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Editorial Review:
There’s a keenness in the storytelling, and an excitement for pure adventure and magic, that will ensure fans of Paolini’s Eragon will find its much-anticipated sequel every bit as readable and captivating. This young author, who wrote that debut (very long) novel aged fifteen, has shed some his earlier less convincing turns of phrase and tendancies to homage other inspirational works, to come up with a deeper second novel that is more assured, better balanced and distinctly original.
Picking up from the exact point where its predecessor gave way, Eldest begins with dragon rider and now shade slayer, Eragon, on the battlefield of his greatest triumph. He is saddened by the death and carnage before him, and fearful for the future. King Galbatorix is, despite this battle won, still the cruel ruler of the Empire and must be defeated. Together with the beautiful and elegant dragon, Saphira, with whom he can communicate without speech, they must travel to Ellesmera – fabled land of the Elves to undergo further training in magic, swordsmanship and other worldly necessities.
Meanwhile, in his homeland, in the village of Carvahall, Eragon’s cousin Roran faces challenges of his own. The king’s men, and the dark creature that instructs them, lay siege to the tiny mountain community in the hope of finding Roran, and thus lead them to Eragon. After fierce resistance, Roran leads the villagers on a long, arduous journey to salvation (hopefully) with the community known as the Varden.
Told in alternate chapters, the stories of both young men on separate missions give this ‘difficult second novel’ a refreshing feel. Eragon is still the star, but has a substantial second cast to make this novel a worthy sequel to the first book and a tantalising bridge to the final chapter in volume three.
(Age 12 and over) --John McLay
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
Very good read! this book is an excellent read I enjoyed it immensely!
the part were he visited the elves was a bit boring but the battle afterwards made up of it. Very interesting plot line but when he tries to romance with Ayra you just want to smash your head into a wall yelling "shut up you stupid person!" Its embarrassing. his training is good reading but he really mucks up his relationship with Ayra. appart from that bit the plot has many interesting twists and turns and it makes up for a lot. all in all a... more info
all i can say is wow! after reading eragon i thought i might as well read the next one, half way through the book i'm getting bored and thinking "this isn't as good as eragon", then a bit further in and i was totally addicted, how could i think it wasn't as good! with all the twists and turns in it. And such a superb ending, i want more-guess i'll have to wait for Brisingr to come out!
Falls short against its predecessor Eragon. As many of the reviews here have already described the plot of Eldest, I'll leave this detail out and skip straight to my opinion of it. Whereas Eragon was a badly written story with a good plot, Eldest is the exact opposite. Paolini has matured since his first book and the darker, well written passages of Eldest reflect this. However, I found Eragon's story to be second rate to Roran's adventures, which was the only incentive for me to continue reading the book. Generally, the whole pace of Eldest is... more info
Older but not greater Without the interest created by the concept of the Rider & introduction of the characters, this book lacked something compared to Eragon. At many times, the writing wasn't strong enough to maximise the potential of the ideas. As a result, the narrative often seems to awkwardly move the plot on, rather than weave a tale. Having said that, I still followed the journey & look forward to reading the final episode.
