It has arrived...

Brisingr, by Christopher Paolini

The Royal Mail have kindly deliver to the Chronicler's house, a copy of Paolini's latest masterpiece, the third book in the four-book-Trilogy. It's a brick of a book, as the old Anti-Shur'tugal forums used to call it. It has yet to be opened and the Chronicler thought perhaps she should record a few thoughts on what she expects before she opens the book.

We're all aware of the very striking similarities between Paolini's work and that of Star Wars, but the reviews of both the books and especially the movie (example) have picked up on this. Whilst Paolini really can't write, he's not utterly retarded and is probably furiously trying to steer his plot away from any similarities. He's the master of retroactive continuity, rewriting the past and very reality of the setting to suit himself. We've seen him pull Great Revelations from bad-cliché-land throughout Eldest. He re-wrote an entire race (the orc-like urgals) in the last chapters of Eldest, a great Twist that, believe me, he had not even dreamt of when writing Eragon, and it shows.

Precisely what horrors will Brisingr bring? Well, besides the fact that I passionately hate the man for butchering my beloved Old Norse in the title (see here for full rant) and as much so for what he did in creating the Ancient Language.

So, what with Paolini actively working to topple ideas of what is going to happen next, some of the Star Wars ideas probably won't float. But I'm fairly sure there will be plenty of creepy love between Arya and Eragon, probably even more ignoring of Saphira as she is treated like an extension of her rider. I'm confident that Paolini's world-building skills won't have gotten better and he probably hasn't taken a course in medieval economics. His language will be even more overwrought and laboured than before. He may or may not have bought a new thesaurus but all the classic crimes of adverb abuse and adjective lists will no doubt be committed.

Oh, and random names from mythology will happen for no good reason.

The Chronicler should probably open the book now...