A Dragon Rider’s Journey
It’s been quite a while since I read the fascinating tale of the young Dragon Rider, Eragon, and I was finally able to come to an end with this astonishing novel. The novel, consisting of merely 748 pages, was indeed a long and tedious journey for me, but throughout the novel, I was able to see and imagine some of the tedious tasks Eragon had to face. After completing a trilogy of the Inheritance Series, I felt that I’ve achieved something valuable since I could see the life of Eragon all packed into merely three novels, approximately 2000 pages in total. However, the fourth one is still imminent so that is when the world will finally be able to view the epilogue of Eragon’s life. However, in “Brisingr,” there were many aspects revealed which have been concealed from previous episodes. Also some twists and unexpected outcomes such as Eragon and Saphira’s victory against Murtagh and Thorn (considering the fact that Eragon lost to Murtage in the previous series “Eldest”).
By looking at my enthusiasm and love for this book, it is predictable that I am in total, complete love with the book! I have mostly enjoyed the suspense and action which occured often in the book In addition, I also enjoyed reading about how Eragon solved his way through certain enigmatic situations and handled his internal conflicts wisely. Besides the life of Eragon, the book also constantly switched the settings back and forth by showing Eragon’s current actions and later changing to a scene which occured within The Varden or Roran’s conflicts. This way, I was able to see the life of both Eragon and other characters, although it was fairly confusing to cycle through so often.
However, if there is something to be criticized from this novel, it is the lack of the effective use of literary devices. If I had to pick some out, it would be the use of imagery. In fact, Christopher Paolini has done very well by implementing the use of imagery when explaining the background of the novel. For example, the environmental features would usually be very detailed and would include methods of metaphors or similes to create a contrast between the environment and an object which is seemingly more familiar to the readers. Nevertheless, the novel still included very few examples of literary devices which would be the only and major flaw of this novel.
The novel is indeed an exciting story. It is more than just a story of fantasy, but it carries a large theme of heroism and responsibility as well as how to handle pressure. In the novel, it is well demonstated by Eragon how to carry on the responsibility despite the immense pressure on him. “Brisingr” is indeed a fabulous work of writing and I would recommend it to anyone of any age to read it what so ever.
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