Eldest

Series: The Inheritance Cycle, #2

Author: Christopher Paolini

Genre: Fantasy

Book Description:

Darkness falls ….

Swords clash ….

Evil reigns ….

Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, have just saved the rebel forces 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 ….

Review:

Eldest continues the story of Eragon. I liked how much of Eragon’s interior struggles were shown, and how much of his day-to-day life and relationships we get to see, as he learns more of what it means to be a Dragon Rider. As usual, I enjoyed Saphira’s protectiveness, and Eragon’s unusualness in some regards is rather fun to watch at times. Many things in life are hard for him, and he bears a scar which plagues his life with somewhat unpredictable seizures and sickening pain, and we get to see his very realistic, human responses to those things. The witch, Angela, and her were-cat Solembum, are different, intriguing, and fascinating. Angela really brings a unique view to things at times.

I also enjoyed the way some things are developed slowly, in neat layers. A case in point is Saphira, and how she responds to the magic of an elven festival for the growth of the forest, that brings out the breeding drive in animals, and makes all the plants grow. That causes her to think about the fact she doesn’t know if she’ll ever have a mate, and feel really lonely, and feelings that might have been born at that moment continue to affect the story.

I did not, however, care for Eragon’s teacher, Oromis. We are told at times that he seems incredibly compassionate to Eragon, but I don’t see that compassion actually shown in his dealings – or in his thoughts and world-view. But he seems very narrow-minded, held down by his own prejudices for all his emphasis on logic and critical thinking, and is unable to grasp the points that contradict his assumptions of the world, instead leaping between propositions with no order, such as occurs in a conversation in which he is arguing for his position that there is no consciousness or existence beyond death to Eragon, and makes the point that if a creature’s consciousness vanishes from one’s ability to sense it when it dies, then it no longer exists. Eragon makes a fumbling attempt to argue back, saying that humans and dragons aren’t animals, both of them ignoring the very obvious point that, in this setting, no matter how close to someone a person is, that person can’t feel their consciousness if they are too far away. So, upon death, a creature’s consciousness could just be removed to another world, and Oromis’ point has no bearing on that as a possibility at all. This is not the only place where Oromis displays a great deal of narrow-mindedness and illogical thinking, despite the emphasis on critical thinking being one of the most important things.

But what I may have disliked far more is how Eragon and Saphira’s personalities are submitted to the plot. The Varden, the dwarves, and the elves all try to get Eragon under their thumb in one way or another, and if by himself, Eragon doesn’t realize that he actually has the power to go against and stand apart, demanding they treat him with respect, I’d understand that. But Saphira has always oozed fierce independence and the ability to think for herself. For a dragon to let – or even approve – of her rider relinquishing his freedoms, or submitting, to the things he does, and the oaths he makes, doesn’t make any sense at all. There’s a place, in Ellesmera, where the elves demand an oath from Eragon and he asks Saphira, Should we? and she replies, Do we have a choice? completely neglecting the fact that they do. They are the only Dragon Rider that the rebel forces have. There are only two other dragon eggs in the world, and the elves very nearly worship the dragons. If Eragon and Saphira say no to their demands, the elves are hardly going to do anything evil to them, or prevent them from leaving. If the rebel forces treat them like a pawn to be moved about, nothing prevents them from flying away to the east to gather their power and live in peace until such time as they choose to return, if they want to. Their survival skills are certainly more than adequate. It is they who are in the position of power, and the rebel forces who are in the position of need.

Of all people in Alagaesia, Eragon and Saphira most definitely do have a choice, and if they kept that in mind, they could not be backed into most of the corners they think they find themselves in. It galls me incredibly that they don’t realize that, especially Saphira.

Meanwhile, other perspectives are introduced – one is Eragon’s cousin, Roran, forced into a losing battle in Carvahall. My feelings about this perspective are mixed. The sibling bond, though tested by anger and trials and mistakes, between them is very strong. One also gets the perspective of the leader of the Varden, whom I do not like, and I did not find that these perspectives were wholly worth it in what they added to the book.

Review for Eragon (Book One)

Christopher’s Website