Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Murtagh

This was difficult to rate because as a standalone, I'd give this at least 4 stars. Compared to the Eragon-saga however, I was a bit disappointed. I still love the world and enjoyed the glimpses you get of Alagaësia post-Galbatorix, but I'm not sure I enjoy the direction the plot is taking with an even bigger (literally), even more evil next villain for Murtagh to defeat. It felt a bit... cheap. The book also felt very slow, even if it was interesting throughout. Still, I'm invested now and will continue reading once the next book comes out.

Content Warnings

queenpebbles's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

amaranthine_dragon's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Really nice to be back in Alegasia [sic]. Like other reviews have said, there was a lot of introspection and some of the action felt like a zelda quest (here's a goal! But to get there you must do ____ and to do that you need to collect _____).

The third quarter of the book was my favorite in terms of character development and interactions, but while I liked the climax, I thought there were a few places where the resolution could have been stronger given the setup provided.

namely: Murtagh's fear of spiders suddenly vanishing when he encounters a giant one why? And the new name of za'rok not really every being mentioned until the moment he renames the sword both sat odd with me.

There are also some lose ends despite it being a standalone, and a lot of buildup to a relatively short climax. I was impressed by how many elements played into what we already knew about the world, it made the story feel a lot tighter and kept the world interally consistent. That said, I wouldn't start with Paolini here as part of the fun of this book was the callbacks to the first series.

Content Warnings

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

Go to review page

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?

Content Warnings

daniber's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

sanctuary_in_the_pages's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

More...