Brisingr: Christopher Paolini

I recently finished reading Brisingr by Christopher Paolini.  Brisingr is the the third installment of the Inheritance Cycle and continues the stories of Eragon and Saphira, Roran and Katrina and the other villagers from Carvahall, Nasuada, the leader of the Varden, and Arya, the elf princess.  In this book Eragon and Saphira have already left the comfort and safety of the elf city of Ellesmera to join the Varden in Surda and continue the fight against Galbatorix and the Empire.

Shortly after the book begins, Nasuada sends Eragon to the clanmeet of the dwarves to observe and possibly help move along the choosing of a new king for the dwarf nation.  Saphira stays with the Varden to help stave off the possibility that Galbatorix will attack.  While with the dwarves, Eragon is attacked by one of the dwarf clans, which allows Orik to win over the rest of the clan leaders and become the king of the dwarves.  Once a king is chosen, Eragon calls for Saphira to come for the coronation.  After the coronation, she fulfills her promise to Hrothgar to mend the Star Saphire, although she adds her own touch and lines the petals of the Rose with gold.  After the coronation is complete, Eragon and Saphira return to Ellesmera to consult with their teachers Oromis and Glaedr regarding something Murtagh said during their first fight.  While there, Eragon learns the truth about his parentage.  Who is mother really was and that Morzan was not his father, but instead it was Brom.  Saphira shares a memory that Brom asked her to hold for Eragon until he learned the truth.  Once they have learned everything they need to know, Eragon and Saphira return to the Varden and help defeat the warriors at Feinster.

While Eragon and Saphira are absent, Nasuada sends Roran on several forays into the Empire to collect information about troop movements and to stop shipments of provisions to the Empire's troops.  On his second trip into the Empire, Roran directly disobeys his commanding officer and although he saves the lives of those men he was commanding as well as his commanding officer, Nasuada has to punish him for the disobedience.  Roran receives 50 lashes on the back as his punishment and then Nasuada has him healed and gives him a command of his own since she can ill afford to have him disobey again since he is the cousin of the only free dragon rider.

The story ends with the death of Oromis and Glaedr at the hands of Murtagh and Thorn and the Varden on the march towards Galbatorix's capital city.

I truly enjoyed reading this book and would and have recommend it to my friends and family to read.  I would give this book 5 hearts.  I can't wait for the last book in the cycle to come out in November.  If you are interested in checking these books out for yourself, or looking for other information about Christopher Paolini's imaginary world, visit the official site here.

If you've read any of these books, I'd love to hear your take on them.

Sons of Encouragement: The Warrior

The story of the The Warrior, is Francine Rivers' interpretation of the life of Caleb.  Caleb was the son of Jephunneh, who was a descendant of Esau.  Caleb's ancestors made an alliance with the tribe of Judah and at some point married daughter's of Judah making Caleb half Edomite, half Hebrew.

The book begins during the plagues of Egypt and follows Caleb and his family through the Exodus, the wanderings in the Sinai wilderness, the conquering and settling of Canaan..  Caleb stands behind Joshua through thick and thin and is often the solitary voice counseling Israel to follow the commands of God.

Rivers' does an incredible job of showing the growth of Caleb's character.  The changes that Caleb experiences throughout life, and especially at the end of his life show a remarkable persistence for loving God and his commands with his whole heart.

Again, this is definitely a book that I would recommend to friends.  I love the way she writes and incorporates Scripture throughout the story.  She has a wonderful talent for weaving scriptural truths with fictional writing that makes a story complete.

On a completely different note, since my sister and brother-in-law are visiting from AZ and they brought Brisingr by Christopher Paolini, I will be taking a break from Sons of Encouragement to read that book before they head home.

Sons of Encouragement: The Priest

Francine Rivers' book The Priest in the Sons of Encouragement series tells the story of the Exodus of Israel and the wanderings in the wilderness from the perspective if Aaron.  It is a very unique perspective.  Rivers explores Aaron's resentment towards Moses while growing up on opposite sides of the "railroad tracks" for lack of a better phrase.  Aaron the slave, and Moses the Prince of Egypt.  She goes on to explore the attitudes of Aaron, Miriam, and the other Hebrews when Moses leaves the palace of Pharaoh to live and work alongside them and then further explores Aaron's frustrations, anger, and bitterness aimed at the Hebrew people who complained and whined while in the wilderness all the while forgetting all of the blessings that Yahweh had given them.  Ultimately, Rivers explores the resentment and then acceptance of not being allowed into the Promised Land for his part in the rebellion against God's laws.

So far, this series is off to a great start!  I can't wait to continue reading about some of the lesser known Biblical Heroes.  The Heroes who often go unnoticed because they were behind the "Great" men of the Bible.

This is definitely a must read, one I will read again and again.  I LOVE how Rivers accurately depicts scripture in a way that makes it come alive.  This story, although only the first of the five in the book, definitely gets 5 hearts from me.

New Blog

Since I was spending so much time on my personal blog putting ratings on the books I was/am reading, I decided to try this out... This way, I'll only really be updating every time I finish reading a book.  We'll see how it goes.

Here's what I'm reading right now:

Sons of Encouragement ~ Francine Rivers

There are five different books in this book, so I plan to review each individual book as I finish them.

Hope you enjoy.