Spoilery Book Reviews

Eldest by Christopher Paolini

Back of the book

Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, have just saved the rebel state from destruction by the forces of King Galbatorix, cruel ruler of the Empire. Now Eragon must travel to Ellesméra, 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, each day a fresh adventure. But chaos and betrayal plague him at every turn, and Eragon isn't sure who he can trust.

Meanwhile, his cousin Roran must fight a new battle back home in Carvahall – one that puts Eragon in even graver danger...

My thoughts

Another fantastic installation to the Inheritance Cycle. I don't have any 'real' criticisms because I loved everything about this book. The one thing I could criticise, is again, the pacing of this book during the slow progression of Eragon's training. However, Paolini tackles this by adding in other characters stories that are action-packed while Eragon's is simply information-packed. I thoroughly enjoyed Eragon's "slow" training segments because it continues to build upon the detailed-rich fantasy world of Alagaësia.

With my one downfall out of the way, now I can gush about all of the best bits. This novel had some fantastic surprises up its sleeve, from the existence of Glaedr and Oromis, to Brom's history and then entire end fight scene. Despite having read this series before I have forgotten all details so I was perplexed why the cover featured a red dragon when it seemed to be centred around the gold dragon we had met... BAM Murtagh is alive and with a dragon.

The ending of this book was amazing, left me reeling for more, ready to jump into the next book instantly (after I complete this review of course).

The additional characters stories that we followed were fantastic. Roran makes an amazing main character, his strong conviction and determination that rivals even Eragon's resolve. I came to recognise a trope it employed in this read-through, prompted by the last few books I've read before having the same theme. When Roran reunites with Eragon, a hostile welcome is expected, but the punch to the face lost its shock value, since I've seen that move in quite a few other novels lately (The Hunger Games, Fourth Wing). Of course, Eldest came first, but it came out as predictable when the aim is clearly to be surprising.

Eldest delves into exploring values and morals through the lens of Oromis training Eragon. I loved the thought provoking nature of being conscious of the way you think and your biases. The concept that no villain thinks themselves a villain, and consequently believes their choices and actions are justified. The latter is what makes a story villain good is when the creator has justified why the villain is so, instead of making them evil with evil aspirations just so that good guys have a battle to fight. The lessons Oromis gives Eragon about thinking, bias and logic, are lessons the reader can take on themselves too. At least, this is how it came across to me, in a much more palatable template than a self-help book.

Eragon grew so much as a character in the first book, and still managed to continue his growth to make him almost unrecognisable, but in a good way. The ways he retained his previous self, included the prolonged aversion to Urgals, until he was literally in the mind of one. The way he handles his affections for Arya were childish, truly showing the difference in their ages and maturity. Lastly, Eragon was overcome by his emotions when he met Murtagh, showing he is not a calm pillar of perfection always.

The physical change... perhaps I do have one other gripe about this novel. I have mixed feelings about the superiority of elves. As a human myself, I'd love a human hero, which this story has essentially told us is not possible. Eragon had to be virtually changed into an elf to be able to save the day... against a human. Why couldn't he defeat Murtagh who is human when Eragon has been elevated to the abilities of an elf? Murtagh had less time training than him, and as a mostly elf Eragon couldn't beat a human Murtagh...even though Eragon was shown as being a great swordsman but still unable to beat a regular elf swordsman (Vanir). Perhaps this is another detail of the series that slips my mind.

I loved this book the whole way through, with very few gripes and the same comment that occasionally the pace is slow. Within the slow sections however the world building is rich and makes it favourable to me. The detailed world building feels as if Paolini is simply describing a place, races and traditions that already exists, rather than inventing it and only providing the easy details. The surprise at the ending left me thirsting for more, so I'm off to continue the adventure!

TL:DR

This book not only follows Eragon as he learns all he can, but his cousin Roran who fights for all of Carvahall against the Ra'zac. The world Eldest is set in is rich with detail and the adventure continues to deliver wonder and excitement.