antishurtugal_reborn | Murtagh Group Spork: Chapter Assignments, Part II (Reply)

Part I of Murtagh dragged, but it was, all things considered, mercifully short. Now we’re getting into the meat of the book. Unfortunately, when you actually get into it, the meat is mostly just fat that should have been trimmed off.

In our initial discussions, Toryll, Epistler, and I called this section of the book a video game side quest. Upon reflection, though, I think that’s underselling it. This isn’t a side quest that you can safely skip and never worry about again. No, it’s one of those quests that’s not technically a side quest because you need to complete it in order to progress the plot, but that has absolutely nothing else to do with said plot. It’s a quest that holds the plot hostage. And it compounds: to complete the should-be-a-sidequest, Murtagh has to complete a whole other sidequest, and then a whole other one, and it just spirals into a padded cell of irrelevance.

This part of the book is also where we really see Paolini hit Murtagh with the failure stick. If you thought he was dumbed down before, wait until you see him almost lose a fight to a werecat child.

Yes, that is a thing that happens.

A few chapters have already been claimed here, but as there are quite a few more than last section, there are several still up for grabs. Feel free to take one or two for yourself!

Part II: Gil’ead

Hostile Territory - Ultimate_Cheetah

Questions for a Cat - SnarkbotAnya

Barrow-Wights - Epistler

Fish Tales - SnarkbotAnya

Muckmaw - Epistler

Heave and Toil - Scales

In Defense of Lies - Torylltales

Masks - Epistler

Uniforms - minionnumber2

Softly Creeping… - Ultimate_Cheetah

The Door of Stone - SnarkbotAnya