Let me just start with I love Murtagh. 
 He's my favorite character in the whole series. 
 However this book took me a month to swallow, and that's saying something for me. As I said in my review for Eragon, this series is a nice read. The story is nice. It's just nice. I can't say anything more. Well, I can. It's a Lord of the Rings rip-off, but oh well, nothing wrong with wanting to copy the best author ever born, yea? Well, yea there is a bit, but we'll just over look that. 
 Eragon is painted as the most gifted boy ever in this book. He meets Oromis and Glaedr, the last dragon and Rider from the old age, who have been hidden in the elves city for a century or so. Galbatorix is still in power, more powerful than ever before, and Eragon has to go to the elves to train, and that's where he meets these two. They're greatly portrayed, I'll admit. They are both written with sense - their powers and knowledge just makes sense you know? But what does not make sense that we are clear on Eragon spending barely a couple months 1 or 2, 3 at the tops, with them and yet he comes out from it the best swordsman with magical powers no one has ever been able to master in this teeny tiny time frame, and having achieved Nirvana. I mean, the boy could meditate for a couple of hours straight with no interruption by the end of these couple of months. He's the new buddha! 
 Whatever, that being said, new and fuller characters are given to us in this book. Nassuada is a great example. Arya, however, I didn't like. (that changed when I finished the series, I don't like her now but I don't not like her either). I was really terrified that Paolini would somehow make Arya fall for Eragon. I'd have dropped the book then and there. With her being older than him by like a century and him being 15, that would've been too much for my sanity. I know what you're gonna say "why can Tolkien get away with it and not Paolini?" and I'll tell you why. Aragorn (another thing Paolini ripped off but in a failed way "Eragon" really?) fell for Arwen ("Arya" REALLY?) when he was 17. But she didn't realize she loved him until he was like 50! Thank you! 
 Back to this series, Roran, Eragon's cousin, makes a come back in this book, and a heavy comeback at that. He's like Conan the Barbarian. Literally. He becomes this savage epic warrior after Garrow dies and Eragon runs away. The boy turns from a simple farmboy one night, to the best innate, natural born warrior the second. He's 17 or 18 mind you. He then continues to uproot a whole town of 300+ people from their valley and pushes them into an exodus to the other end of the world - which takes them maybe less than a month to do, walking half the time. Another example of time warps in this book series. 
 I'll stop babbling now. This book took me quit sometime to go through, it was sometimes boring, sometimes... interesting. But truth be told, though I can't say it's bad, I only finished it because I promised myself I would finish the whole series.