Murtagh

 

Murtagh by Christopher Paolini is a YA Fantasy novel and can be read by readers between 7th and 12th grades. The book is classified under YA by Penguin Random House (n.d.)

The story follows Murtagh after the events of the original Inheritance Cycle series where he is an outcast and must atone for his past sins after being a major antagonist. Wanting to find redemption it takes him to unknown lands where he must face off against a witch that mas much more planned for the land of Alagaesia.

I chose this book because I grew up reading the Eragon books as a kid and they were a big part of developing my love od reading, but I haven't read them since childhood and have never touched this book until now. YA fantasy is a very popular genre and selecting from a long running series felt appropriate to examine. For this one in particular I chose to listen to an audiobook which is completely out of my comfort zone. After listening to it, I can't really say I comprehended it it. There's something missing when you don't have the book right in front of you and for me it was far easier to trail off rather than being sucked into the book so, I continued with the audiobook, but had the book onhand to follow to keep myself focused which made for an awkward and not very rewarding experience.

With that said for this book I wanted to focus on these three aspects, setting, pacing, and point of view

Murtagh is a second world fantasy book and as such its setting is in the fantastical. it's a large expansive world of magic, mystery, swords, and especially dragons. The opening of the book makes it clear what kind of world we are in. "The red dragon sat crouched next to him atop the rocky hill where they had landed." (Paolini, 2023). The setting is also other worldy with the use of strange names of people, places and the magic. The back of the book provides a list of names and how to pronounce them as well as a glossary to let the reader know what everything means. Setting is key in a fantasy world, you need to know where you are as soon as you start the book and Murtagh does an excellent job of this to not confuse the reader. Also, a helpful indicator of the setting is the artwork on the book that has the antihero Murtagh wearing a cloak, brandishing a sword and a red dragon centered behind him.

As for pacing, it focuses on how quickly the story moves and in the case of Murtagh, a nearly 700 page book I would say he pacing is rather slow. It's a large sprawling book that takes you to the very edges of the fantasty continent and because of this we get a rather slow start into action. What is helpful though iss the book is split into distinct sections to inform readers where we are in the story. There are five sections in total that serve as their own mini arcs. These are paced to feel like smaller stories in the larger story, but it is still a slow journey and you are meant to feel the weight of the journey as you read it.

Lastly, I wanted to look at point of view. The Eragon series is no stranger to having different points of view and Murtagh centers only one one major point of view, the title character Murtagh. However, I would argue there is a second point of view that we experience through Murtagh. His dragon, Thorn. Murtagh has a deep connection with his dragon and they can hear their thoughts, see through them and we have instances where we get into Thorn's thoughts, through Murtagh. It is a third person limited book, but there are moments through the nature of the story that allow us into the thought process of the dragon as well.

With these three aspects of this book, Murtagh gives us an intriguing setting, a slow pace and I would say one and a half point of view characters.

References

Paolini, C. (2023). Murtagh. Knopf.

Penguin Random House (n.d.) Murtagh. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/723067/murtagh-by-christopher-paolini/