Eldest

Christopher Paolini (author)

Doubleday, USA: 2005; 668pp

ISBN: 0385608691

Genres: adventure, fantasy

Issues: friendship, family, identity

Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, having helped the Varden defeat an army of Krull, is sent to Ellesmera to study with the Elves. There he must learn many things, the most important of which is to think logically, analytically, about both himself and those around him. He must learn control if he is to come into his power as a Dragon Rider.

While Eragon struggles to master himself, his cousin, Roran, must fight his own battle to develop skills that will enable him to defend those he loves. Will either of them be strong enough to survive the forces that the evil Galbatorix sets against them or are they fighting an unwinnable war? When everything is about power and politics, Eragon, especially, learns that Saphira is the only one he can truly trust.

This action-packed fantasy adventure is the very readable sequel to Eragon. Although the ‘purple prose' continues, the writing being overendowed with adjectives, adverbs and flamboyant phrases, the descriptions of characters and places are powerful and imagined in remarkable detail. Tolkien references or mimicry is almost inevitable in almost any fantasy but Paolini does not conceal them quite as well or creatively in this novel as he did in Eragon. He uses the ‘man of mystery' - Aragorn in Lord of the Rings - quite effectively in the person of Murtaugh, although the return of that character was predictable. Neither will readers who are familiar with the genre be surprised by Eragon's parentage when it is finally revealed.

Paolini does well by the characters from the original novel, which demonstrates careful and detailed narrative planning. The development of Eragon's cousin, Roran, is particularly effective; better, perhaps, and certainly more believable than that of Eragon, which is somewhat hasty. The healing and physical change Eragon undergoes whilst in Ellesmera seems somewhat artificial, a ‘let's just use magic' solution to a problem in the narrative. Eragon's Elven education has an interesting subtext, however, one that is recurring more regularly in high fantasy these days. Eragon is taught that by studying an enemy's culture and motivations it is possible to find common ground - and therefore a route to peace. It is interesting to find Paolini, as did Tolkien, writing a pacifist theme into a book that is filled with bloody battles.

While perhaps not as fresh or original as Eragon, Paolini was always going to have a difficult time writing the sequel, given the burden of reader expectation after the first novel's unexpected success. Although over-written at times, Eldest has a much better structure and greater consistency within the narrative.

Readers who enjoyed the first novel will not be disappointed.