“Brisingr.” Politics, Gore and Politics (By Caiphas)

As well as doing movie reviews, I have started to do book reviews. Obviously they will get better as I learn more.

After three weeks of reading, I have finally finished Brisingr. For those not in the know, Brisingr is the third instalment in the Inheritance Trilogy (Now the Inheritance Cycle) which is essentially the “Twilight series” for guys, not story wise, but success wise. Unfortunately, for the unwise, this book tries to be too wise most of the time and looses the true flair it had when “Eragon” first hit the shelves.

The story begins with a synopsis of the previous two books, which should be the make or break point for any reader that has no patience. The synopsis actually makes it possible to start with “Brisingr” without reading the other books, but then you loose the true power of the story, which is what makes the third book interesting.

When I say interesting, I don’t mean interesting to people who aren’t into that sort of stuff. The series relies on a LOTR style backdrop, with magic, dragons, a lost race of super heroes, a mad evil king, elves, dwarves, mountains, swords and politics. Yes, there is a hell of a lot of politics in this book. These encounters with the structure of all the races leaves very little time for exploring the world or for any real action.

All the action in the book is gory. That is the book’s greatest flaw. Its action relies on the readers ability to visualise decapitation, evisceration, mutilation and all three at the same time. But even this action is sparse. With in 750 pages, not a lot of action is put down. Most of the time is spent on the politics. In fact, the book follows a pattern. The pattern goes:

politicspoliticspoliticspoliticspoliticspoliticspoliticspoliticspoliticspoliticspoli

ticspoliticsGOREpoliticspoliticspoliticspoliticspoliticspoliticspoliticspoliticsGORE

politicspoliticspoliticspoliticsTRUTHGOREDEATHEND.

But for those that have read the other books, the last few chapters really have a profound effect on the reader. Pity there are so many chapters.

Rating: 3.5/5. long but rewarding. plus Chris has a way with his stories that you never really can stop reading, no matter how soporific.

Despite all I have said about how bad the book is, I still enjoyed it. Just not as much as I had hoped I would.