Eldest by Christopher Paolini

Title: Eldest
Author: Christopher Paolini
Pages: 668
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers March 23rd 2007
Source: Books Owned
Links: goodreads, The Inheritance Cycle

Darkness falls ...Despair abounds ...Evil reigns ...Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, have just saved the rebel state from destruction by the mighty forces of King Galbatorix, cruel ruler of the Empire. Now Eragon must travel to Ellesmera, land of the elves, for further training in magic and swordsmanship, the vital skills of the Dragon Rider. It is the journey of a lifetime, filled with awe-inspiring new places and people, each day a fresh adventure. But chaos and betrayal plague him at every turn, and Eragon isn't sure whom he can trust. Meanwhile, his cousin Roran must fight a new battle back home in Carvahall - one that puts Eragon in even graver danger. Will the king's dark hand strangle all resistance? Eragon may not escape with even his life . A wonderful fantasy book.

I really am having fun reading this series. I actually thought I read this one ... the whole time I have owned it. but then when I started reading it I discovered I hadn't!!I don't know why I thought this entire time that I had read it.  I do enjoy this series, though it is very wordy. WORDY.  This book is sooo detailed.  But sometimes I am in the mood for that.  In fact... that is what I think makes a good fantasy. I want to feel like I am in that world.  Paolini does this and does it well. If you looks at the reviews that give this book 1 star or less it is because they didn't like the detail... so if you don't like a book that goes on about what a room looks like this series is not for you.

This books picks up pretty much where Eragon leaves off. We find the lead character Eragon now in the land of the elves where he will be trained to be a Rider. Eldest has two stories in one.  We read chapters from Eragon's point of view and Roran's (Eragorn's cousin) point of view. Again I love books that have two events going on.  It's like I am reading two books! Most of the beginning of this book deals with Eragon dealing with a scar he received in the first book on his back.  He does whine about it a little too much.  My big problem with this scar is that he is dealing with it and then BOOM two elves perform some sort of dance and their tattoos turn into a dragon and the dragon cures Eragon's scar and pain and then magically makes Eragon's Rider training complete.  What normal takes Riders a lifetime to learn Eragon learns in one second.  I get that this has to happen because the books aren't going to span hundreds of years but it made it seem like us reading through the entire book of his training was a waste.

The book is long... LONG... all the books in the series are.  Which is why I put off reading them for so long. There is a love story in the book too... Eragon loves an elf Arya but she feels she can't be with him because she is much older in elf years and because he is training to be a Rider. Yeah Yeah... a little predictable here.. but I am pretty sure they will end up together.  One of the problems with Paolini's writing is that the story is predictable.   The most interesting character in the series is the witch Angela.  She is elusive and only shows up for like one chapter in each book but her page time is wonderful.  I really hope she gets more roles in the next two books.

I don't think this is a bad book 2.  I have read worse.  I think the book does do a good job of continuing the series along the right course.  I do remember reading that it was supposed to be a trilogy but then Paolini added a fourth book.  That makes me nervous that the third book might actually have "the second book syndrome" where we get drug along for no reason.  We will see and I am looking forward to getting started reading it.

Other reviews:

Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Brisingr by Christopher Paolini

Fog is coming.....  in the middle of the road on this book!