Brisingr (try saying that three times fast), certainly does sound like some form of gibberish a two year old would mutter. The word, however, is the title of Christopher Paolini’s new masterpiece and third novel in the Inheritance cycle. The word Brisingr means “fire” in the ancient Elven language from the world of Alagaesia. Brisingr was first planned to be the final novel in a trilogy, but Paolini decided the book would end up much too large.
The series began with Eragon, and was followed by Eldest, no more than a year later.
The story follows a young man named Eragon who lives in a world known as Alagaesia. In the first novel Eragon discovers a small dragon egg in the woods, which later hatches and a dragon is born. Eragon raises the little dragon, soon bonds with it, and decides to name it Saphira. When the dragon finally grows, Eragon realizes he can ride it through the endless sky.
About that time a great man named Brom reveals to Eragon that there was a time when dragon riders thrived about the land, but they were thwarted by an evil sorcerer named Galbatorix. Galbatorix wanted to claim every dragon in existence for his own use, so he slaughtered all the dragon riders and stole the eggs. His rule remains a dark shadow over the land still, and Brom also reveals that the sorcerer will soon chase after Eragon and his dragon in an attempt to slay them. Brom tells them of a resistant force known as the Varden, who fight against Galbatorix, and insists they travel to their stronghold immediately.
Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, start on a journey towards the Varden and a plan to overthrow Galbatorix.
There was a movie released based on the first novel named Eragon, but it did not do the book justice. It should be taken into consideration that if you saw the movie you would be best suited to read the novel. It will grasp hold and keep you interested the entire duration of both novels; which in this day and age is tough to come by in a series.
Brisingr is set to be released in September and is applauded widely by a large, and growing, number of fans. Having read both books in the series, I personally can’t wait to begin reading the new novel and see what happens to Eragon and Saphira next. Until the release date, however, I have been reading the excerpt posted on the official site to keep my quench satisfied; so far it seems to be amazing.
