Eldest opens with Eragon looking upon the battlefield of Tronjheim. It has been three days since the battle has been won, three days since Eragon killed the Shade Durza. But the mood is bleak; there is no rejoicing over the victory. The stronghold of the dwarves and the Varden Farthen Dur is littered with bodies. The battle is over for now, but every one knows that King Galbatorix has not been completely defeated.

And Eragon himself is scarred. Though he managed to kill Durza and is now known as Shadeslayer, Durza's sword has left a battle injury. The only hope for resisting the Empire of Galbatorix, wonders how a cripple like him will survive the conflicts ahead.

Then in a surprise attack, a group of Urgals murder Ajihad, the leader of the Varden and take the Twins and Eragon's friend, Murtagh prisoner. The Varden's Council of Elders wants to nominate a leader who'll be a decision maker. They want Eragon to throw his weight behind them and swear allegiance to the Council. The dwarves too would like to have a say in the matter and want Eragon to support their choice. Arya, the ambassador of the elves, keeps her own counsel. Eragon is caught in these uneasy circumstances a time of power games and strategizing.
During this adventure his own brother fights his own adventure, facing problems, which eragon has started.

In the book I saw a feeling of brotherhood and how people work hard for others. I personally think this book is marvelous and if you like adventure series this is your type. I would rate this 5 stars and it would be 8+ as it contains some violence and hard words to pronounce for younger readers.
Manpreet ( )

If anyone here hasn't read Diana Wynne Jone's "The Tough Guide to Fantasyland", may I suggest it as a rippingly funny antidote to Paolinism?

Paolini's stuff is just so much mulch. The only fun I've had from it is playing "spot the reference" - and that wore thin after the first hundred pages of the first book. Reading the second and third books felt like gawking at a nasty traffic accident.

If, instead of homeschooling by indulgent parents, Paolini had had someone like my best English teacher, who would have pointed out in short order that what he was writing was jejune, derivative and unworthy hackwork, and that unless he intended to become the Barbara Cartland of fantasy writing, he'd better find some dignity, discipline and originality - well, he might perhaps have made a writer of himself. ( )

I was quite disappointed in this second part of the Inheritance cycle (which will now be expanded to four books instead of three, probably so you can hold them in one hand). It is way too long and some passages of Eragon's training with animals are perfectly boring. Towards the end it gets better and lets you hope for the third part to be better again... ( )

Although this book involves more characters at a deeper level, I feel like it’s a decline from the first. Now that the pacing has slowed, and the page turning elements are not as prevalent, the story doesn’t carry as well throughout, especially with such a long text. I feel that there could have been plenty of editing done to make it tighter and shorter while telling the same story.I was hoping that Paolini’s writing would mature as he got older, but it’s still missing much of what makes a story really evergreen, causing more than one read and generational staying power. I do like that he’s taken us to a place in the story where he can educate us about the magic of the world in more depth, but elves, dwarves, dragons and magic are nothing new in this genre, so even that’s not enough to keep me really interested. There are points where things pick up, but not enough to carry the whole work.-Lindsey Miller, www.lindseyslibrary.com ( )

Eldest rambles along where it shouldn't, but it's interesting to see someone other than Eragon actually doing something. i'm also having mixed feelings about being able to predict just about everything big that happens- it's nice to be right, but there aren't many surprises left. ( )