Brisingr (Inheritance, Book 3)

I loved this book, but this is not a children's book. As I read other reviews and people calling it a children's book, I am amazed. Yes, the story is fantasy, and a great concept for children, but there is way too much gory detail in these books. The opening of brisinger with the gory sacrifices to the Ra'zacs is not something I would want my child to hear. It would give them nightmares. The first book with the infant on the spear left a terrible image in my mind, and right then I quit reading the books to my kids and just read them myself. Once again,I love the books, but as a parent I want to warn other parents out there that these books are very bloody, and scary for children. Great for older teens and adults. NOT a children's book.

If I had realized when I picked up this book that it wasn't the final installment, I wouldn't have bought it. I loved Paolini's first book, his second was a bore (but had a brief bright spot of action and conflict at the end), and this third installment was just as bad as the second. When I finished the final page of book three only to find out I have to wait for a book four to discover how it ends, I was extremely annoyed.

In his acknowledgments, Paolini says he expanded the series to four books because Brisngr ended up being more complex than he expected. The truth is, he just needed a good editor. The story isn't as much complex as it is BORING. The author provides thousands of utterly useless facts, conversations, and actions. At one point in the book he points out that one of the characters is long winded. Unfortunately, it's true of the author himself.

This could easily have been the final book (and should have been). The story does have a few, brief bright spots when the action heats up. And the author has some creative ideas. But there are only about 150 pages of worthwhile reading and they do not make up for the other 600 pages of drivel. If the author had used the other 600 pages to actually tell the story, then this book could have wrapped up the series.

I feel like I've been cheated. I won't be buying the fourth book and I can't recommend this one.

I love the "Eragon" Series and am really satisfied with this installment. It has plenty of twist and turns and more than enough action. I suggest this book along with "Eldest" and "Eragon" However good this book is I do suggest you read the aforementioned books first in order to fallow the story properly.

I am a big fan of this series but somewhere about the 200 page mark I began to lose interest.
Was the editor asleep at the wheel?
Large sections of this book could have been removed without any effect on the overall story. Did we really need to know how all the individual dwarves voted? Did we really have to have two long winded sword making scenes? What was with all the random battles?
Where did all the interesting characters go? A scant few pages of Angela(and most of those were poorly written) and even Ayra, the supposed love interest, pretty much disappeared for most of the book.
I finished the book with the conclusion that this had been written for the money or for the writer's ego. Pity.

In my opinion if one skips Brisingr and moves directly from part 2 to part 4, not much would be missed. Brisingr can be summarized in 2 sentences related to Eragon's new weapon and the secrets revealed to him. Otherwise the overall plot would not be affected in the least if this part never existed.