Jin

Brisingr is the third installation of the Inheritance Cycle.
Following the events from Eldest, Eragon and Saphira continue their battle against the Empire.

The book is fine. I suppose that after reading the first two books, I've gotten used to Paolini's style of writing: Elaborate, detailed, elegant and convoluted, yet slow, long-winded and unnecessarily complicated, to the point where I'm starting to suspect Paolini is using very niche / rare words, just to show off his English vocabulary.

I really enjoyed reading Saphira's perspective, as I imagine this might be difficult, considering Saphira is a dragon and not a human.

Whether round-ear, pointed-ear, horned, or short, two-legs seemed addicted to dithering

She imagined how the light must make her scales sparkle and how those who saw her circling in the sky must marvel at the sight, and she hummed with pleasure, content in the knowledge that she was the most beautiful creature in Alagaësia, for who could hope to match the glory of her scales; and her long, tapering tail; and her wings, so fair and well formed; and her curved claws; and her long white fangs, with which she could sever the neck of a wild ox with a single bite? [...] No, she was the most stunning creature in Alagaësia, and that was as it should be

Inheritance is the final installation of the original Inheritance Cycle (ignoring the latest Murtagh book).

It's frankly a very surprising book, and it has exceeded all expectations I had: The dialogue had significantly improved, as they feel more human-like and are more grounded to reality. Furthermore, this book seems to have an ever moving plot, with lots of different stuff happening and lots of threads / issues to resolve, which Paolini does splendidly.

The ending is surprising, yet very poetic: The redemption of Murtagh and Thorn, followed by the weakening of Galbatorix, and ultimately the killing of the Evil King.
I think it's very creative and beautiful how Eragon and the Eldunari force Galbatorix to feel and experience the emotions of his subjects. He is forced to get back in touch with the more humane part of himself, as he had entombed himself in an armor that could not be reached by anything, even no emotions. However, forcing him to feel the anguish and misery that he bestowed upon others weakened his powers, distracted him and made him vulnerable enough to be killed, which is a very creative idea and well executed by Paolini.

Furthermore, despite being long and dragging out for like a hundred pages, the epilogue was neatly done. Paolini seems to think of everything during the epilogue, from the Bridgit taking her due from Roran, to the tree in Du Eldenwarden, Sloan in Ellesmera, and ultimately staying true to Angela's prophecy from the first installation, by having Eragon and Saphira leave Alagaesia, never to return.

I think that the lack of romance between Arya and Eragon is a huge relief, as the mental anguish that Eragon's feelings caused, was too much for me as a reader. Having feelings for a century year old elf is just wayyy too weird, especially if there's barely any chemistry between the two characters whatsoever. Furthermore, Saphira having the dragon equivalent of a one-night stand with some random dragon is kinda weird as well, and I'm glad not too much time has been dedicated to that.

I like how Roran has grown from some random cousin of Eragon to the leader of Carvahall, to a captain of a battallion of the Varden. He has shown so much character development in a pretty natural way, it's nicely done by Paolini.

Ultimately, the series has achieved an excellent conclusion, with pretty much all loose ends being resolved, yet sufficient stuff left to write spin-offs and/or sequels (which already exist at the time of typing this review).

So. Much. Potential.

While the universe in Eragon is filled to the brim with clichés and it's a mix of Lord of The Rings, Star Wars and Harry Potter, it's still an incredible universe.

Paolini has obviously put a lot of thought into building his world, and has seemed to have developed two custom languages as well.

However, while this is great and all, the storytelling sucks. The story is great, but the way it is conveyed is awful and it makes it difficult to read. The concept of “Show don't tell” doesn't seem to have taken root in Paolini's mind, as he continuous to write unnecessarily long-winded sentences that wear me down. Furthermore, he seems to have this irrational focus on irrelevant topics, and deems it necessary to describe every single detail within a room / space. I've learned to simply skim over it, because it's tires me out.

Things like “they then proceeded to discuss strategy for a couple of minutes” are maddening to me. JUST SHOW ME THAT THEY DISCUSS IT INSTEAD OF SAYING THAT THEY DISCUSS IT.
Show don't tell >:(

Furthermore, the relationship with Arya is incredibly cringe, inappropriate and it makes me want to delete the ebook instantly whenever Eragon is lamenting his feelings again. Like, bro, she's a century old and there is no chemistry whatsoever. Eragon just thinks she's hot and sexy, but personality wise there is nothing appealing about her. Furthermore, their relationship is just awkward and the only reason Arya tolerates Eragon, is because she needs him. Ugh, I could write another couple paragraphs about this bs, but I won't waste my time on this.

Anyway, 2 stars for the world building, 1 star for the story, but the dialogue is just awful, the relationships are cringe and the execution of the story is quite disappointing.

Ecotopia is a political fictional literary work, from the 1970s.

While the car became ever more popular, fossil fuels increasing their grip on society and anyone suspected of “communism” getting arrested by the CIA/FBI, there was also a minor and progressive counter-movement, whose main achievements are things like civil rights legislation and abortion legalization. From that same movement, this book seems to be born, as it describes an unthinkable and rather unimaginable society, which is a polar opposite from the U.S.

While profit margins, dividend and GDP are the main goals of the capitalism, Ecotopia describes a society where these concepts are frivolous. Instead, the wellbeing and happiness of the people are the first and foremost priority, as workers own companies, teachers not only teach, but own the schools and the big government is replaced by more autonomous city states.

Generally speaking, I liked this book. It carefully and intricately draws a painting of a green, progressive country, where everyone seems careless, everything is recycled, biodegradable and instead of people abusing nature for its own goals, the people work together with nature, as they acknowledge that they need a healthy ecosystem in to survive and progress.

However, my main issues with this book is the unrealistic setting, as I doubt this could ever actually happen. Furthermore, I dislike the promiscuity in this novel, because I consider it to be irrelevant. Sure, I guess people in Ecotopia are more sexually liberated, since they're progressive and have freed themselves from the shackles of conservative puritans who gasp and faint at the mere mention of the word ‘sex'. However, the protagonist's sexual relations with other characters is annoying, obnoxious, irrelevant, long-winding, sleep-inducing and ultimately just a gross miscalculation, as it does not contribute in any way, shape or form to the overall description of Ecotopia, and merely seems to serve the author's barely disguised fetishes (e.g. having sex with a nurse).

Some quotes that I liked and bookmarked:

Besides, that's half the fun of relating to each other- trying to work through different perspectives, seeing how other people feel about things.

Our point of view is that if something's worth doing, it ought to be done in a way that's enjoyable- otherwise, it can't really be worth doing.

Later I learned that Ecotopians think photography has a dark-magic side, as a way of trying to freeze time- to cheat biology and defy change and death, so it would be especially out of place at such a time.

People take pains to assuage the feelings of those members who have had to give ground in order to achieve the consensus

Aside from personal articles, no Ecotopian can now inherit any property at all!

Well, usually this indicates a social problem, not a medical one,” he said. “So we try to help the person change his life rather than his body chemistry, which is probably working fine.

But apparently most schools also have small factories. In the Crick workshop I found about 20 boys and girls busily making two kinds of small wooden articles—which turned out to be birdhouses and flats for seedlings

Is that what love is, just a crazy lure and prelude to pain?

Ecotopians spend a good deal of time and energy preparing themselves for death. It is even said that, like American Indians, they can select the day of their death, and almost will themselves to die

Ecotopia teaches us—it taught me, as 1 was writing it—that it is okay to dream, to relish turning accepted ideas on their heads, to imagine being happy, to enjoy mutually supportive relations with our fellow sentient beings—and even with our government.

It's a pretty short book, and I read it in one reading session.

I think it's got some pretty entertaining stories and the lesson of the story The Worm is pretty intriguing as well; all of us will encounter a foe we cannot best, and we can merely accept to live with it, instead of trying to defeat it.

4/5.