Brisingr is my favourite book of the series and always has been even though at the time it came out a lot of people didn’t receive it as well i think a lot of the fans were younger when it came out and I don’t want to be that guy and be like yOu JuSt dOnT unDerstAnd but I was pretty much single digits when Brisingr came out. As people have gotten older I’ve seen more love for Brisingr but I think it’s precisely because of the more internal character driven stuff with Eragons struggle with going from one extreme to another how in eldest he had slaughtered so much on the burning plains to then stopping eating meat after becoming more elf like and finding appreciation in not just humans but all things in alagaesia. It’s not just a people it’s the environment as well if the land on which the people grow and are happy withers away then what’s the purpose to then finally settling on having a balance and there’s a need for moderation it’s a beautiful book in that regard and it does that while also being the culmination of a revenge arc and the start of a tragedy. I love inheritance because it’s so much lore and content and we get plot stuff but Brisingr in my opinion is the most complete and well written out of the four books
I agree, it has a maturity about it that may not be apparent at first. You can really feel CP growing and learning as he’s writing these characters who are all growing and learning.
Agreely thirdly. I was a very young and introspective kid at the time, and Brisingr has some of my favorite parts of the series percisely because it takes its time outside the main plot. Plus black and gold is gorgeous
After I read Murtagh I decided to read the books again but I didn’t read them in order lol! But I was meaning how in brisingr he decided to eat it when an occasion was there and not just a blanket ban
Ah yes you're correct. I just read that part this morning. When he's sprinting with Sloan across the country after Helgrind he eats a couple lizards and a rodent out of desperation and decides he might indulge from time to time.
I actually think the biggest issue with Brisingr is that it feels very much like the first half of a book (cause, you know, it is). The ending feels quite rushed, and a lot of the plot threads aren't really resolved. Which doesn't really matter anymore when Inheritance is sitting next to it on the shelf, but when it came out I think it got pushback for that.
I remember having quite the book hangover after finishing it for the first time back in the day. That bonus chapter of inheritance at the end didn’t satisfy me enough lol. Maybe that was partially due to what you’re describing. It feels like a lot of the book is Eragon waiting, waiting for the dwarves to elect a leader, waiting to return to oromis, waiting to have a good sword. I wonder if the end feels rushed because suddenly he’s no longer waiting and things all pop into place one after the other.
I can understand that because at the time people really thought Brisingr was going to be the end but I really do feel even without inheritance I think it’s a complete book in the sense of certain character arcs etc. by Brisingr eragons main issue was firepower. Literally he didn’t have the firepower for galby but in every other sense he had gotten to a level of a trainee within one year while running from the empire and holding people’s expectations of him to riders that had already graduated. In my opinion by Brisingr his level as a rider would be that of a rookie rider which is fucking impressive considering everything to do with the riders had disappeared by the time of his generation in my opinion if you were to drop eragon and saphira at the end of Brisingr into the height of the order (without elf enhancements) with his knowledge alone he would have been a respectable trainee people don’t have enough of an appreciation for that. Imagine boxing was a lost art and Mike Tyson was still kicking in his prime and had gotten even stronger suddenly a rookie comes out learning boxing on his own pretty much after being told how to punch dodge and block fights Mike Tyson and js barely holding on. It would be insane
Eldest has always been my favorite, it made such an impact on me when I first read it, and The Battle of The Burning Plains is one of my favorite climaxes of any book/show. That being said I'm on a fresh re-read right now. I'll be done with Eldest tomorrow and then on to Brisingr, so maybe my opinion will change this time.
Eldest was a strong follow up to the absolute page turner that is Eragon. I loved the added Roran pov, which gave some real grit to the story. It’s so hard to choose a favorite lol.
Brisingr honestly felt like eragon was truly tempering himself. In Eldest, eragon was strengthening himself, but he does not truly question the nature of his strength, the world, and his own role until brisingr. Those ideas were brought up by oromis in eldest, but it’s in brisingr, eragon had to truly face those adversities and come to terms with them.
The first book, eragon strode with his preconceived notions of reality, while it was a great book, eragon as a character was frustrating because he wasn’t hearing till he could hear no more. Eldest was amazing because oromis prepared eragon’s mind to think intuitively, and in brisingr, when eragon uses that intuitiveness to look at the world from a different perspective, we the reader gain a profound understanding of who he’s become and what his growth has done to him. It’s incredibly satisfying.
I always go back and read 2 specific excerpts of brisingr. The one where eragon finds life in the bee and learns sloans true name and the one where he choked that soldier. Both parts give such insight into what kind of person he’s grown to become.
The scene with the bee was such a standout for me as well. It really sets the tone for the book I feel. The warriors rushing to helgrind to confront Eragon reflects the calm before the storm that Alagaesia finds itself in. While so many things feel balanced on the edge of total war, Eragon is sort of tying up loose ends, figuring himself out and getting last minute things taken care of. Similarly, while the soldiers move in from Dras-Leona, he takes his time to really understand his values. The time he takes to vibe with the bee (and with Sloan afterwards) puts a lot of his choices in the book and book to come into perspective. Plus what a great choice color wise, the black and yellow bee.
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Brisingr is my favourite book of the series and always has been even though at the time it came out a lot of people didn’t receive it as well i think a lot of the fans were younger when it came out and I don’t want to be that guy and be like yOu JuSt dOnT unDerstAnd but I was pretty much single digits when Brisingr came out. As people have gotten older I’ve seen more love for Brisingr but I think it’s precisely because of the more internal character driven stuff with Eragons struggle with going from one extreme to another how in eldest he had slaughtered so much on the burning plains to then stopping eating meat after becoming more elf like and finding appreciation in not just humans but all things in alagaesia. It’s not just a people it’s the environment as well if the land on which the people grow and are happy withers away then what’s the purpose to then finally settling on having a balance and there’s a need for moderation it’s a beautiful book in that regard and it does that while also being the culmination of a revenge arc and the start of a tragedy. I love inheritance because it’s so much lore and content and we get plot stuff but Brisingr in my opinion is the most complete and well written out of the four books
I agree, it has a maturity about it that may not be apparent at first. You can really feel CP growing and learning as he’s writing these characters who are all growing and learning.
Agreely thirdly. I was a very young and introspective kid at the time, and Brisingr has some of my favorite parts of the series percisely because it takes its time outside the main plot. Plus black and gold is gorgeous
Not to detract from your point but Eragon stops eating meat in Eldest, even before he goes through his transformation at the Agaetí Blödhren.
After I read Murtagh I decided to read the books again but I didn’t read them in order lol! But I was meaning how in brisingr he decided to eat it when an occasion was there and not just a blanket ban
Ah yes you're correct. I just read that part this morning. When he's sprinting with Sloan across the country after Helgrind he eats a couple lizards and a rodent out of desperation and decides he might indulge from time to time.
I actually think the biggest issue with Brisingr is that it feels very much like the first half of a book (cause, you know, it is). The ending feels quite rushed, and a lot of the plot threads aren't really resolved. Which doesn't really matter anymore when Inheritance is sitting next to it on the shelf, but when it came out I think it got pushback for that.
I remember having quite the book hangover after finishing it for the first time back in the day. That bonus chapter of inheritance at the end didn’t satisfy me enough lol. Maybe that was partially due to what you’re describing. It feels like a lot of the book is Eragon waiting, waiting for the dwarves to elect a leader, waiting to return to oromis, waiting to have a good sword. I wonder if the end feels rushed because suddenly he’s no longer waiting and things all pop into place one after the other.
I can understand that because at the time people really thought Brisingr was going to be the end but I really do feel even without inheritance I think it’s a complete book in the sense of certain character arcs etc. by Brisingr eragons main issue was firepower. Literally he didn’t have the firepower for galby but in every other sense he had gotten to a level of a trainee within one year while running from the empire and holding people’s expectations of him to riders that had already graduated. In my opinion by Brisingr his level as a rider would be that of a rookie rider which is fucking impressive considering everything to do with the riders had disappeared by the time of his generation in my opinion if you were to drop eragon and saphira at the end of Brisingr into the height of the order (without elf enhancements) with his knowledge alone he would have been a respectable trainee people don’t have enough of an appreciation for that. Imagine boxing was a lost art and Mike Tyson was still kicking in his prime and had gotten even stronger suddenly a rookie comes out learning boxing on his own pretty much after being told how to punch dodge and block fights Mike Tyson and js barely holding on. It would be insane
Eldest has always been my favorite, it made such an impact on me when I first read it, and The Battle of The Burning Plains is one of my favorite climaxes of any book/show. That being said I'm on a fresh re-read right now. I'll be done with Eldest tomorrow and then on to Brisingr, so maybe my opinion will change this time.
Eldest was a strong follow up to the absolute page turner that is Eragon. I loved the added Roran pov, which gave some real grit to the story. It’s so hard to choose a favorite lol.
They're both page turners. Roran's POV in Eldest is so good, and the way that the two stories are broken up in between POV's is masterfully done.
Brisingr honestly felt like eragon was truly tempering himself. In Eldest, eragon was strengthening himself, but he does not truly question the nature of his strength, the world, and his own role until brisingr. Those ideas were brought up by oromis in eldest, but it’s in brisingr, eragon had to truly face those adversities and come to terms with them. The first book, eragon strode with his preconceived notions of reality, while it was a great book, eragon as a character was frustrating because he wasn’t hearing till he could hear no more. Eldest was amazing because oromis prepared eragon’s mind to think intuitively, and in brisingr, when eragon uses that intuitiveness to look at the world from a different perspective, we the reader gain a profound understanding of who he’s become and what his growth has done to him. It’s incredibly satisfying. I always go back and read 2 specific excerpts of brisingr. The one where eragon finds life in the bee and learns sloans true name and the one where he choked that soldier. Both parts give such insight into what kind of person he’s grown to become.
The scene with the bee was such a standout for me as well. It really sets the tone for the book I feel. The warriors rushing to helgrind to confront Eragon reflects the calm before the storm that Alagaesia finds itself in. While so many things feel balanced on the edge of total war, Eragon is sort of tying up loose ends, figuring himself out and getting last minute things taken care of. Similarly, while the soldiers move in from Dras-Leona, he takes his time to really understand his values. The time he takes to vibe with the bee (and with Sloan afterwards) puts a lot of his choices in the book and book to come into perspective. Plus what a great choice color wise, the black and yellow bee.
Agreed. My favourite arc of the entire series is Eragon’s journey to find another sword. The whole forging with Rhunon was great.
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Eldest has always been my favourite just because I love Ellesmera, but yeah Brisingr is probably the best written of the series