• Brisingr

  • The Inheritance Cycle, Book 3
  • By: Christopher Paolini
  • Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
  • Length: 29 hrs and 34 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (18,904 ratings)

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Brisingr  By  cover art

Brisingr

By: Christopher Paolini
Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
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Publisher's summary

Winner, IRA Young Adult Choices, 2010

Don’t miss the eagerly anticipated epic new fantasy from Christopher Paolini—Murtagh, coming 11.7.23!

The Empire is at war and the stakes have never been higher in Book Three of the Inheritance Cycle, perfect for fans of Lord of the Rings! This New York Times bestselling series has sold over 40 million copies and is an international fantasy sensation.

"Christopher Paolini is a true rarity."—The Washington Post

Oaths sworn . . . loyalties tested . . . forces collide... Eragon is the greatest hope to rid the land of tyranny. Can this once simple farm boy unite the rebel forces and defeat the king? Following the colossal battle against the Empire's warriors, Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, have narrowly escaped with their lives. Still, there is more adventure at hand for the Rider and his dragon, as Eragon finds himself bound by a tangle of promises he may not be able to keep.

When unrest claims the rebels and danger strikes from every corner, Eragon must make choices—choices that will take him across the Empire and beyond, choices that may lead to unimagined sacrifice.

©2008 Christopher Paolini (P)2008 Listening Library

Critic reviews

"Christopher Paolini is a true rarity." (The Washington Post)

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What listeners say about Brisingr

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    14,946
  • 4 Stars
    2,854
  • 3 Stars
    778
  • 2 Stars
    210
  • 1 Stars
    116
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    12,138
  • 4 Stars
    2,021
  • 3 Stars
    499
  • 2 Stars
    88
  • 1 Stars
    85
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    12,354
  • 4 Stars
    1,867
  • 3 Stars
    484
  • 2 Stars
    130
  • 1 Stars
    67

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Saphira sounds like Grover after puberty

This book is an absolute gem, a must-read for anyone who might enjoy the genre. It has everything, adventure, magic, romance, humor, suspense, surprise -- all of the elements that make this the kind of story you want to read over and over again. The narration is very good, except for one vital flaw. The interpretation of one of the lead characters, Saphira the dragon, is way off base, and it ruins the story. I thought I'd start this audio book from the end and work my way back since I've read the book many times, and thought this would be another way to enjoy it. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Read, read, read the book.

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42 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Too much

As a fan of the series, I expected a bit more action, a bit more information and not so much detail. This one could definitely be abridged by several hours. I'm about half way through the audiobook, and am having a tough time finding a reason to keep riveted to it.

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27 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Too Long

Robert Heinlein once said that a good writer must be able to tell his/hers story in as few words as possible. This was once called editing. If you do not have the ability to delete whole chapters for the benefit of the story you do not have a story to tell. This book should have been cut by at least 200 pages. Even Gerard Doyle was sounding tired at the end. I had great praise for Christopher Paolini after Eldest. I felt that he had grown as a writer, but his editor is just plain awful. And after hearing the bubble headed MTV voice of his "editor" I can see that Christopher Paolini's only hope for a future is to get a serous editor that has more experience then he has.

This said I am giving the book 3 stars because it is not a terrible read (listen). Mr. Paolini has brought us a good book, I am just sorry to see such talent being manipulated for the publishers good.

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21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brisingr

My favorite character in this book has to be the dragon, Saphira. She is portrayed as so caring for Eragon. The bond is immeasurable. I have enjoyed following the two of them through all of their adventures. I look forward to the next book series to see what happens.

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20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent as always

Great detail, great story lines. Can't wait for the next part. Plus I love Gerard Doyle's animation of the characters. His voice is the best ever!

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

greed

I loved the first two books and eagerly awaited this, the third and final installment of the famous Eragon trilogy. Unfortunately this is not the end. Evidently there will be another book. This book covers no ground. Most of it is mindless rambling or filling just to stretch out the adventure for another book. If Paolini is a great writer, he will write other great books with different characters, why does he see fit to drag Eragon out until he pulls the character down from one of present day literary greatness to a mediocre after thought. Greed is the only answer I can think of. It is such a let down and such a shame I spent 2 credits on a book I could skip completely with the exception of maybe three sentences and pick right back up with the next.

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Keeps getting worse

I enjoyed the first book, tolerated Eldest, and hate this one. The things that annoyed me in the first book just keep getting worse. Paolini strips the magic out of magic and the mysterious romance out of adventure. He insists on explaining and analyzing everything endlessly. He is unceasingly introspective, and lacks the moral authority to kill his enemies without suffering sleepless nights of recrimination. What a whimp. I seem to be identifying the author with the main character, but I have little doubt that he does himself. The dialog in this book drones on endlessly, interspersed with pointless exposition on minutia that I suppose was intended to add color, but succeeds only in adding bulk. It will leave you praying for some action. Paolini needs to get himself a cheeseburger with everything on it, a girlfriend, and a job digging ditches so he can learn what life is like in the real world. Then he will be able to put some color into his writing.

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Potential never realized

Emotionally flat, with the occasional anthill or small valley, this book leaves you with nothing. Unable to capitalize on his earlier success and grow, this installment by the author lacks the depth and range that make a good premise into a great novel.

Instead it is a tiresome plodding series of events that do not flow, and characters whose motivations lack the ring of authenticity. His world has elements that are interesting in and of themselves. It is a place of magic, and mystical creatures, love, war and strife, things that almost always make for a good escape.

That is why it got three stars.

That he took those elements and made a hash of it is disappointing to say the least. If you are interested in those sorts of worlds, Goodkind, R. Jordan (RIP), and George R.R. Martin are genuine masters, even if they have the occasional flaw.

If you read the first two novels of this series, you could take this one or leave it without gaining or missing out.

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

I don't want to be too hard on the book but...

Now this is a book that is just being drawn out WAY too long if you ask me. This particular title in the book I found almost irrelevant and listening to the final one in the series before writing this review basically confirms to me that the author was simply bidding for time or had no idea how to continue with the book. I truly think that this book in particular was the author's desire to either stall for time to think of what else to do with the book or simply milk it for all it's worth. My take on it.... It was a combination of both and this was absolutely positively no worth it....

The narration in this book which normally for me is pretty good but seeing that the story for me was just a whole bunch of useless fodder got downright annoying to me after a while. He did the best he could do considering of course, but irrespective of his wonderful inflections and great tone if the story itself is annoying you chances are some of that will seep over to the narration.

As for the story itself, normally I would say that this book sets up well for the final book in the series however there wasn't much added to this book for me to say "Yes! This was completely and utterly necessary", instead I kept hoping they would get on with the story. Yes there were some interesting battles and whatnot but hardly impressive or noteworthy enough in the grand scheme of things to think that it required a book for itself. I found myself, at the end of the book, feeling unfulfilled.

I am still trying to figure out how or why this book was as long as it was and (in my mind) so irrelevant. I can hardly remember most of the happenings in this book and were you to ask me to give you a play by play of this particular book I couldn't (which is just plain sad if you ask anyone who knows me).

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Get on with it!

Ok, so I'm actually really impressed with with the author. Sure it's obviously that he borrowed a little too much from LOTR and Star Wars but I can forgive that for a good story, which it is.

That being said. The major problem with this series is that instead of going into detail about the things that are very important to the story, the author seems to talk about everything forever just to prove that he can make this place real for you.

The major events of the book are great but they are interrupted by very long, seemingly unimportant plot lines that make the story drag on. In this book's case, it was forced into two books when it clearly should have been one. This is the first book I would ever say that I think I would have enjoyed an abridged version more. However, it is worth the read if you can take it.

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13 people found this helpful