Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Dec 17, 2009

Mitzie rated it:

I hate Eragon, but I was intrigued to see if Paolini has improved, so I borrowed this book and attempted to read it.

I hate Eragon. I hate Eldest even more.

If Eragon is bad, it at least had a semblance of a traditional plot - the introduction, the buildup, the climax, and the teaser for the next chapter of the journey.

Eldest started off with a flat summary, then it went straight into a continuation from the previous story, and around 600 pages of exposition fu More...

34 comments like (29 people liked it)

Aug 25, 2008

Swankivy rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

42 comments like (33 people liked it)

Feb 09, 2008

Alena rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

6 comments like (20 people liked it)

Oct 29, 2007

Josh rated it:

Eldest, the second book in the inheritance trilogy by Christopher Paolini is disappointing largely because it's a long book in which very little happens. The narrative through most of the book switches back and forth between Eragon and Roran. Eragon is traveling across Alagaesia and eventually begins training as a dragon rider. As a result we get long swaths of exposition explaining every detail of Alagaesia and the philosophy of dragon riders. It's common in fat fantasies like the inheritance t More...

5 comments like (15 people liked it)

Feb 08, 2008

Sabrina rated it:

Remember what I said about the first book in this series? How it shows promise, is an interesting take, blah blah? Yeah, forget it all.

This was one of the biggest disappointments I've ever read. All of the promise and interest in the first story disappeared into a foul-smelling vapor within the first 2 chapters.

The author has obviously forgotten the character parameters he set for his own characters, namely Eragon. This story takes place at most 6-9 months after t More...

10 comments like (11 people liked it)

Oct 01, 2007

Eric rated it:

Ok thank you for continuing on from my Eragon review. Now remember step one from the last review yea ok we'll call it Step 5: Go to the store and buy Eldest...Ok now follow these steps. Step 6: I hope you've learned from your previous mistakes and set nonperishable snack foods withing reach as to keep reading while eating. Now get an empty 2 littter bottle don't worry..you'll figure it out. Finally get a drink that is pretty good a room temperature or if you just really like cold drinks be sure More...

3 comments like (20 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Allison rated it:

I was very pleasantly surprised - Eldest laughs in the face of the so-called sophomore-slump curse.

While I liked Eragon enough to give it five stars despite the weird feeling that it was a mediation between Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, it was kind of slim in several places, character- and plot-wise.

Not so in Eldest. Finally, some real meat to the relationships between characters, the government of Alagaesia, and the drive toward battle. My empathy was tested ev More...

4 comments like (15 people liked it)

Oct 27, 2008

Lawrancel rated it:

“Eldest Book Review”
The book Eldest by Christopher Paolini is a book about a dragon and his rider. The two, intertwined by the magic of thought, journey through the land to Ellemera to study the arts of magic as he prepares to face off against the belligerent tyrant Galbatorix.
The book had many interesting twists and turns. Eragon, the rider, has always thought to be the last rider, excluding the king and his evil riders, know as the foresworn. But suddenly, Ormoris, an Elvin rider a More...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Kerry rated it:

This second installment in the Inheritance Trilogy was extremely surprising for me. I find it hard to be surprised by most book endings, and this one had a twist that I was not looking for, so when it jumped out at me, I was almost knocked out of my chair with shock. This book goes much deeper into the world of Alagaesia, its myths and history, and the characters become much more complex. I felt for Eragon as his attempts at romance are spurned, and watched carefully as his bond with Saphira dee More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Dave rated it:

I was half expecting Eldest to be an improvement for Paolini, but what I expect never seems to be what I get.

Eldest was lengthy; too lengthy. What were easily 500 pages of adjective oriented action would have been fine at 30 pages tops. It seems as if Paolini is still aiming his novels towards the pre-teen to teen audience, something that paid off for him after making Eragon. It's a shame that strategy worked again.

Besides the one or two exciting twists and turns, the p More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Apr 19, 2010

Jillian -always aspiring- rated it:

Okay, let me be straight about with my "three star" review: my rating is for the last sixth of the book (the climactic scene -- those who have read it know what I'm talking about). Everything else in this novel would only merit two stars from me at best (on a VERY, VERY GOOD DAY). (The Roran chapters would not even merit a star from me because I didn't just not like them; I hated them with a dragon's fiery passion.)

I respect Christopher Paolini as a writer, but I'm not a More...

4 comments like (5 people liked it)

Apr 16, 2010

Hope rated it:

***Warning: this review contains spoilers, and I'm a little mad that this kind of lameness was a bestseller. I mean, REALLY?***

Okay, so...I was able to stand Eragon pretty well, but...Eldest just about killed me. I have to be honest, I only made it about halfway through, then I skimmed over the rest because I was getting ill.
I was able to skip pages of descriptions without missing any of the story.

Which brings me to my first complaint: THERE ARE WHOLE PAGES DEVOTE More...

13 comments like (9 people liked it)

Feb 25, 2009

Aerin rated it:

I try not to read sequels as they come out. With the exception of every Harry Potter book (yes, I attended three of the midnight release parties) and Breaking Dawn (which I bought two weeks after it was released), I wait until an entire trilogy, quartet or series are released in paperback before starting the first one. Like the Faerie Wars or the Derkholm books. I mean, I’m a Tamora Pierce junkie, but I'm still waiting to start the Terrier series.

(Note on paperback v. hardback – it’s a More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jun 08, 2008

Marya rated it:

Do Elves have pubic hair? Are Orc marriages performed with ceremonies? What is the life cycle of the giant birds the Nazgul ride? If questions like these have haunted you ever since you delved into the world of fantasy, look no further for your answers!

Eldest continues the saga started in Eragon by sending our plucky hero into the land of the Elves in order to complete his training as a Rider. There, we learn absolutely everything you (n)ever wanted to know about the Elves (think o More...

3 comments like (24 people liked it)

Feb 01, 2008

Briana rated it:

I had a lot of problems with this book when I read it. Okay, the Inheritance series is not the most original pairs of books in the bunch, but I at least managed to enjoy reading Eragon, and was interested enough to pick up this one.

There's a certain shallowness that comes out in this book that demonstrates clearly, Paolini's immaturity. Characters behave with teenage idealism and immaturity - particularly when it comes to romantic situations. It's not hard to tell what Paolini's po More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 24, 2007

Sean rated it:

This is crap. Paolini ditched almost all of Eragon's potential, spending his time in the land of elves who are smarter, more gorgeous, wiser, stronger, faster, longer-lived, better at magic, more hygenic, more tasteful, better at art, music, metalworking, and just generally better in every way than those poor, lowly humans. And. . .every man jack and woman girl of them is an atheist vegetarian! Yes, Paolini takes some clumsy but pervasive swipes against religion, demonstrating that he really More...

6 comments like (8 people liked it)

Sep 22, 2008

Chaotician rated it:

Again, same thing as Eragon. Paolini almost, almost comes into his own, until the very end, when the story finally collapses around Paolini. He makes the bad guy, Murtagh, Eragon's brother. Brothers fighting against each other. "You were my brother Anakin! I loved you!" Is that not all too familiar? I wonder if Murtagh will finally defeat Galbatorix by throwing him into a blue pit filled with electricity. Heck, everything else is parodied off of something else. I'll still read the Thir More...

5 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 12, 2007

Caroline rated it:

I went out and bought this pretty much right after it was released, because I assumed that with a few more years under his belt Paolini could have developed some real skills.

In short, no. He actually got worse, for me. While the first one had some pretty major faults, this one had just as sloppy writing and an even worse plot. It felt like a 200 page novel that was prolonged to be almost 800 pages, and the love story that dominated the plot was forced and just gag-worthy.

More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 18, 2008

Celtic rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Feb 22, 2009

Josh rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 15, 2011

Ειρήνη Κασσάνδρα (Irene) rated it:

May good fortune rule over you
Peace live in your heart
And the stars watch over you."
This book was quite amazing. The plot was good, the story made me gasped with amazement. Beautifully written. Although I found some sentences were really descriptive and drag through pages and pages.
I still don't like the elves somehow. They are too perfect.
But Roran's story was quite amazing.
And the title of the book - "Eldest" was really meaningful.
Be

6 comments like (4 people liked it)

Apr 14, 2010

Nathan rated it:

Okay, so most of what I said about Eragon still applies... the main change here seems to be that the author has reduced the amount of action and plot events, and replaced them with exposition. This isn't completely horrible, as it's somewhat well done, but having done it at all really just resulted in hundreds of pages where very little actually happens, while the author fleshes out the setting and history of the world through lessons with Oromis, casual conversations with Arya, informational m More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 15, 2009

Pete rated it:

It's been a while since I read Eragon, but I remember enjoying it quite a bit, so I was really looking forward to Eldest. And I think I would have enjoyed it if it'd been 400 pages instead of 650 or so. But as it stands, there's just not enough plot to carry the length of this book.

It felt a *whole* lot like Paolini opened a word blender and dumped in equal amounts of LOTRO and Star Wars and added a pinch of Pern and hit the BLEND button. And that still would have been OK except he g More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Aug 17, 2011

Ilsa rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

7 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 04, 2012

Diana rated it:

There’s just something about this series that makes me froth at the mouth in anger. I know this is completely unfair, but I think it’s because of the author. I mean really, this kid got where he is because his family owns a publishing company, and thinks Eragon is some kind of masterpiece. Look, I like writing, and one day I hope to be published, but I’m not so arrogant to think I was worthy of praise at fifteen with my pathetic attempt at an epic fantasy.

Every time I read even a p More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 23, 2011

Jonathan rated it:

As previously noted I am a fan of this series. And yet at the same time I am a fan of literary masterpieces. How does a series that dips occasionally into overuse of fantasy cliche and borrows ideas from epic masterpieces break into my personal favourites shelf? Well read on and I shall explain.

The answer is simple. Despite all the petty flaws in the writing, the borrowing of ideas and occasional overuse of cliche Christopher Paolini succeeds in creating a living breathing world that i More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 31, 2008

Heather rated it:

After "Eragon" became one of my top favorites, I naturally had high expectations for "Eldest". Many fans were completely satisfied, and I myself was tempted to give it 4 stars rather than 3, BUT I really couldn't enjoy this one nearly as much as the first because of all the philosophical jumble Paolini inserts via the dwarves and the elves during Eragon's training. Some of it I could brush aside easily enough, given that it IS a fantasy world, but there were these uncomfortab More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Sep 01, 2008

Juliana rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

14 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 25, 2008

Robert rated it:

Christopher Paolini, Eldest (Knopf, 2005)

Eldest, the second novel in wunderkind Paolini's Inheritance trilogy, does suffer from the middle-novel blues, as a legion of reviewers have already noted. However, it's also worth noting on the other side of that coin that it's a very impressive look at how far Paolini has come as a writer in the years since the publication of Eragon, the first book.

We open a while after the Battle of Farthen-Dur, which closed the first book, and More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 13, 2008

Jared rated it:

The adventure continues...

What can I say? The book is pretty good. Characters are still a bit flat. The plot is interesting. Needs a better editor, much like the first book.

Ah. I know what I can say. The most irritating flaw in this book is the authors lousy attempts to write seventeenth century English. I can't believe that the editor let those through. For someone who aspires to write like Tolkien on a good day, the author needs some... mmm... seasoning. I thin More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

reviews