose, the women with swords, the mechanical dragon. I think that Yoon Ha Lee accomplished exactly what he set out to do with this book. Unfortunately, I think that the concept is just fundamentally not super compelling for me. The execution is as strong as it could have possibly been, but Jebi just isn't an interesting enough main character for me. I would have loved either a more slice of life story or a more action-packed story, but again, those aren't the books the author wanted to write, and that's okay. I will absolutely be reading his other work cause I think there's a lot of good stuff here. I did wish the book was longer, but I do appreciate a good quick fantasy standalone.
The first and second half of this book are very distinct in terms of vibes and pacing. I preferred the second half, but I think the first half may work better for a lot of readers. Very much a personal taste thing.
Anyway, this book isn't a new favorite, but it did leave a positive impression and I would definitely recommend it.
The first and second half of this book are very distinct in terms of vibes and pacing. I preferred the second half, but I think the first half may work better for a lot of readers. Very much a personal taste thing.
Anyway, this book isn't a new favorite, but it did leave a positive impression and I would definitely recommend it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Colonisation, Death, Violence, and Xenophobia
The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Oh this book is GOOD! The way it explores its characters and its central themes, the way Naseem Jamnia creates and develops an entire world in so few pages... yes yes yes.
The blood magic was fascinating and dark, and I feel like we receive just enough information about it for its role in the story to land the way its supposed to. The main character and the antagonist are both well-meaning, flawed people. The plot didn't go the way I expected, and it was much more compelling than what I was expecting!
And I loved reading the author's afterword at the end of the book. I generally try to judge books on their own merits, but I do think that authorial intent is relevant, and I always love a thoughtful reflection on why something was written. It made me appreciate the book even more.
The beginning was a bit rough. I didn't get into the book right away. But was I was engaged, I finished the rest of it in one day. I look forward to more from this author/this world!
The blood magic was fascinating and dark, and I feel like we receive just enough information about it for its role in the story to land the way its supposed to. The main character and the antagonist are both well-meaning, flawed people. The plot didn't go the way I expected, and it was much more compelling than what I was expecting!
And I loved reading the author's afterword at the end of the book. I generally try to judge books on their own merits, but I do think that authorial intent is relevant, and I always love a thoughtful reflection on why something was written. It made me appreciate the book even more.
The beginning was a bit rough. I didn't get into the book right away. But was I was engaged, I finished the rest of it in one day. I look forward to more from this author/this world!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Death, Blood, Xenophobia, Racism, Child death, Gore, and Medical content
That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming
Did not finish book. Stopped at 32%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 32%.
I simply am not the target audience and that’s okay. Might try again another time.
Who's Afraid of Gender? by Judith Butler
Did not finish book. Stopped at 22%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 22%.
Judith Butler I love you but I cannot get through this book right now.
Inheritance by Christopher Paolini
Many parts of this book did not work for me, and it's mostly for one simple reason: lack of development. Paolini sets up a lot of things in previous books that pay off in this one: the Vault of Souls, Angela's prophecy about Eragon leaving Alagaësia, and the true name of the Ancient Language are all set up with some decent foreshadowing--and then ignored in this book until they are suddenly important. This cheapens them and makes them ring kind of hollow even though they are strong conceptually.
On the flip side, Paolini builds up several things in this book to then give them fairly disappointing payoffs. Chief among these is the sword fighting. In book one, Eragon and Murtagh are evenly matched swordsmen. In book two, Eragon gets his magical powers and then can seemingly defeat any opponent because he's just so good with a sword--with the exception of Murtagh and Arya. So when he works so hard in this book to improve his swordfighting skills with Arya and Glaedr, only for Murtagh to still be better than him at the end with no apparent extra work on Murtagh's end (yes Eragon technically wins but Murtagh is still stated to be the better swordsman) when they were EVENLY MATCHED before is frustrating. The scene is good but the overall arc of it is bad.
Arya was always the most likely choice for the green rider, and this makes it really boring when it's her. Imagine if it had been Nasuada. Or Elva. Or that teenage girl with the massive forearms who shows up twice. Or even Katrina. That could have been fun. But no. Most obvious, most boring choice.
And have I mentioned that I HATE Eragon and Arya's relationship? It doesn't quite get fully romantic in this book, but it basically does, and it's awful. And what's so frustrating is that their friendship in book three and this one is actually very normal! If it weren't for Eragon's weird boundary-free lust their dynamic would mostly be fine. But no. We can't have nice things.
Also, torture doesn't work. Galbatorix should know this. Plus he has way more effective interrogation methods. I get it, and like I said those scenes were very effective, but also, the brutalization of Nasuada in this book is a LOT.
I genuinely thought that this book would hold up, especially after rereading Brisingr and enjoying it quite a bit more than I expected, but instead, this is a strangely-paced, overlong book that has a real problem with setup and payoff and development, and considering those are the three main parts of storytelling, it is overall a frustrating read. We shall see if Murtagh is any better.
Ugh.
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Well, I did it. I finished my reread of the Inheritance Cycle. And I've gotta say, I did not enjoy rereading Inheritance.
When I first read Eragon, I was about eight years old. A paperback copy of Eragon was the first book I ever bought for myself. It was fun and tropey and despite my struggles, even as a child, with the way Paolini wrote women, I continued with the series, reading Eldest and then reading Brisingr right when it came out.
When Inheritance was finally published, I was thirteen years old. I had read a lot of other books. My tastes had expanded. But I was still eager and excited to finish this series that I had enjoyed so much. It was a series that was popular among my friends and my cousins, and books that I can share with the people in my life have always been important to me. Plus, Paolini's dragons are fantastic.
Anyway, I remember reading Inheritance in one day, finishing it past midnight in bed. And I liked it. I remember this book being controversial among fans when it came out, and I remember pushing back against a lot of the criticism. Specifically, people didn't like the ending, and I felt like it made sense for the characters and was also a foregone conclusion. I did not read Inheritance again until this reread of the entire series.
For the entirety of this formulaic, messy, slow, but incredibly entertaining series, Christopher Paolini has followed a very specific structure for each book: violent inciting incident, Eragon goes and does quests and training, big final battle, speedy conclusion. Books two and three spice things up a bit with Roran and Nasuada's (often much more compelling) subplots, but the overall structure is the same. Inheritance strays from this formula, and while as a young teen I found this switchup effective, as an adult, I don't think it's done particularly well. Paolini tries to wrap up far too many things in the aftermath section, and it ends up feeling like a slog. If he had integrated more of those things into earlier parts of the book, the conclusion could have been shorter and would have landed a lot better.
The elements are here. Unlike many readers, I don't mind the deus ex machina elements of this book. I think they fit with the story overall. I genuinely like the way that Eragon eventually defeats Galbatorix and the roles that other characters like Murtagh and Arya play in the final confrontation. And I still think that Paolini made the right choice with the ending. Overall, there are actually stronger narrative choices here than in much of the rest of the series. Unfortunately, the execution is often quite poor.
The rest of this review will contain spoilers.
Before I get into my many issues with this book, there are some things that I genuinely really like about it even as an adult:
When I first read Eragon, I was about eight years old. A paperback copy of Eragon was the first book I ever bought for myself. It was fun and tropey and despite my struggles, even as a child, with the way Paolini wrote women, I continued with the series, reading Eldest and then reading Brisingr right when it came out.
When Inheritance was finally published, I was thirteen years old. I had read a lot of other books. My tastes had expanded. But I was still eager and excited to finish this series that I had enjoyed so much. It was a series that was popular among my friends and my cousins, and books that I can share with the people in my life have always been important to me. Plus, Paolini's dragons are fantastic.
Anyway, I remember reading Inheritance in one day, finishing it past midnight in bed. And I liked it. I remember this book being controversial among fans when it came out, and I remember pushing back against a lot of the criticism. Specifically, people didn't like the ending, and I felt like it made sense for the characters and was also a foregone conclusion. I did not read Inheritance again until this reread of the entire series.
For the entirety of this formulaic, messy, slow, but incredibly entertaining series, Christopher Paolini has followed a very specific structure for each book: violent inciting incident, Eragon goes and does quests and training, big final battle, speedy conclusion. Books two and three spice things up a bit with Roran and Nasuada's (often much more compelling) subplots, but the overall structure is the same. Inheritance strays from this formula, and while as a young teen I found this switchup effective, as an adult, I don't think it's done particularly well. Paolini tries to wrap up far too many things in the aftermath section, and it ends up feeling like a slog. If he had integrated more of those things into earlier parts of the book, the conclusion could have been shorter and would have landed a lot better.
The elements are here. Unlike many readers, I don't mind the deus ex machina elements of this book. I think they fit with the story overall. I genuinely like the way that Eragon eventually defeats Galbatorix and the roles that other characters like Murtagh and Arya play in the final confrontation. And I still think that Paolini made the right choice with the ending. Overall, there are actually stronger narrative choices here than in much of the rest of the series. Unfortunately, the execution is often quite poor.
The rest of this review will contain spoilers.
Before I get into my many issues with this book, there are some things that I genuinely really like about it even as an adult:
- Nasuada's storyline in this book is incredibly harrowing and I hate the way she is treated in-universe, but she is written so inexplicably well and her character arc is so strong and her scenes are the most memorable and well-written in this book. I feel like it is her scenes in the Hall of the Soothsayer where Paolini's love of describing every single thing is finally put to good use in his vivid descriptions of her visions and her overall situation--though I could have done with a shorter description of the jailer's fingernails.
- Are Murtagh and Nasuada a problematic ship? Sure. Do I care? No. I was very invested in them when I first read this book, and I still am. Yes Murtagh's character growth happens mostly off-page, and it's kind of wretched that it's so tied to his supposed love for a woman he barely knows, but I can't bring myself to care. I like them. I am excited to read Murtagh's book.
- The werecats are fun and I like them.
- Eragon singing to Elaine's baby to heal her lip. Of all the magical cures in this series, this is the only acceptable one. Though the misogyny surrounding that scene was vile.
- The older dragons being totally lost in abstraction and struggling to communicate with others feels really appropriate. I love the scene where the oldest dragon tries to impress upon Eragon the importance of the starlings' thoughts and lives.
- Snalgli!
- Saphira doesn't get nearly enough moments in this book, but they are all excellent--when she loses a scale on her nose, when she discovers her true name... I love her. She is still my favorite dragon character ever, and I want more of her (though unfortunately that would also mean more of Eragon and while he is better by the end of this book, I'm not super wanting to spend more time with him).
- Roran defeating Barst. I don't like Roran but this fight scene WORKS, especially in the aftermath of Islanzadi's death.
Many parts of this book did not work for me, and it's mostly for one simple reason: lack of development. Paolini sets up a lot of things in previous books that pay off in this one: the Vault of Souls, Angela's prophecy about Eragon leaving Alagaësia, and the true name of the Ancient Language are all set up with some decent foreshadowing--and then ignored in this book until they are suddenly important. This cheapens them and makes them ring kind of hollow even though they are strong conceptually.
On the flip side, Paolini builds up several things in this book to then give them fairly disappointing payoffs. Chief among these is the sword fighting. In book one, Eragon and Murtagh are evenly matched swordsmen. In book two, Eragon gets his magical powers and then can seemingly defeat any opponent because he's just so good with a sword--with the exception of Murtagh and Arya. So when he works so hard in this book to improve his swordfighting skills with Arya and Glaedr, only for Murtagh to still be better than him at the end with no apparent extra work on Murtagh's end (yes Eragon technically wins but Murtagh is still stated to be the better swordsman) when they were EVENLY MATCHED before is frustrating. The scene is good but the overall arc of it is bad.
Good ideas that just need to be developed and integrated a lot better for them to live up to their potential:
- Including dwarves and urgals in the dragon rider spell.
- The dauthdaert--should have been introduced in book three.
- Saphira and Firnen's relationship.
- All of the stuff about needing to control magic users was decent but needed more buildup in previous books. And also Nasuada's solution almost makes sense, but I feel like it's missing something. We'll see if the Murtagh book addresses that, so I'm reserving judgment for now.
Arya was always the most likely choice for the green rider, and this makes it really boring when it's her. Imagine if it had been Nasuada. Or Elva. Or that teenage girl with the massive forearms who shows up twice. Or even Katrina. That could have been fun. But no. Most obvious, most boring choice.
And have I mentioned that I HATE Eragon and Arya's relationship? It doesn't quite get fully romantic in this book, but it basically does, and it's awful. And what's so frustrating is that their friendship in book three and this one is actually very normal! If it weren't for Eragon's weird boundary-free lust their dynamic would mostly be fine. But no. We can't have nice things.
Also, torture doesn't work. Galbatorix should know this. Plus he has way more effective interrogation methods. I get it, and like I said those scenes were very effective, but also, the brutalization of Nasuada in this book is a LOT.
I genuinely thought that this book would hold up, especially after rereading Brisingr and enjoying it quite a bit more than I expected, but instead, this is a strangely-paced, overlong book that has a real problem with setup and payoff and development, and considering those are the three main parts of storytelling, it is overall a frustrating read. We shall see if Murtagh is any better.
Ugh.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Pregnancy, Gore, Grief, Violence, Torture, Medical content, and Death of parent
Moderate: Misogyny, Slavery, and Racism