Eldest and Brisingr (The Inheritance Cycle #2 and #3) by Christopher Paolini

Amy            

Eldest

Another exciting installment of the Eragon series.  I continue to enjoy the story. I am unhappy about what the cover picture gives away but it is another pretty cover. I was happy that the reason for the title was finally provided near the end--THAT was a good revelation.  There isn't much more to say.  The story continues to be engaging, the characters are engaging, and the adventures are engaging. Therefore, I'm in!

Again, I listened to the audio book and Gerard Doyle did an A+ job at narration.


Brisingr

The saga continues but this installment could have been shorter!  The first half of this novel really dragged.  I never thought I’d get through the section that takes place in Farthen Dur. Christopher Paolini chose to tell us all the dwarves’ individual names and characteristics which were completely irrelevant to the story arc.  What a slog it was to get through it! And, before that, we had to be stuck in Helgrind while Eragon delayed and internally debated about what to do with Sloan.  And then Eragon’s decision seemed cruel to me.  It’s moments like this when I can see the young age of the author and his lack of life experience.  I sure hope Sloan plays an important part in the story later or I’ll be furious about all the effort wasted on him in the story.

The book finally made some forward motion and the ending was exciting.  I’m still not sure what happened at the Menoa Tree but I guess we’ll find out in the next book.  There were some cool discoveries and adventures in the second half and I’m anxious to read more and find out what happens to "my friends".

I mostly listened to the audio book. Like the first two novels, it was narrated by Gerard Doyle and he continues to do a good job.  In fact, when I was reading the novel myself (my audio book loan at the library timed out), I thought some of it was a bit hokey until I imagined Gerard voicing the characters.  I do believe he adds to my enjoyment of Eragon’s story. And his voicing of Nar Garzhvog, Leader of the Urgals, was difficult to do, I’m sure.  But, he did a great job. I’ll give him an A+.