Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Murtagh by Christopher Paolini

30 reviews

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Death of parent, and War

stargatelover's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

• 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

johannaplatt's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this - the new POV was very refreshing and allowed the author to break away into some more morally grey moments with Murtagh and Thorn. The plot was engaging and kept moving throughout, and both main characters were forced to confront uncomfortable truths about themselves. Particularly loved Thorn's depiction and growth, and the evident depth of connection between them both. Would love to see more from these two!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Claustrophobia

queenpebbles's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

I had hopes that Paolini had improved as a writer since the Inheritance trilogy, but Murtagh suffers the same issues that the other books do.
The books starts out okay, very much with a typical TTRPG introductory encounter, and we see some improvement with worldbuilding, but once Murtagh

goes to Nal Goroth, everything falls apart and it drags.
The work would have been much stronger if the cult was actually believable. If Bachel had actually convinced Murtagh that he would have had a place among the draumer and given him reasons to belong instead of dragging things out with nonanswers, if the *reader* questioned which side was actually the "good" side, it would have been stronger.

The power balance is also all over the place and many things are introduced only to never be brought up again. Also, Murtagh reads nearly exactly like Eragon for no good reason.
I'm left feeling that this book was forgettable, and that I never want to read something by Paolini again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

PTSD noncon drug use religious cults

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

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: Body horror, Confinement, Torture, and Blood

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

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders

jasperchandler01's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, and Murder

Moderate: Self harm and Suicidal thoughts

lizziaha's review against another edition

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

Moderate: Animal death, Abandonment, and Classism

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: Death, Gore, Violence, and Blood

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

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.

offtheraels's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Slavery, Grief, and Abandonment

Minor: Death of parent and War