Most helpful customer reviews
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1.0 out of 5 stars
Eldest but not wisest, Jun 5 2009
When the very first line of a book is as nonsensical as "The songs of the dead are the lamentations of the living," you know you're in trouble.
So it's pretty obvious from the start that Christopher Paolini's second novel "Eldest" is going to be a disaster. But the biggest weakness of Paolini's book is not his stilted dialogue or numerous cliches, or even the slow-moving pompous slog of the seemingly endless elf training -- it's his cardboard cutout of a self-insert hero, Eragon.
"Eldest" picks up immediately after the end of "Eragon," with Eragon badly wounded, Murtagh missing, and the leader of the Varden murdered. But despite the rebels' turmoil, Eragon is told that he has to accompany Arya back to the elven city Ellesmera, to train as a proper Dragon-rider. When he arrives, Eragon finds that his new master is an ancient, crippled elf named Oromis, who has a lot to teach him before he inevitably expires.
Yup, Oromis has vast stores of knowledge to impart. And sadly, we have to see every step of it -- including yoga, ant-watching and hilariously homoerotic bath scenes.
Unbeknownst to Eragon, his hometown of Carvahall is being ruined by a band of Galbatorix's soldiers, and his newly-engaged cousin Roran may be their only hope. And our hero's truncated training leads to strange new changes in his body and mind, as he prepares for a devastating new battle against Galbatorix -- and a horrifying new discovery about Murtagh. Yes, you can probably see it coming.
Lofty elves, kings-in-waiting, humble farm boys, ghastly goblinesque creatures, mystical women, special swords, evil tyrants who are evil because they just are, wise mentors, and telepathic dragons in a variety of colors. Christopher Paolini never met a fantasy cliche that he didn't like. And rather than growing as a writer since his bestselling debut, Paolini seems to have regressed.
In particular, he starts writing like every schoolboy who ever wanted to be Tolkien -- his prose becomes bloated, sluggish and painfully smug, with dialogue that becomes more painfully wretched with each chapter ("I walk between the candle and the dark"). The story is wrenched out into three different storylines, two of which deal with the Varden's lace-making and Roran's engagement woes. Neither is terribly interesting, and the battle at the finale feels as though Paolini slapped it on to give it a suitably slam-bang ending.
Worst of all, the book's bulk is devoted mostly to Eragon's uneventful dragon-riding training with Oromis, which consists mostly doing yoga and watching insects, and occasionally whapping each other with swords. Yes, it's every bit as boring as it sounds. And the hilariously homoerotic moments with Eragon and Oromis only liven it up a little.
The biggest problem with Paolini's writing is that Eragon is portrayed as a noble, brave, compassionate soul with a brilliant destiny ahead of him. Well, frankly he shows no nobility, bravery or compassion, and even has the gall to whine to a dying elf about how his life is ruined because he has a back scar. And his abrupt transformation into an ultra-handsome half-elf late in the book does not make him any more impressive.
In short, he's a glaring self-insert, with all the dimension of a cardboard standee. Sadly the other characters aren't much better: Roran comes across as mentally unstable and the elf queen is too immature and whiny. Oromis has a certain fascination, but he's used mainly to glorify eragon. And the love interest Arya is glorified only for her looks -- which is all she has, since this book establishes her as snotty, cold-blooded and a smug anti-religious bigot.
Christopher Paolini had some promising ideas, but a ghastly hero and overblown writing turn those ideas into the painfully bloated carcass of "Eldest." Lightweight fantasy at best, but a painful salad of cliched preaching at worst.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Story - Vivid Descriptions, Nov 5 2008
Great Story, I was saddened when it took so long for the next story to be released, but now it will be broken into two more parts. I can't wait to see what else Mr. Paolini will bring out as he matures in age and creativity.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
Paolini's Disappointment, Mar 31 2008
When I heard that Christopher's Eldest had come to stores, the book found itself in my hands right away. Excitement rushed through me as I thought of reading the sequel of Eragon which I found to be a glamorous fantasy novel. Although the overall plot of Eldest unravelled to be quite interesting, disappointment shadows me when I discover that Paolini could have worked a bit more on the book.
A major portion of the book took place through much of Eragon's training, this bored me. Through those many chapters readers did learn about the traditional ways of elven life. However, readers will slowly become fatigued by reading the many tasks that Eragon recieves and how he continues to fail them. The author used too much detail to express all the techniques used by Eragon's mentor; Oromis for his training. When Paolini wrote these chapters, he missed an important rule when writing books. When writing a sequel; an author must always remember to create great and captivating wrting to meet the expectations of his/her fans. By trying to express Eragon's training too much, Paolini presumably had lost the interest of many of his readers. Many copies of Eldest are probably are lying around in homes, not read completely but abandoned. Paolini should have abbreviated the training into one or two chapters. All the important parts can be mentioned specifically but the rest should be mentioned generelly. Hence, Christopher Paolini should have added details to the enthusiastic parts of the book rather than the insignificant parts (like Eragon's training). Otherwise, readers will no longer be engaged in his book.
I noticed that Eragon and Saphira were too involved in romance. Their constant thoughts of love often irritated me. They frequently forget the war that raged on around them! I felt uneasy reading the many differences betweeen the personality traits of the main characters of Eragon and the same main characters in Eldest. In Eragon, Saphira is somewhat a wise being but in Eldest, she becomes a bit more childish. She often admits herself to her love for Glaeder; the other golden dragon. I find it that the fans of ERagon would be displeased with that kind of foolishness from Saphira. Paolini must constantly remember that his readers now have greater expectations for the characters when reading his second book. I also find no logic when Paolini has Eragon in his love mood at a time when he is training for the fate of Alagaesia. Readers will see that Paolini has played too much with the romantic affairs of the characters. This impacts the book in a negative way.
Through the many explanations of the elves in Eldest, readers can notice how the elves impersonate Tolkien's elves. A major portion of the book is like a duplication of Tolkien's work. To me, Paolini's elven society proves to imitate the elves in Lord of the Rings. In Eldest, we see the great beauty of the elves, their glorious wisdom, their superiority and a few more characteristics. all these are congruous trauts to the elves of Tolkien. Finally; I believe that Paolini should have modified the elves to make it unique from Lord of the Rings.
Even though Paolini may have bored a portion of the story, played too deep with romance and imitate Tolkien's work, there is some good to the book. Overall, the storyline was somewhat captivating. Readers will find an interesting plot twist at the end. The main idea of Eldest proved to be quite good and alluring At the end, readers will see that if Paolini worked more on his writing style, the book may have been more sensational.
In final analysis, the book was structured and written poorer than expected by readers. Paolini's main idea shines in its brilliance, but he forgets where the details should have been added, he adds romance at illogical times and some of his ideas were a substitution of Lord of the Rings. All in all, good story, not as good structure or writing.
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