I was a big fan of the original Inheritance cycle. It ranks among my very favorite book series, right up there near Harry Potter. So when I heard that Paolini was returning to Alagaesia with Murtagh, I was understandably excited. Shortly following its release, I acquired Murtagh on audiobook through Amazon and got to listening!
I would love to start spouting forth praise for Murtagh, heralding it as the best Inheritance entry yet, and it seems that many have called it that. Indeed, I tend to have high praise for whatever book I just read, as a general rule. But Murtagh was actually much more of a mixed bag for me. Let's start with the positives.
Positive - The Third and Final Act
The last act of this novel is by far its strongest. Full of intense struggle, strong character work, and compelling action, This section of the book is nearly as compelling as I had hoped the entire book would be. The finale is satisfying and the falling action is handled nicely, with hints at a larger conflict set in motion by the events of Murtagh.
Positive - Murtagh's Character Development
By the end of this novel, I feel like I know Murtagh as well as or better than any other character in the world of Alagesia. Paolini's narrow focus reaps rewards in the closeness the reader achieves with the story's protagonist. Spending so much time with Murtagh in this critical series of events in his life, the reader builds sympathy for his plight and empathy for his overarching concerns and struggles. Thorn also becomes a much more multifaceted and fleshed out character over the course of the novel.
Positive - Swords
I don't know what it is or how he does it, but Christopher Paolini knows how to write about swords. The forging at the end of Brisingr was legendary. Paolini carries that over with some good sword action in Murtagh, and it works beautifully.
Unfortunately, I felt that the book also had some glaring weaknesses that brought down the story as a whole. Here are the negative aspects of the novel from my point of view:
Negative - Pacing
Murtagh can be very, very slow. There was an entire section in the middle where I felt almost no desire to pick it back up and start listening again, because things just didn't feel like they were moving along. Paolini loves to dwell on descriptive language without particular purpose for the story, and on the thoughts and musings of his protagonist long after the reader has lost interest. At multiple points I felt like I was reading an early draft that had yet to be tightened up by a good editor. There are times when a plot device requires great urgency, and our hero approaches it in an almost comically thoughtful and leisurely way. The book evokes very little urgency overall. Murtagh and Thorn muse extensively about where to go and what to do. As a result, we don't get the sense that we need to be overly concerned about what course of action they eventually choose. Early in a fantasy novel, I think it's important to establish the critical and momentous nature of events.
Negative - Lack of Investment
Murtagh fails to evoke investment in the protagonist's struggles for the first two-thirds of the book. Part of the reason is that the early challenges faced by Murtagh seem forced, more like video game mini-quests than organic happenings in the real world. One plot device requires Murtagh to retrieve an item... so that he can defeat an enemy... so that he can impress a captain... so that he can gain entry to a group... so that he can gain access to a room... so that he can rescue a character... so that he can receive information... all just so that he can locate the actual antagonist of the story. The novel labors upon this particular sequence of events for what feels like an eternity.
Often times, Murtagh's stated personality traits are juxtaposed with his actions in a disorienting way. We finish hearing about how Murtagh is determined to cling to his freedom, and then watch as he voluntarily submits to the control of an adversary. Thankfully, his whishy-washiness in the earlier chapters is eventually replaced with a firm resolve that I found refreshing. But all the head-scratching in the first two acts really brings down the story as a whole.
Negative - Godlessness
Murtagh is a truly godless novel. We've seen it in Paolini's earlier work but it bears repeating - the protagonists of Alagesia see themselves as the closest thing there is to a god deserving of fear, love, and trust. The most profound and climactic character moments in Murtagh all revolve around self-discovery and pursuing one's personal freedom. Murtagh and Thorn seek to live above and apart from all rule and authority, and they do not desire the mercy of a forgiving God, even though their past misdeeds beg and require such a solution. Rather, they resolve all their existential problems simply through introspection and life experience. The only higher being in the novel actually turns out to be the budding new villain - a fitting microcosm for Paolini's conception of god.
Negative - Stupidity
It would take me some time to recall all the times when this book made me ask myself, "Why is he acting so stupid?" I am willing to suspend disbelief when characters make foolish decisions for the furtherance of the plot. But Murtagh takes this to a whole new level, especially for a character with so much experience dealing with the schemes of the bad guys in the past.
Murtagh enters location after location with no plan, no preparation, no store of magical energy, and no rest. Murtagh meets the big new villain and immediately eats her food, drinks her wine, and then sleeps in the bed she offers. Strange behavior for a character who is supposedly fiercely independent. Murtagh abandons Thorn over and over, sometimes to satisfy trivial curiosities. Murtagh declines countless opportunities for escape and assistance, even in dire danger. Murtagh seems obsessed with courtesy and politeness, even when dealing with obvious enemies. He can be a very frustrating character to get behind.
To conclude, I have to give Murtagh a final score of 6.5/10. A good editor could have brought it up to a 7.5, and a more compelling basic story would have put it even higher. But as it stand, a score of 65% seems about right.
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