Reviews and Comments

I'm giving this a solid 4 stars. There was a lot I liked about this book. I cannot help but compare it to the Inheritance Cycle (IC), which I read before this. Primarily the magic system, which is similar to a degree that I'm inclined to think IC plagiarized it. The difference is that I was pretty annoyed with the magic in IC, and in this book it just feels natural. Like IC, this book also is a coming of age story, but the protagonist Greg a really profound evolution of character, which is absent in IC. I don't think it's ever happened to me that reading a book has made me think so much less of another. I recommend this as a nice quick read, and I'm looking forward to reading more in the series.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting this. It's an easy read and I flew through it. It's basically a collection of short stories, with recurring protagonists, gods and friends. The language is easy and has a modern feel, but it does a good job. It gives a sense of storytelling that does justice to the oral tradition these stories came from. The stories themselves are very fairy tail like, which I found interesting. The stories are short though, and they left me wanting for more.

So far this is the book I enjoyed the most of the inheritance cycle. It's difficult to pinpoint exactly why that is though. I think the story now unfolds in a much more established world, which means it doesn't need to spoonfeed worldbuilding as much as its predecessor. Story arcs were interwoven more elegantly. Im happy I decided to continue with the series.

I didn't like Eldest as much as I did Eregon. It's still a decent story, with interesting characters and lore. Overall it's alright, but there were times that I was rolling my eyes and considering putting it away. It's hard to say what it exactly was, but I think that this book tried to explain too much. A large part is dedicated to Eragon's education, and of course that is important to the story, but it just seemed to go on and on. This was also apparent in other parts, and the 'big plot twist' wasn't really surprising at all. I think the last thing that I wasn't too enthusiastic about is the prominent role magic plays. That's a very personal opinion, but to me this comes across a bit lazy, everything is solved with magic! Hurrah!

I've been searching for a book that could make me feel the way I did when I first read the Hobbit and lord of the Rings over 30 years ago. Or how the Harry Potter books kept me up all night reading. I don't think this book goes to the same level, as deep and wondrous as Middle Earth, nor is the language quite as elegant as Rowling's prose. But it still had a certain quality to it, an energy, that I really appreciated. It's a fun read and a real page-turner.