Alex Richey

What I found most surprising was that the writing style stayed pretty consistent from the original novels. Paolini has grown significantly as a writer, and I love his new scifi books so much, and I expected that returning to this series would read differently. 

But it still feels like Eragon, and I like that better. It's comfy coming back to this world. And writing Murtagh and Thorn's traumas was handled well, and needed the time and experience Paolini has gained to come through so poignantly. This was a painful read, but a story worth telling. From the author note, it's clear that more stories are coming, and I'm here for each and every one of them! 

The issues I have with this might be inevitable, but I'm hopeful for where this is going. 

The pacing is lightning fast, jumping from segment to segment with almost no room to breathe. For readers already familiar with the story, this probably isn't as much of an issue, but it's my first time and I barely had time to process what was happening before the next big thing. There was also a lot of world building and info dumping, which is inevitable for the start of a series like this one. But therein lies the hope, because once we finish explaining how the world works, we finally get the story. 

Sophie is a good person and remarkably talented at most everything she does, and that's pretty boring right now. I hope to see her face situations that make her more interesting in the future. 

Beautiful, moody artwork and characters with relatable struggles. I loved how the main characters found each other and fell in love, it was so heartwarming. 

The pacing was too quick and jolted in some parts. The bullying felt melodramatic, but I don't know if that's my privilege speaking, so I'm curious how other readers felt about it. Neither ruined my enjoyment of the story, they were just noticeable enough to break immersion in a few places.