Inheritance Trilogy: Book Two

Aahhhh....MUCH better.

I have very few problems with Eldest. Most of them are rather petty or involved, so I shall briefly discuss but one:

The first hundred pages were as lame as Eragon, except I felt like I was walking through Middle-earth, renamed, instead of Star Wars; and Paolini introduced more two-dimensional characters (I'm thinking, mostly, of the Council of Elders here). This was quite disheartening, as I had been told by several people the second installment was much better than the first. I forgot about all that, though, once we got into Ellesmera.

As more of an observation than an outright complaint, the story arc still subtly parallels that of the latter three Star Wars episodes; I am pleased, however, that the arc has been completed, and there is nothing I can conceive of to continue the similarities in the final Inheritance installment.

There is a bridge Christopher Paolini crosses, somewhere around the time we first encounter Roran again (which was a pleasant surprise), in regards to his writing and story-telling. It matures. It gains depth. It becomes his. While he maintained a moderately compelling pace and style in Eragon, with proper form and such, there was still a paucity of...personality. It felt generic to me. And there's nothing worse than generic fantasy. Eldest, on the other hand, is his book, his story, penned by his voice--the voice of a story-teller, not just an admirer of other authors' books. Maybe it was time and experience that changed him. Maybe it was the confidence of selling millions of copies of his debut novel. Probably an amalgamation of the two. I don't know what caused the change. But I'm glad it happened, regardless.

Because of this, Eldest has the substance the first book lacked. The system of magic is explained in greater detail, religion and motivation are debated and explored discursively, the value (and meaning) of family is explored without seeming banal or mawkish; I found the twists of plot to be satisfying on two levels: I got to feel smart after partially predicting half of them, along with the thrill of the wholly unexpected. Anyway, Eldest is overall a worthwhile read, a successful endeavor on the author's part.

Christopher Paolini, the world patiently, eagerly awaits the finale to your epic tale.