I feel like the subtitle ("The seven promises of...") took over the book. Yes, I imagine this will be a set-up for the fourth (hopefully final) book, but I think Paolini's editor should have reined him in more.
Then again, the publisher
knew this would sell, after the first two books, and they can charge more for a larger book.
About a week after finishing
Brisingr, I read
Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley. I had sort of put off reading it because I think I was afraid it would be some sort of silly fantasy clone. I should have known better, considering the author. The writing was a bit odd, not nearly as polished as her usual, but the story was good and the characters were excellent. I can't remember if it was marketed as "young adult" or "teen" fiction, rather than mainstream fantasy, but I'm not convinced it's a "kid's" book. There are a lot of references to pop culture from one or more generations ago, for one thing. And though the narrator is a teen, the events and issues the story is dealing with are pretty sophisticated.
I guess I was really impressed with how
Eldest and how Paolini made the reader reconsider all the assumptions in
Eragon (e.g. the Urgals are just bad). I was hoping for another clever layer of interpretation in
Brisingr, and it just wasn't there.