Do you run a website? Want to compare book prices within it and earn money doing it? Click here to find out how.

The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini -- of which Brisingr is the latest -- shows every sign of becoming one of the most exuberant and entertaining fiction sequences in modern writing, with a scope and ambition that genuinely takes the breath away. This is a fantasy world which is cleverly designed to appeal to the widest possible range of readership; the inevitable echoes of JRR Tolkien are transformed into something rich and strange here, and the events of the earlier books are being drawn together in the later developments with masterly assurance.

After the massive, punishing battle against the Warriors of the Empire, Eragon and Saphira are licking their wounds, having barely survived. The Rider and his dragon have an oath to fulfil; they must aid Katrina in escaping the most terrible danger. What follows is an epic journey, quite as action-packed and vividly described as anything in fantasy fiction. As in all the best such literature, the odds are overwhelming, nothing can be taken at face value, and the evil forces ranged against the protagonists are as vile as one could wish.

Christopher Paolini clearly now feels that he has readers securely in his pocket, and is prepared to take his time to achieve some of his best effects -- a tactic that pays dividends. So often with fantasy fiction, outlandish situations are relied upon to carry the action, and there is no shortage of them here. But Paolini is canny enough to realise that the characterisation of an endangered protagonist is crucial to maintain our involvement, and (as in previous books), he always takes care of business in this regard. Don't be put off by the daunting length of this book -- Paolini justifies every word in Brisingr. You'll find yourself reading it as quickly as many a shorter book. --Barry Forshaw

this book drags on and on without actually going anywhere, and was incredibly boring, around 600 pages are about finding something to eat and getting a sword. suddenly roran has become as powerful as eragon (the book gives no reason) and can kill 200 men with only a hammer while everyone else stands around chatting. this book is not the last in the series and doesn't add anything really so avoid it and buy the next one (the conclusion)if you like this series. you wont have missed anything

What was so surprising about the first two novels was the maturity of Paolini's writing. His world and character development was charming and beautiful. Unfortunately all the magic from the fist two books seem to get lost in this third (and unfortunately not the final) book.
There are moments that I enjoyed the book but it just felt like this was a money making scheme- an extra book to cash in. Had this been the final of the promised "trilogy" then this could have been a memorable series, unfortunately it is longwinded and a bit bland. I really loved the first two books and I really hope that the last will resque, what up to this book, has been a beautiful series.

Thank You very much to write so lovely book. It's the best book I have ever red!

Okay...I'll try to be critical with this review:

1) Plot:
Well the story moves at a lethargic pace from the beginning.! It starts off where Eldest ended. We learn a few twists to the plot in the end which should be interesting to read in the fourth book. However, the plot is wafer-thin, consisting of lots of annoyingly irrelevant conversations that seem to drag. Morals and magic...ZZZZzzzzzz

2) Characters:
Well the characters don't leave much of an impression. Nasauda is really annoying. The whole knives challenge thing was a bit over the top. Eragon still seems to be weak. I just expected him to be a bit more of a warrior type figure by now...

3) Length:
Too long!! How did this book get approved for publishing!?!? It's actually been edited (there's a message at the end). Couldn't imagine this one any longer.

4) Conclusion:
This book should have been rated one star. But because the book gets better from page 600ish I've given it two. The ending is quite good, but not worth the torturous task of getting through the first 600ish pages.

Someone needs to re-edit this book.

My initial impressions upon hearing that the previously named Inheritance trilogy had been repackaged as a cycle [collection of 4] was that of cautious optimism. Somewhat optimistically, I was pleased with the extension of what has shown to be a relatively promising fantasy series thus far. Yet I was also wary of, that which a previous reviewer has alluded too, 'cash cow' syndrome.

To put the case bluntly, Paolini stretches the limits of my good graces when it comes to putting up with inane musings in fantasy literature. It is a given that all books based on fictional events and make-believe worlds will have have a certain amount of story setting in order to bring the reader properly into the 'right of things'. You cannot, or at least if you intend for it to read well, simply pop the characters from point A to point B without suitable explanation. This rings a note of particular importance in epic fantasy. Veterans will understand the importance of quests and journeys in character building, yet there is very little of this in Brisingr. A symbolic tree to Paolini is never a tree, instead he produces endless preachy diatribe about how important it is that in *his* book *he* regards it as a tall perennial woody plant; this of course means that everything he writes is remarkably deep and meaningfully...right.

Characters seem remarkably 2-D throughout, Nasuada is a particular dislike of mine - considerably more authoritative and demanding towards and of the protagonist - yet to no particular end. Common sense dictates that what she is doing is idiotic, yet he still rolls over and takes it anyway. Gone is the outspoken and individual character of the first two books, enter generic drone with the morality of a bishop. You may deem this as insignificant, yet it makes the story remarkably hard to read - Arya, written in as the fey elf, now becomes the somewhat pathetically detached and damaged recluse.

The same applies to almost all of the existing and new characters within this chapter of Paolini's work; a complete and rather catastrophic failure to keep the 'readability' element going strong. Some will try to excuse this as 'a filler - holding out until the brilliantly crafted conclusion that nobody will ever expect', yet there is no excuse for this [even if everybody didn't already know that his work is about as unpredictable as a stick]. There should never be a reason for something like this - it is an affront to what could have been a gripping third installment, rather than the rather unreadable thing in front of me. To cap it all off, we see what I can only assume is a new trend [I would hope - I can't seem to find it in the first two, and I don't think I'm going mad] of Paolini's to attempt to write in a style similar to that of a badly produced BBC television series on the medieval period; lots of 'thous' and 'smites'. It is all most disconcerting.

I suppose that telling you to not to buy this would be a waste of time, after all - perhaps we can all hope that the fourth installment will be better - it is difficult to believe dismissive reviews on a book that attempts to follow on from the much better written prequels or indeed on a book that is midway through a rather extensive story. Fans of the series will inevitably buy it, as did I, and draw their own conclusions about it. Yet this is one fan that felt he just had to laugh at the whole thing, whether it is out of indulgent amusement for one who managed to mess up on his latest work, or instead a sense of frustrated disbelief at an author that has let his own reputation instill him with an undeserved confidence in his writing, I do not know.

What I will tell you though is that no matter how many times he attempts to connect the words 'Paolini' and 'As good as the Dragon Series of Pern' in a paragraph, it is all one rather laughable, distressing and strangely disappointing lie.

2/5