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pangolin20A good day, everyone, and welcome back to the Murtagh group spork with “Confrontation with a Cat”! We’ve last left off with Murtagh going back to Carabel after Silna escaped him.
( Less confrontation, more information, please! )
torylltalesMurtagh, part 2 chapter 11: The Door of Stone
( Read more... )
Next up: Part 2 Chapter 12: Pathways Into Darkness, with the one and only Epistler.
minionnumber2Hello, fine travelers. I can’t believe we’ve finally gotten to my turn. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to finish this sporking. I can't believe Paolini still has a career after his last three books. I’m trying my best to make sure there are no major holes in this one, but we'll see how it goes.
( Read more... )
Up next we have
ultimate_cheetah with Softly Creeping. That one's a doozy so good luck.
torylltalesI hope this is the chapter where Paolini apologises to his readers for lying about the eldunari in the Vault of Souls. Probably not, though.
Next up: Chapter VIII, “Masks”, with Epistler.
And don't forget to check out the Part 2 chapter list, as a reminder of which chapters have been claimed by whom.
pangolin20Welcome back to the Murtagh spork, everyone, with chapter 6 of part II: “Heave and Toil”!
( Murtagh cheated. Murtagh won. )
snarkbotanyaWho wants to bet this whole arc, or at least the fact that it centers around a fish, came out of the pun that is this chapter’s title?
Our last chapter ended with Murtagh running away from the scene of his completely unnecessary grave-robbing. This is a much better way to end a chapter than Paolini’s favored method of Protagonist Unconsciousness. For best results, it should be followed up with a) a scene break to the character post-escape, or b) a continuation of the scene where they must now evade pursuers.
Paolini picks neither of these.
( Paoliini's ability to come so very close to the mark and yet fall so far is almost impressive, really. )
The more I read of this section of the book, the more unnecessary it feels. Knowing what lies beyond it, though, I can’t help but wonder whether I’ve been dragging my feet on these sporks because there’s worse to come. But with a new year coming in and a new book apparently in the works, it’s high time to ramp this up.
Until next time, my friends.
snarkbotanyaWelcome back to #NotMyMurtagh, all. When we last left off, our protagonist had attempted to contact his not-so-secret admirer Ilenna, but instead roused suspicion with a mage whose description sounded like Lucius Malfoy got Isekai’d into Alagaësia. I’m not sure whether that would be an upward, downward, or lateral move. Anyway, Murtagh then got bailed out by some guy who claimed to be sent by the werecat Carabel, and has now followed the purported messenger into a dark tunnel.
( This chapter could have been a section. )
Regardless, this chapter is over, and now we’re moving on from getting reminded of Star Wars by “younglings” to getting reminded of LotR by “Barrow-Wights.”
Spoiler: there are no barrow-wights in the next chapter, nor does the word “wights” occur at any point in the actual prose text. But I’ll let Epistler talk about that.
Until next time, my friends.
ultimate_cheetah
Welcome to Part Two, everyone. I personally think this is one of the better parts of the book, because Murtagh is actually doing something each chapter, and not just sitting around a village. However, this is where the book gets disjointed, with Murtagh having to go from place to place in order to get something done. I think this works to the book’s detriment, both because it makes the plot needlessly complicated and harder to follow (with step 1 of this subplot being to rob a grave, step 2 being to catch a fish, step 3 being to join the guard, etc., etc.), and second, because it takes away Murtagh’s agency in this book. Without further ado, let’s begin.
snarkbotanyaPart 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
Pathways into Darkness - Epistler
Confrontation with a Cat - Scales
Duel of Wits - SnarkbotAnya
The Tangle Box - Torylltales
Aftermath - ignoresandra
Exile - Ultimate_Cheetah
snarkbotanyaWell, I’ve certainly been dragon my feet long enough…
*is promptly righteously keelhauled for that pun, resulting in another week of delay to recover from near drowning*
Yeah, it’s been kind of a busy year. I haven’t had a week without something unexpected coming up to mess with my schedule for a good couple months, and it was already a bit busy. Sorry it took so long to get this done, but I will try to get back in the saddle going forward.
In any case. Not My Murtagh. Chapter Five. Dragonflight. Let’s fucking go.
( Let's see how much #NotOurBoys are dragon THEIR feet )
Who’s up for the next chapter is still up in the air, as the chapters for Part II haven’t been allocated yet. I will get the chapter assignment post up shortly so that we can all stake our claims. Once more into the breach, my friends.
