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this book could be 10 hours long, but the author uses 5 sentences to explain everything

Reviewed: 01-08-25

good story, good characters. A little repetitive. Still worth listening to. It's somewhat satisfying to have an MC so overpowered.

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good story, unbearable writing style

Reviewed: 12-23-24

I made it 3 hours in before I had to give up. The author seems to have never heard of "show, don't tell." Every feeling is explained and somehow comes off as incredibly boring no matter how much action is happening. I hate being mean, but I'm a little mad that I wasted $10 and 3 hours of my life on this.

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Murtagh-Torture 2: Electric Boogaloo

Reviewed: 12-01-23

*MINOR SPOILERS* *BOOK TW: GRAPHIC TORTURE, CHILD DEATH, PTSD*
I don't know what Murtagh ever did to Christopher Paolini, but it must have been bad. A solid 2 hours of this book is just straight-up graphic torture and gratuitous trauma, including Murtagh being forced to kill children and families as they flee for their lives. I seriously considered not finishing the audiobook. It was completely unnecessary for the story and character development, especially considering Murtagh already had the darkest backstory in all of Alagesia. I kept thinking "Okay, this has been going for a while, SURELY it'll stop soon. Paolini wouldn't have the same character-defining trauma happen to them again, would he?" But oh, was I wrong. The latter third of the book read like a dark AU fanfic, where the author exalts in hurting the characters.

I normally never leave anything less than a five star review — and I still think Paolini is a fantastic author — but as a reader, I feel like my emotional investment in the characters was treated cheaply, and though the story is entirely fictional, it plays on real feelings.

For fans of the Inheritance Cycle, I still recommend listening, but employing liberal use of the next-chapter button once you feel like you don't really want to hear the main characters being tortured, anymore.

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*TW CHILD TORTURE/DEATH* I wish I hadn't listened

Reviewed: 03-31-23

(minor spoilers)
I feel like the author got to the end of the book and realized it wasn't as dark as they wanted, and proceeded to write one of the most disturbing descriptions of a torture scene I've ever read, wherein a child is mangled alive in front of his younger sibling and his mutilated, severed head used for psychological torment. Jesus f-ing Christ.

It's just so unnecessary — we already had the unbelievably tragic loss of the main character's entire family in the first book via being burned alive; the only plot point this serves is just to remind us and the main character that life is pain and it's not worth getting attached to anything. Well I'm done being attached to this story and the characters in it. There's just no point when the author treats life and love so cheaply.

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Good, but less action than previous books

Reviewed: 01-11-23

Jason's struggle with being exploited by powerful forces and shouldering too much responsibility is very compelling.... the first twenty times it comes up. After that, it's kind of gratuitous and predictable.

Very little actual plot development happens compared to the previous books. Shirtaloon didn't originally write the story to be split into novel format, so it makes sense the pacing is a little asynchronous. Still a good read, as always! I am hopeful to see more adventuring in book 9

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great story, not great narration

Reviewed: 06-21-19

I feel sorry saying this but the narration just wasn't good. I actually bought a paperback copy because I wanted to imagine the characters with bold, alive voices.
5/5 story!

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glorifies rape

Reviewed: 06-14-19

A man forcing himself on a woman against her will but of course the woman can't help but enjoy it and start loving him

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1 person found this helpful

MacLeod Andrews can not narrate women

Reviewed: 11-07-18

MacLeod Andrews does a great job with the main character and other men, but his voices for women are a calamity. Nasal and haughty, like an offensive caricature of women in the eyes of men. In the whole book there are only two women who speak and the voices are pretty much identical and absolutely unlikeable.

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I really REALLY wanted to like this book

Reviewed: 06-08-18

I love the setup and the first half of the book is enjoyable then it just takes a nosedive (flying joke). The plot loses all cohesiveness and the actions and dialogue of the characters rip through any suspension of disbelief the reader still has. In a sick attempt to give the book a serious tone, the author has the characters discover scenes of hideous cruelty climaxing in the discovery of mutilated infants left to die. These have no impact on the plot, as the characters pretty much ignore them and leave.

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SO SLOW

Reviewed: 03-08-18

Very good story but the excessive exposition combined with painfully slow and dramatic narration makes it hard to listen too. The valuable parts of the story could have been told in one third of the time.

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