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    Eldest: The Inheritance Cycle, Book 2
    Unavailable
    Eldest: The Inheritance Cycle, Book 2
    Unavailable
    Eldest: The Inheritance Cycle, Book 2
    Audiobook23 hours

    Eldest: The Inheritance Cycle, Book 2

    Written by Christopher Paolini

    Narrated by Gerard Doyle

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Perfect for fans of Lord of the Rings, the New York Times bestselling Inheritance Cycle about the dragon rider Eragon has sold over 35 million copies and is an international fantasy sensation.

    Darkness falls…despair abounds…evil reigns…

    Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, have just saved the rebel state 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 the skills of the Dragon Rider: magic and swordsmanship. Soon he is on the journey of a lifetime, his eyes open to awe-inspring new places and people, his days filled with fresh adventure. But chaos and betrayal plague him at every turn, and nothing is what it seems. Before long, Eragon doesn't know whom he can trust.

    Meanwhile, his cousin Roran must fight a new battle-one that might put Eragon in even graver danger.

    Will the king's dark hand strangle all resistance? Eragon may not escape with even his life. . . .

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateApr 25, 2006
    ISBN9780739338582
    Unavailable
    Eldest: The Inheritance Cycle, Book 2
    Author

    Christopher Paolini

    Christopher is the firstborn of Kenneth and Talita. Creator of the World of Eragon and the Fractalverse. Holder of the Guinness World Record for youngest author of a bestselling series. Qualified for marksman in the Australian army. Scottish laird. Dodged gunfire . . . more than once. As a child, was chased by a moose in Alaska. Has his name inscribed on Mars. Husband. Father. Asker of questions and teller of stories.

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    Reviews for Eldest

    4/5

    4,472 ratings144 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Read the full review here.The story telling in Eldest is better than in the previous book of the Inheritance Cycle, Eragon. The war against Galbatorix picks up momentum and the story becomes more engaging. The reader meets interesting new characters as they are introduced to the exotic worlds of the Dwarves and Elves. The political tension is also heightened with Eragon and Saphira being pulled in different directions as every race stakes their claim on them. Eragon grows into a mature young man in this book and relies less and less on those around him. One of my gripes with Eragon was that the hero needed someone to rescue him all the time, and he was largely helpless against the forces of the world. In this book, Eragon has realised that he needs training as a Dragon Rider and seeks the help of the Elves. Saphira begins to understand more about human culture and her partnership with Eragon grows to new heights. Their relationship continues to be one the best elements of the series.Eragon’s cousin, Roran, comes into the spotlight in this book as the fate of Carvahall, the home that Eragon abandoned to escape the Empire, is explored. In many ways Roran is smarter and more capable than Eragon, but lacks his natural compassion and empathy. The story is told through alternating the points of view of these two characters, ensuring that the book is well balanced.
    • 5/5
      After reading Eragon so many times it was so exciting to continue on in the story. I really enjoyed hearing about/seeing the other members and inhabitants of Alagaësia
    • 5/5
      This review has been crossposted from my blog Review from Rose's Book Reviews Please head there for more in-depth reviews by me.

      'Eldest' is the next breathtaking book in the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. The series was originally intended to be a trilogy, but after this novel Paolini declared he was going to make it a quartet (or his publisher decided to let him). The story splits between Eragon and his cousin Roran, adding a nice balance to the narrative.

      'Eldest' follows on almost continually from 'Eragon', which makes it nice that there is a quick synopsis of the first book in the first couple of pages. I skipped that and moved on as I'd just read it. In the aftermath of the battle, Eragon must recover from his back wound and continue his training. Beset by his desire for the unattainable Arya, he follows her to the forests of the elves so that the eldest may teach him.

      At the same time, Eragon's cousin Roran is fighting to save their home town - they can fight or flee, but something must be done. We see a distinct development of his character, which was great as Eragon can be a little stupid at times. Often I wonder why Saphira puts up with him! Personally I hope Roran gets a dragon of his own, but time will tell.

      Eragon's personality further develops, and he also has some physical characteristics change on him. His time with the elves is peaceful, and he takes his dwarf friend with him. It is somewhat frustrating that Eragon misses things right under his nose, and his instruction is painful to watch as he struggles with things the discerning reader knows will be expected of him.

      The final battle is almost nail-biting, except that you know Eragon must triumph for the next two books to be written! Nevertheless, the twist at the end is shocking, if expected by more canny readers. I'm hanging out to read the next book (I really don't remember it from last time I read it), but I have a new Mercedes Lackey waiting for me from the library.

      I'd recommend 'Eldest' for more mature children (there is a lot of gore, although it is not really gratuitous and the value of life is addressed), and teens. It does continue nicely from 'Eragon', although it is disappointing that there is not much development in Paolini's style.
    • 3/5
      The transformation part of the narrative where the boy transforms into the hero.
    • 4/5
      Long? Yep. Draggy? Unfortunately, yes. There are boring parts (such as everything that was under Roran's point of view) and then there are interesting parts (such as the events in Ellesmera?although long, they were amusing; and of course the shocker that was Oromis and Glaedr) so if I was going to rate the middle parts of the book, it'd have to be 3 stars. 2.5 at the worst.

      But then again the ending.
      Holy shit guys the ending.
      It made me think twice. It surprised me. It made me gasp. It made me curse and my brother looked at me weirdly. It blew my mind.

      And that compensates for the boring middle, you guys. Because although I predicted that, of course, Roran and the rest of Carvahall is going to wind up in Surda, I most definitely did not guess the other surprise. Or why this book is entitled "Eldest" or why the dragon in the cover is red.

      If you're going to measure Paolini's talent, please inspect Eragon or Brisingr instead. We all know sequels suck, the only exception for me being Catching Fire. Although this sucked in some way, in the end? it most definitely did not. In the end, it was pure amazingness, if such a word exists.

      So I'm satisfied with 3.5/4 stars.
    • 5/5
      Part 2 of the Inheritance cycle was better than part 1 in my opinion. It is amazon the minds of people who write these fantasy books. The level of detail is amazing. On to part 3!
    • 4/5
      Eldest is the sequel to Eragon, the first book of the Inheritance Cycle. Much like the first book, Eldest is incredibly predictable. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it. There's still plenty of action and adventure to maintain the reader's interest. In addition, I found the situation revolving around Elva to be unpredictable. In my opinion, she is also the most interesting and unique character in the series. Another interesting aspect to this novel is the romance because it is so awkward. I'm not sure if Paolini felt uncomfortable writing romance sequences or if he was just trying to portray what romance is often like in the real world. Overall, this is a pretty typical fantasy novel and a good launching point for young readers of the genre. Side note: Is Paolini trying to promote Veganism through this novel?
    • 5/5
      The sequel to Eragon, Eldest is about Eragon and his journey to the elven lands to meet The Cripple Who Is Whole, the only other dragon rider besides the evil Galbatorix. Right before Eragon leaves the dwarven king offers to adopt Eragon into his clan. Eragon agrees. Before, in the battle against the Urgals, Eragon got a nasty slice running diagonally on his back. He almost died. Because of that, Eragon goes into painful seizures whenever he moves it. Once Eragon went to the elven lands, he takes part of a ritual, known as the blood-oath celebration. He then is turned into a part elf, part human hybrid. He gets the elve's supernatural hearing, strength, speed, and agility. His back is healed. Eragon receives lots of training with Oromis, the cripple who is whole. Eragon rides back to the Varden and sees another rider. They have a lengthy battle and Eragon looses. The rider;s helm is taken off, and Eragon is astonished to see it's Murtagh, his former friend, and ally. Eragon manages to escape and is reunited with his brother.
    • 4/5
      A good follow-up
    • 5/5
      Eldest opens with Eragon looking upon the battlefield of Tronjheim. It has been three days since the battle has been won, three days since Eragon killed the Shade Durza. But the mood is bleak; there is no rejoicing over the victory. The stronghold of the dwarves and the Varden Farthen Dur is littered with bodies. The battle is over for now, but every one knows that King Galbatorix has not been completely defeated.And Eragon himself is scarred. Though he managed to kill Durza and is now known as Shadeslayer, Durza's sword has left a battle injury. The only hope for resisting the Empire of Galbatorix, wonders how a cripple like him will survive the conflicts ahead.Then in a surprise attack, a group of Urgals murder Ajihad, the leader of the Varden and take the Twins and Eragon's friend, Murtagh prisoner. The Varden's Council of Elders wants to nominate a leader who'll be a decision maker. They want Eragon to throw his weight behind them and swear allegiance to the Council. The dwarves too would like to have a say in the matter and want Eragon to support their choice. Arya, the ambassador of the elves, keeps her own counsel. Eragon is caught in these uneasy circumstances a time of power games and strategizing.During this adventure his own brother fights his own adventure, facing problems, which eragon has started. In the book I saw a feeling of brotherhood and how people work hard for others. I personally think this book is marvelous and if you like adventure series this is your type. I would rate this 5 stars and it would be 8+ as it contains some violence and hard words to pronounce for younger readers.Manpreet
    • 5/5
      Love the book and series. First time listening was awesome
    • 3/5
      Over 600 pages, and one chapter of battle. I don’t know, it just felt super long.
    • 3/5
      Excellent fantasy.
    • 4/5
      My favorite <3 Murtagh what more can I say? Yeah I'm a sucker for his type, but to me, even before it really picked up, this is overall the most thought out, and well planned of the Inheritance Cycle. Of course it's my favorite, but I also really like how the characters grow, the plot develops, and they all move to the next stage in the story.
    • 3/5
      I loved Eragon and this is a good sequel but the use of alternate perspectives creates a problem for me. I personally found them a bit distracting and would of rather alternate / non-Rider perspectives been published in their own book as supplementary material. This however would amplify my second problem, the alternate perspectives contain most of the action. This allowed to author to create a slow burn in the main story but to me it was a bit too slow. I'm sure this was done to show off his growth as a writer but sometimes it just seemed like abrupt shifts that left me wanting to skip some chapters and return to them later. Alternate perspectives can add a great amount of background information but need to be done right. In Eldest they feel more like a "necessary evil" building up to the third book instead of a well thought out element. They also made the book longer than it needed to be which is one of the primary complaints of the series, one of the few I agree with.
    • 5/5
      Wat een verhaal, kunnen veel schrijvers van leren.

      Revier volgt.
    • 5/5
      Loves the story, loved the voices!!^_^
    • 3/5
      What is wrong with me?! I did not like this one any more than the first. In fact, I liked it less!Keeping what Tolkien said in the back of my head, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us," I will move on to the final story and hope I haven't wasted my time.
    • 3/5
      Christopher Paolini only gets a three-star rating because I love the world he has built. The actual writing of this book is mediocre at best, which may be due to the age he was when he first wrote the books. Regardless, The ending of this book felt way to rushed. Instead of having a cohesive path towards the ending, I felt as though the information learned in the last battle of the book was just thrown in there because Paolini wanted to shock the readers, but wasn't sure how to properly go about it. Therefore, there was little to no buildup for the big reveal and it lost a lot of the emotional value that it could have. In the few instances that Paolini tries to foreshadow something, he over explains/hints and then it becomes way too obvious. He hasn't found a happy medium in his writing style yet, and it shows.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      The second book in a four part series of epic proportions. These books have been compared to so many different kinds of stories, some have said Star Wars, some have said Lord of the Rings, personally I find some Pern and DragonHeart in here as well, but what is important isn't what parts of another story you find within this one, it is how much you enjoy being swept into the adventure that is provided to you.I honestly love the culture created around these characters and I enjoyed having the time to sit down and get swept away in the Elven and Rider cultures as Eragon studies, while dealing with the survival of the Human culture as Roran struggles to save his people. In Eldest you don't just have the evolution and growth of one character, you have the evolution and growth of two related characters and it is very interesting to see the differences and similarities in how each handles the situation (and new power) that they are given. This is a story about change, it is a story about moving on, it is a story about surviving and finding a way to fight something that you are certain is going to overpower youBeyond the creation of culture, what makes a fantasy adventure like this one so appealing to me is the ability to paint the picture in the reader's mind with such detail that you feel as if you are seeing it happen before your eyes rather than reading the book. If I can think back on the plot of a story and see the images rather than the words on a page, then everything has been done perfectly. So far that has been the case with this series and has certainly been the case throughout this particular book. I might not be able to tell you what page I'm on, but I can tell you what that Elven abode looks like and how a boat rocked on the waves. Can't wait to continue the series.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book much more than its previous one Eragon.Eragon was a good story but sometimes I felt a little bored with it like when they were traveling and traveling through out most of the story.
      But Eldest had great pace,a good storyline,fair amount of action and above all the surprise element which was amazing.I was shocked to discover about Eragon's father.The changes happened to Eragon was also surprising and accepting.But I liked most the part of Roran's adventure.It was exciting and full of tension.I liked how Roran developed as a side character.
      So overall I am very pleased and I can't wait so I have already started on the 3rd book.
    • 3/5
      Not as good as Eragon. It seems to me like he rushed releasing this one, and not enough editing was done to it. Roran's plotline was incredible, and I loved every minute of it, but Eragon's plotline bored me. Could have cut about five chapters down to one and the book would have held my attention better...

      Still worth the read though.
    • 3/5
      The two things why I liked Eldest more than Eragon was.... 1. The author had all the different perspectives of the different people and how they all came together in the end. 2. All the exciting action during the war and surprise at the end.(I won't tell)But I thought it was a little slow at the beginning.....and then it picked up to a good pace.
    • 5/5
      One man rules most of the known world and all the weight of breaking free of the tyrant is on a man and a dragon's shoulders. This book is titled Eldest by Christopher Paolini, it is the second book in the quadrilogy and is a fantasy book. The book shifts through many perspectives as the book goes on. The main character Eragon, was an orphan in a small town and is a young adult with great skills in battle and magic. Eragon has a scar on his back from a shade he killed in one of the dwarve's mountains. Eragon has a dragon that he named Saphira. Saphira is one of the only dragons left in Alagaesia. Saphira is small female dragon that has elegant blue scales and can breathe fire for a long time. Another main character is Roran, Eragon's cousin. Roran is a leader of his community and a great fighter with his hammer. Another very important character is Nasuada, she is the leader of the Varden after her father died. She is a strong political leader and a great problem solver. In the beginning of the book it takes place in the dwarven community in the Beor Mountains. More specifically, the dwarve's holiest city, Farthen Dur. Then towards the middle of the story Eragon and Saphira travel to the land of the elves. In the land of the elves, or as the book calls it, Du Weldenvarden, Eragon and Saphira go through intense training in battle and magic. In the end the book takes place in Surda, a nation fighting against the nation of Alagaesia.As Eragon prepares to leave for Du Weldenvarden from Farthen Dur, his cousin Roran is fighting the king of Alagaesia's (Galbatorix) army, in his town. Roran devises a plan to escape and flee tto the nation of Surda. He then travels to many ports to get ships to travel. Then Eragon travels to Ellesmera, the elves capital city and continues his trainig. There he meets a very important person to help him. After a lot of training Eragon returns to Nasuada who relocated the Varden to Surda from Farthen Dur. There he meets her and Roran and they prepare for a battle which they have been waiting for with Galbatorix. I think this is a great book full of vivid imagery, I also liked that the author included a glossary for the elven and dwarven words. This book is for ages ten and up because it is little hard to follow when almost every chapter switches the perspective. The authors craft was descriptive and with a very good flow.
    • 3/5
      This is a good book. One of the best fantasy works I've read.
    • 4/5
      I have been listening to the Inheritance Series with my 11-year old son, Michael. I admit that I initially started it because Paolini wrote these books as a teen ager and I'm trying to motivate my son to write more than the bare minimum for every English assignment. These books are great. I am constantly amazed by the writing in this book - definitely impressive. Paolini has a great vocabulary (I wonder what he scored on the SATs?) and uses it well, without being overly descriptive. Very complex plots with gripping action. Eldest is the second in the series (the firs is Eragon). This book is long - 20 cds - but we were completely drawn in from the beginning all the way to the end. I highly recommend this series to fantasy fans, both young and old.
    • 3/5
      Another re-read to get the story back in my head to read the new Brisingr. Again, for a young author writing to a younger audience this is pretty good.
    • 1/5
      I've been curious about these books, since they've been such bestsellers, and are already being made into movies. However, when I saw a co-worker reading one of them, and asked her how it was, she said "Eh. Not so good, actually."
      And, I'd have to agree.
      Admittedly, this was the second in a series, so perhaps I didn't start from the ideal perspective, but I was just not impressed at all.
      The subject matter is completely unoriginal - a dragonrider, a la Anne McCaffrey (complete with the telepathic bond and 'whirling' dragon eyes) meets elves and dwarves that are straight out of Tolkien. Nothing new added at all - and not only that, the lack of effective description seems to indicate that Paolini just assumes that we've read McCaffrey and Tolkien, so he doesn't need to reiterate all that stuff - we already know it. The young dragonrider, Eragon, seems anachronistically contemporary in his speech and actions, even though he lives in a faux-medieval-fantasy world. And he soon becomes wish-fulfillment-ly handsome, strong, and talented, due to the gift of a magic spell. Boring. Most of the other characters are very two-dimensional.
      I just realized I was about to finish this up, and I didn't mention anything about the plot. That's 'cause it was barely memorable. An evil warlord wants to take over the world with dark magic and the good peoples of the land want to stop him, of course. But not much actually happens.
      At least it was a really fast read - although the book is physically large, the pages are thick and the typeface is pretty big - it's not really a very long story.
    • 4/5
      My 10 year old son and I are reading this series together - the audio books - and we both very much enjoyed it. I would have given it a 3.5 and he would have given it a 5 (he's very easy) so I rated it 4 stars.
    • 2/5
      Some thoughts as I'm reading (listening):Bored.Bored.God I hate this audiobook reader. Saphira's voice sucks.Bored.OMG! Would everyone shut up and do something already?Bored.Wait...why are we back in Carvahall?Ugh...who the hell cares about Roran?Bored.Bored.Oh yay, another cliched "I love you but you're so wrong for me!" romance...This is like Tolkien...but crappyBORED!!!Oh look, they're alive.Wait...didn't we already know they were family? Didn't they tell us that in the last book? How the hell is this a shocking reveal? Either we were told already, or that was the most obvious reveal in history.Bored...*gaspy breathing* "Luke...I am you father!" *gaspy breathing*Bored...cliched...stupid.No me gusta. I'm a horrible completionist, so I'm going to finish the series (dammit), but this was tedious, derivative, and painful.