Customer Reviews

Eldest

5 star:		(713)
4 star:		(307)
3 star:		(162)
2 star:		(143)
1 star:		(280)

 

 

After reading this story I felt compelled to write how unsatisfied I was. I will quickly reiterate what others have already said. Eldest is derivative of so many other fantasy books, and there is no question Paolini has taken giant chunks out of Tolkein, McCaffrey, Lucas, Dungeons and Dragons, and probably many other fantasy stories I have not read. But I do not neccesarily mind that. I've read many books that have created their own compelling worlds using generic fantasy formulas, and have fallen in love with them. But this world does not have anything at all that I have not already seen. Elves living in forests? Read the hundreds of Dragonlance stories, Tolkein. Dwarves in mountains? Ditto. It's just so frustrating. But having already read Eragon, I knew all of this so I was not surprised that the world was so familiar.

While his derivative plot and world might bother some, I found many other things much more bothersome to read. I do not mean to attack home schooling, in fact I think it is a wonderful thing, but I question how much of it affected Paolini's writing. His descriptions of the world are interesting, in fact, at times even lyrical. I know he was immersed in a wonderful world to explore as he grew up. But I wonder how much social interaction he might have had. His descriptions of people seem more caricatures than actual people, and at times the descriptions are incredibly immature. The scene where he meets the council of the Varden rings out as particularly irritating. Paolini constantly fixates on the bosoms of one of the council members. I do not know if he thinks this is humorous, but it's a good sign of his immaturity. And if he were skillful enough of a writer he could perhaps have made it humorous which I believe was his intent, but it instead gave me the impression that Paolini has had very little interaction with the opposite sex. The same goes with his writing in regards to love. It is wonderfully romantic in a naive sort of way.

One other major qualm I had with the story is more personal, and probably nothing that anyone really has any problem with or even picked up. But I can't stand it so I will bring it up anyways. I hate, HATE, the depiction of the elves. I personally think Paolini shaped elves after Asians. The elves have squinty eyes, stern and serious mannerisms, and they try not to offend others; they are exotic. These are all stereotypes of Asians. He makes the elves seem so foreign, much in the manner Asians are seen as perpetual foreigners in America, and while I highly doubt Paolini intends to be racist, I think his depiction of the elves can be percieved as highly offensive.

But back to his story. There is one more thing that was a literary travesty. It is of a battle early on in the story when Roran is fighting the Ra'zac's army. Roran slices off a soldiers fingers, and the soldier, fingerless and bloody mind you, states something along the lines of, "Perhaps I should have worn a shield today." And then he is killed. I have no idea what was going through Paolini's mind. Did it make me laugh out loud? Yes because such a stupid line inserted in the middle of an intense fight makes me wonder if anyone editted this thing. No soldier EVER is going to be retrospective when they get their fingers chopped off. It was one of the stupidest things I've read. It was memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Finally, once again reiterating what others have said, Paolini must not lecture us. Trying to convince us eating animals is morally wrong and to tell everyone that aetheism is the way to go is offensive, and unnecesarily assertive. Maybe, which I think was more his intention, he could have gone about trying to illustrate what he finds divisive about religion. This is not a childrens story. I don't think its focus is for children even though Paolini believes it to be. The vocabulary is complicated, though not as bad as people have said, the story is violent, absurdly violent for children in my opinion, and the audience is much more for those who know what a +3 Sword of Dancing is.

I feel any values that Paolini is trying to impart to younger readers are not well thought out. I feel his attempts to grasp right and wrong are shallow. So shallow. He begins to question the absolute values of good and evil, but in the end, there is an ultimate evil in the Empire, and Roran and Eragon will rise up to be the ultimate good. I just can't recommend this book to too many people. Maybe a book you get at the library, but to pay for it seems like a mistake when there are many better and more deserving books. I'll say that if there was a 2 1/2 stars I would give it that rating. He does have glimpses of being a fine writer, but right now hes insane, and ridiculously pompous to believe he can even compare himself to Tolkein. "May the Force be with you..." wait, no, I mean "May your swords stay sharp" when you are making your decision to buy this book.

I read some of the reviews of Eldest and keep shaking my head......shaking my head. People not only disliked this book......they hated it as much as I did. AND anyone saying people hated it because its a Tolkien ripoff ain't paying attention. People hated it on account of it sucks. Paolini would take 8 pages to say a character passed wind. I won't be reading the next one!

Ok. First i have to talk about the author, Christopher Paolini. I would have respected him for his work, if not for the arrogant personality he displays all the time and the media on his work. What is with all this? The Inheritance novels are mediocre. There is really no genius about it. Just beacause he is nineteen is no reason to call him a teen Tolkien, or to call his books absolutely incredible. Say, pretty nice work for a teen. And that should be it. No need to proclaim him a genius, when he isnt. His writing has improved slightly, but it is still awkward and tedious and as the author himself, he is a sure arrogant guy, comparing his works with Tolkien and Seamus Heaney. The very nerve! I would have respected him if he had been a modest guy, but a self-proclaimed genius is far too much.

This and the fact that at every opportunity, he chimes in that he graduated at the age of fifteen. Excuse me, this does not mean that he is oustanding in academics. HE IS HOMESCHOOLED, He did not go to some public school. Not to insult homeschooled kids, but this means that he could have been a C student, for all we know. All his parents had to do was speed him through schoolwork and proclaim him finished when he wsa fifteen. If i was homeschooled, i could easily do the same thing. We do not have actual proof that he is a great scholar. I mean, if it was fact that he gotten a fifteen hundred on his SATs, or he has been accepted by an Ivy League, like Alicia Keys did when SHE was fifteen, then i would admire him. But we dont. And when i hear of people clamoring over his "graduating from the age of fifteeen" and his "genius works" i am highly irritated. Paolini likes to boast of it himself, calling himself "from a child who hated to read to a man who graduated from the age of fifteen" First, so what. I absolutely loathe math, but i excell at it. i hate science, but i earn A's in my bio class. And shouldnt he say "from a kid who hated to read to a guy who WROTE A NOVEL"? That would make a lot more sense. And the fact that he used to hate to read! That lowers my respect a lot.
Oh, and the fact that he says that he brings his story to life. Excuse me, Mr. Paolini but not really. The few cases in which i could imagine the scene was, for a strange reason, straight from the Lord of the Ring movies. Weird, huh?

oh, by the way, for the eragon lovers claim that all the bad reviewers are jealous. Excuse me, but when you say something like,"this was a bad movie", does that mean you're jealous of the producers or something? Puh-lease. And people claim that since all fanstasies are similar, paolini copying is not a crime. But there is a difference between similar and PURE PLAGIARIZING like paolini does from LOTR and Star Wars. And i dont even mind that as much as the writing style. i mean, some novels are about such boring subjects. what turns them ito great books is the style in which is is written. THAT IS WHAT THE INHERITANCE SERIES LACKS. A GOOD WRITING STYLE. I mean, if it was well-written, it would have brought up my rating a couple stars up, even. But as it isnt...

oh and i read some reviews in which some writer-wannabe said that people who critizised the books were jealous that paolini got the book published by his parents who own a publishing comp. Um, please. WE'RE NOT ALL WRITERS, JUST READERS! our priorities lie somewhere else! My god.

So lets get on with the book. As i said in my title, Eldest is an improvement after that utterly disgraceful novel called Eragon. SPOILERS COMING. Ajihad dies suddenly in like the first five pages. His death and the suddeness of the ambush on him is poorly written with awkward construction. Then his daughter Nasuada suceeds him as leader of the Varden, a small group of rebels, sworn enemies of the Empire.

Before we move on, i should warn the reader that the general frame is similar to Star Wars. There is an elite group of warriors, long gone, called the Riders, kinda like the Jedi, One of them, an unusually talented yet dangerous boy called Galbatorix (cough Vader) rises to power, destroys all the riders and takes control of the land called Alagaesia and makes it into an empire. Then a poor farm boy of no importance called Eragon (sounds like aragorn but is actually luke skywalker) finds a stone which is a dragon egg. The empire starts hunting for him and a wierd old guy in his village takes eragon on a journey. the guy himself knows a lot of magic and things about riders and then soon dies. seems that he used to b a powerful Rider. (aka obi-Wan Kenobi). And then the farm boy rescues the rebel princess in imprisonment, and then becomes a hero.

And blah blah blah. Of course Paolini has ripped off a lot from Lord of the Rings with his names and lands and creatures like the mining, underground dwarves, who are on shaky land with humans and the graceful, mysterious, powerful, immortal and beautiful elves, ruled by a beautiful, mysterious queen, and they hide in their enchanted forests and do nothing against the evil dude. Arwen is Arya, who helps Eragon and even matches Arwen's appearance. Eragon falls in love with her (aragorn and arwen love affair *cough*). In the first book, Paolini also ripped off LOTR the part when sauron is defeated and there's a sort of sonic boom (same thing happened when Eragon killed the evil shade Durza)

Well anyway, Murtagh has been killed and so has the twins, or at least it seems so. But by the blunt disposal of them by the author, it's pre-tty obvious that they are alive, since they are major characters and eragon expresses his grief for his companion in maybe two sentences for the entire book.

he goes off to Ellesmera to learn further magic from the elves, especially a crippled and retired rider called Oromis (obviously Yoda) and his handicapped dragon tutors Saphira.

Eragon flies into rages with an elf who is disgusted with eragon (i dont blame the elf) and pines and sobs about the cold arya, who is less than thrilled about his feelings for her. The author gives some political reasons why this is so, but in my frank opinion, who would go for Eragon, the loser and ugly guy that he is? Anyhow, Eragon learns what a vegetarian is, and has ridiculous philosiphical conversations with his mentor,

and meanwhile, his cousin rowan is having problems of his own.

Rowan comes back to the farm to find his father dead and his cousin eragon missing. He and his girlfriend Katrina are hesitant about marriage and the Ra-zac have come back and they want Rowan. After several skirmishes with the local villagers, Carvahall altogether declare war and after death and CANNIBALISM (squeamish ppl, beware) they escape across the sea for Surda and a better life. Katrina is captured and Rowan decides to kill people with a hammer.(WTF?!?!) Then after many tears and hammerblows they reach their destintaion. (one more ripoff is when there are these flying black creatures flying above them in the forest and screeching in this horrible, unnatural way that causes the villagers to moan)

Eragon, after another failed attempt at wooing Arya and just about transformed into an elf by them, he hurries back to the Varden just in time for the big battle with Surda this time fighting along them, and some Kull who resent Galbatorix. Of course they win, only to his horror,

SPOLIERS BEWARE:

"I...AM...YOUR...FATHER!!!". ok not quite. he finds out that murtagh is actually his brother and galbatorix's right-hand Rider, Morzan, slain by Brom years ago, (obi-wan and anakin skywalker duel in episode three) is his father. THis is pretty much obvious in the first book if you put the clues together. To make it worse, Murtagh is Galbatorix's slave and he is forced to obey him by ancient language-oaths, which mean that you cannot break it. If this werent enough, Murtagh, despite all of Eragon's training and longer experience, is far more powerful than his little brother. Because frankly, Murtagh has been trained by Galbotorix. And he is now a Rider. Yep the second egg has hatched for Murtagh and Thorn, the new dragon, bears a rider. Who is Murtagh.

so the battle of the burning plains or whatever is EXACTLY like the battle of minas tirith in lord of the rings. people are fighting on these desolate plains. all seems lost when ta-da, people show up and help them fight (here paolini substitutes the Rohan people for the dwarves) then ahhh! a big dragon swoops down from the sky and kills a king! the dragon's rider is dressed in steel, including these little steel-finger gloves, and when the dragon is brought down, the rider gets down from the dragon to fight by hand!! totally plagiarizing.

and let me guess. in the next book, ergaon will be brought face-to-face with Galbatorix. Ergaon will be losing, dying, when ta-da! Galbatorix's right hand man Murtagh will become good and help Ergaon kill Galbatorix. Yep. I bet you that will happen. MY GOD PAOLINI PLEASE STOP COPYING FROM STAR WARS AND LORD OF THE RINGS. JUST A SLIGHT EFFORT. Pretty please?

And i leave it to the readers to shake their heads exasperately at Eragon, who is as much as a jerk and awkwardly nobel as ever. here is an example.

Ergaon: "What is your name?"
Boy: "Jarsha,"
Ergaon: "That is a good name."
Boy: Umm, thanks.Here's a message from the council.
Eragon: "You have carried your message well. You should be proud of yourself.
Boy beams and hurries away.

see what i mean? my god, it wasn't like the boy travelled like ten miles or anything, he walked like maybe fifty steps. That line was so corny i nearly cried in disbelief that that had actually been put down on paper.

And you will grimace with disgust at the even more awkward poetry Paolini writes, after all, every genius fantasy writer puts good poetry; for example, Rowling's was entertaining, Tolkien's was powerful and beautiful; paolini's is pure amateur and feeble. i do hope the next book will improve.

oh, and why the heck is this called the "Inheritance" books? Nothing gets inherited in these books. Eragon didnt inherit anyhting. Murtagh inherited a sword from his father. big deal. lord of the rings i understand. harry potter i understand. why the heck would these series be called "inheritance"?

oh, and i was also annoyed at the fact that eragon, a farm boy with no education and illiterate, suddenly becomes an expert at reading and writing in not only in whatever his language is, but also in Elvish.
Being pretty much an adult, Eragon should find it more difficult than ever to learn, because it is proven that the older you get, the slower you learn things.
yet, only after a few weeks of learning, Eragon is suddenly reading and writing like its nothing. after a few months at Ellesmera, Eragon is suddenly speaking an entrirely different language, and writing and reading it as if he has been speaking it all his life. yes, he knows a lot of elvish words from his magic training, but i also mean adjectives and combining sentences and blah. seriously, paolini, get a life and please stop copying and writing terribly besides. sheesh.

In an interview, Paolini said that he didn't listen to his reviewers and BOY does it show. Eldest has all the flaws of Eragon (derivative plot, flat characters, predictability, etc.) as well as all the flaws anticipated for the sequel (derivative of Empire Strikes Back). I know that these criticisms are almost as cliched as Inheritence itself, but these flaws are so obvious that they bear repeating.

And rather than improving, Eldest has shown ANOTHER weakness in Paolini's writing. It's the same problem I've had with The Amber Spyglass and the later Terry Goodkind books. It's so preachy, probably in an attempt to sound mature. A good, mature writer would introduce his beliefs subtly and let the story teach his philosophy. Paolini hits us over the head with his beliefs in long, blocky monologues. No subtlety at all.

I bought this book because of the possibility that CP would improve. I'm ready to give up hope.

I have read many books, and just about all of them have a great story line, great characters, and have a little "new" in them I never read before. With Eragon I liked, but Eldest falls sort of anything I liked for Eragon. And Eragon doesn't come close to any of the other novels I read such as: Elizabeth Haydon, J.R.R.Tolkien, George R.R. Martin, Kristen Britain, C. J. Cherryh, Anne McCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey, and Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman. I feel that all of these were shoved together to try to make an epic fantasy novel of dragonrider's. By the 20th page I immediately dropped the book in disgusts. This all seems so familar to me, and so boring. Of course, it's could be just me. But maybe Ill try it again when I have nothing else better to read. [I would give this review 0 stars, but it wouldn't let me]

The first book was tolerable given a good and quick moving story. In book 2 the story moves slower and is probably a good read only if you are trying to fall asleep. I'm quitting 1/2 way through because it just isn't worth it. Try George RR Martin books if your looking for a good Fanatasy read.

Let me begin by saying that I enjoyed Christopher Paolini's first adventure into the novel-writing world, Eragon. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for his second book, Eldest.

Eldest, like Eragon, tells the story of Eragon, a young boy growing into adulthood in a fantastic world of dragons, elves, dwarves, an evil king, and a righteous rebel group called the Varden. This newest installment in the Inheritance Trilogy, however, also delves into the life of Eragon's cousin, Roran and describes the impact that Eragon's actions have had upon others.

Eragon, in this novel, has been sent to visit the Elves and learn something of being a Rider. It is here that the parallels between this novel and the fantasy epic, Lord of the Rings, become glaringly obvious...painful, even. Paolini's Elves are serene, beautiful beings, while his dwarves are quick-tempered, bearded creatures. Sound familiar, anyone? But it doesn't stop there. The Kull (a breed of brawny killers) are pretty much Orcs by a different name and the Razac are Ringwraiths, down to the winged beasts they ride, the fear they inspire throughout th land, and their slightly repitilian tendencies. The originality that Paolini displayed in Eragon is GONE in Eldest. No shred remains to salvage the plot.

Secondly, Eragon has grown a very (for lack of a better word) annoying personality. He falls, quite predictably, in love with Arya, the beautiful Elven princess of the first novel, and tries to make his feelings known. He is quickly rejected on grounds of impropriety, but he is quite a persistent little fellow. He just can't take a hint! It becomes embarassing for everyone involved - including the reader! Next, during his extensive training with Oromis, an aged Rider, Eragon becomes a veritable killing machine. This leads to obvious complications. During the last battle, there can be ZERO interest for the reader. Eragon is unstoppable. Thus, the epic fight chapters that made the first book so good, are reduced to sentences like "He fought until his limbs shook with exhaustion and the ground was littered with the corpses of his enemies" or other comparable descriptions.

Thirdly, and (thankfully) lastly: This time around, Paolini seems to have discovered a THESAURUS! It seems that he was trying to find the longest words with which to get his point across. The reader is left pondering over words like "invidious" where a simple word might have sufficed.

One can only hope that, before writing the next Inheritance book, Paolini loses his thesaurus.

I must rate this 2 stars...and that might be being a little generous.

The first book was a fairly solid read. Not great, but entertaining. And coming from a 19 year old, the future looked promising. But as often happens to those who experience success very early, things start to go downhill quickly.

This book needed an editor to step in and say no. It is long and boring and the entire subplot with Roran is mystifying. Brom and Eregagon need all of their skills and magic to get away from the bad guys (which kills Brom), but Roran just needs a hammer and a bunch of villagers???

The time Eragon spends with Osmosis (or whatever the heck his name is) in the dark mysterious Elven woods reads way too much like Luke and Yoda on Degoba. And it just goes on and on and on. I don't blame the writer, the professionals around him let him down badly.

This "Inheritance" trilogy has inspired more animosity then I have seen in a very long time. Their is litterally a great divide here, with many hailing Paolini as the next Tolkien, while others say that he will be the downfall of fantasy literature. Personally, I think BOTH sides are giving him way to much credit.
Let's start off with the pro-Paolini crew. I honestly have to wonder if you have actually read any other fantasy novels out there. If you have, you will notice that Eldest is saturated with cliches which Paolini attempts to hide by calling his work 'archetypal.' The attempt at portraying true love is laughable at best with the protagonist litterally calling a girl "as beautiful as a flower." That type of stuff makes me cringe. It seems to me that Paolini doesn't get his writing from real life experience, but instead from the many different authors that he has read before. Without experience, the emotions of Eldest come out as regurgetated garbage. I do not need to delve to deeply into the storyline itself for that has been mentioned numerous times before. I will say though that Paolini has got away with plagiarism. He copied names of places and towns, people, and plots by tweaking them only slightly so as to get away with it. For an avid reader, he fails at sneaking that theivery by us. It stuck out with each new page that I read. I must also say that I am dissapointed that Paolini failed to add anything original to the fantasy genre. Everything he wrote about HAS been used before; everything. That takes the excitement from the book.
Another problem I have is Paolini's arrogance. In reviewing himself, he said "I strive for a lyrical beauty somewhere between Tolkien at his best, and Seamus Henney's translation of Beowulf." That is ridiculous. Plagiraism doesn't put you on the same plane as the one you stole it from. HIs arrognace can also be seen with the agenda's that he peppers into the book, such as the assertion that eating meat is barbaric and that the human race is a collection of bumbling idiots. To top it all off, he feels the need to use obscure words to make himself feel smarter then he really is. I have no problem with a big vocabulary, IF the words fit in the context they are used and if they help get a certain point across. HIs words just feel awkward and take away from the flow of the reading. In conclusion, I find Paolini to be a literary thief who hides and sells his book with his age, rather then any particular merits.
At the same time, I think the anti-Paolini groups are taking thier opinions way overboard. Sure the story is horrible and contrived and rittled with cliches, but you are all giving him way to much credit. I have read some reviews that say he will be the ruin of children's literature. To me, that's a bit extreme. I see the Inheritance trilogy as a fad fueled by the vaccum created by the last Harry Potter book. When this seriies is over with, it will be forgotten and a new writer will emerge. For all of you vehement anti-Paolini people, you are feeding right into Pailoni's niche and are, by some degree, the reason why his book is so popular. Debate and conflict is one of the greatest marketing tools available. I also want to add that some of these negative reviews are a bit exxagerated. It's a mediocre book, (at best), but you must take it as it is. Although I am discusted at how much Paolini stole, I must reluctantly commend him for getting som many young kids to read. He succeeded in that regard and I can only hope that it will inspire people to read books of a higher quality.
I must say that all this attention is a bit baffling. It doesn't seem like it warrants it in any way, from any viewpoint. I will read the last installment of the trilogy for the sole purpose of a closure to what has been a strange ride. As a positve, I will say that Paolini has imroved since Eragon, although his style needs a lot of fine tuning and work. The Inheritance Trilogy is a rebound for Harry Potter. If you are going to buy it, know what it is you are reading and take it as it is. Don't expect any powerful revelations or philosophical intrigue, but maybe that was intended. Until the next book, I sign off. Thank you for reading my review.

Any real criticism of Eragon and Eldest seems to magically disappear. How does that happen? Why does that happen? How many reviews from real people never got posted in the first place? Is it designed to make us think people love these books? Well it's not working, the word is out: Eragon and Eldest SUCK!! Eragon had laughably bad writing and if it were possible the writing in Eldest is even worse.