Eldest

Eldest
Cover of USA first edition
Author	Christopher Paolini
Illustrator	John Jude Palencar
Cover artist	John Jude Palencar
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Inheritance cycle
Genre(s)	Fantasy
Publisher	Alfred A. Knopf
Publication date	August 23, 2005
Media type	Print (Hardcover and Paperback) and audio-CD
Pages	668 pp (hardcover edition)
ISBN	ISBN 0-375-82670-X (hardcover edition)
OCLC Number	58919923
Dewey Decimal	[Fic] 22
LC Classification	PZ7.P19535 El 2005
Preceded by	Eragon
Followed by	Brisingr

Eldest is the second book in the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini and the sequel to Eragon. Eldest was first published in hardcover on August 23, 2005, and was released in paperback in September 2006.^[1] Eldest has been released in an audiobook format,^[2] and as an ebook.^[3] Like Eragon, Eldest became a New York Times bestseller.^[3] A deluxe edition of Eldest was released on September 26, 2006, including new information and art by both the illustrator and the author.^[4] Other editions of Eldest are translated into different languages.^[5][6]

Eldest begins following several important events in Eragon. The story is the continued adventures of Eragon and his dragon Saphira, centering around their journey to the realm of the Elves in order to further Eragon's training as a Dragon Rider. Other plots in the story focus on Roran, Eragon's cousin, who leads the inhabitants of Carvahall to Surda to join the Varden, and Nasuada as she takes on her father's role as leader of the Varden. Eldest ends at the Battle of the Burning Plains, where Eragon faces a new Dragon Rider, Murtagh, and a new dragon, Thorn.

Reviews pointed out the similarities between Eldest and other works such as The Lord of the Rings,^[7] while praising the themes of the book, such as friendship and honor.^[8] Several of these reviews commented on the style and genre of Eldest,^[9] while others considered the possibility of a film adaptation similar to the adaption of its prequel Eragon.^[10]

Contents 1 Plot synopsis 1.1 Setting 1.2 Characters 1.3 Plot summary 2 Critical reaction 3 Themes 4 Literary style and genre 5 Film adaptation 6 Limited edition 7 References 8 External links

Plot synopsis

Setting

Eldest begins three days after the events of the preceding novel, Eragon, in the dwarf city of Tronjheim, inside of a hollowed mountain named Farthen Dûr. Farthen Dûr is in the southeastern part of Alagaësia, the fictional continent where the Inheritance Cycle takes place. Throughout the novel, the protagonists travel to many different places: Ellesméra, the elven capital city located in the forest Du Weldenvarden, on the northern portion of Alagaësia; Carvahall, a city located on the northwestern part of Alagaësia in Palancar Valley; and Aberon, the capital of Surda, located in the southern portion of Alagaësia, as examples.

Characters

The story is told in third-person through protagonists Eragon, Roran, and Nasuada. Eragon is nearly always accompanied by his dragon Saphira. Due to the multiple points-of-view, multiple stories take place concurrently, and the protagonist characters do not meet often. Several other characters return from Eragon, including Arya (the elf maiden), Orik, Ajihad (the King of the Varden), and Angela (the herbalogist), while some new characters appear, such as Oromis and the dragon Glaedr. Murtagh appears briefly as a minor protagonist, then reappears later as a primary antagonist with his dragon, Thorn. Galbatorix and the Ra'zac also reprise their roles as primary antagonists.

Plot summary

Eldest begins as Ajihad, the leader of the rebel Varden force, is ambushed and killed, with Murtagh gone while Ajihad's other guards are assumed dead. At his funeral, Ajihad's daughter Nasuada is elected to command the Varden. The protagonists Eragon and Saphira then decide to travel to the forest Du Weldenvarden to become trained as a Dragon Rider by the elves. Once there, Eragon meets Oromis and his dragon Glaedr, the only dragon and Rider secretly alive besides Eragon, Saphira and Galbatorix. Oromis and Glaedr, however, are both crippled, and so cannot fight Galbatorix and must hide to avoid Galbatorix hunting them down. Eragon and Saphira are taught the use of logic, magic theory, scholarship, and combat, among other things.

Meanwhile, Nasuada chooses to move the Varden from Tronjheim to Surda, to mount an attack on the Empire. The Varden suffers financial troubles, however, until Nasuada learns that she can create an expensive lace with magic, and sell it at extremely low rates. One night when Nasuada is in her room, a character named Elva saves her from an assassination attempt. Elva is enchanted, and locates the assailant, who is killed after unwillingly surrendering information to Varden magicians about a subversive group based in Surda called the Black Hand, who is plotting to kill Nasuada. Nasuada later attends a meeting with key figures in Surda's government to discuss a potential upcoming battle against the Empire. They learn that the conflict is coming sooner than they initially suspected, and mobilize forces to attack, as well as sending for help from the dwarves.

In the meantime, Eragon continues his training, but is discouraged when the scar on his back causes him to have seizures multiple times per day. Later, at the ancient elven ceremony, the Agaetí Blödhren (Blood-Oath Celebration), Eragon is altered by a spectral dragon. The changes alter his senses, and enhance his abilities, as well as healing all of his wounds. Reinvigorated, Eragon continues training until he learns that the Empire will soon attack the Varden in Surda. Dismayed, he leaves without completing his training, to aid the Varden in battle.

Meanwhile, Roran is hunted by the Ra'zac in Carvahall. He eventually persuades the entire village to attack the Ra'zac in the night, and succeeds in driving them off. After more conflicts with the village, the Ra'zac manage to kidnap Katrina, Roran's fiancée. Roran then stirs the village to mobilize, departing on a journey to join the Varden in Surda. He leads them to Narda, and then by sea to Teirm. In Teirm, they meet Jeod, who helps them pirate a new vessel from Teirm. Pursued by sloops from the Empire, the vessel manages to escape through a whirlpool, and eventually makes it to Surda, arriving just as the Battle of the Burning Plains is about to begin between Surda and its allies, and the Empire.

When the conflict begins, Eragon is able to repel the opposing army using magic. Eventually, a Dragon Rider appears in favor of the Empire. The hostile Dragon Rider kills the dwarf king Hrothgar, and soon begins to fight with Eragon. The Dragon Rider is soon unmasked by Eragon and is revealed to be Murtagh. Murtagh tells Eragon that he was kidnapped and forced into loyalty by Galbatorix after a dragon hatched for him. Murtagh outmatches Eragon, but shows mercy due to their old friendship. Before leaving, Murtagh reveals that Eragon is his brother, and takes Eragon's sword as well. Ultimately, Galbatorix's army is forced to retreat after the arrival of the dwarves and the departure of Murtagh and Thorn. In the end, Eragon and Roran decide that they will seek out Katrina together.

Critical reaction

Eldest received mixed reviews by critics. School Library Journal noted that Eldest lacked originality, but would still find reception among fans. It also acknowledged that themes of Eldest are based generally on the works of other writers.^[7] BookBrowse also criticized Eldest, but said, as School Library Journal noted, that nothing the reviewers can say will stop some children from reading the book.^[9] Entertainment Weekly rated Eldest as one of the worst five books of 2005, calling it a "700-page drag."^[11] The Boston Globe gave a negative review for Eldest, criticizing the very low points and for "drama that rises to a wet pop."^[9] The Christian Science Monitor gave Eldest a C+ grade. Similar to other reviews, it criticized the long plot and its similarities to The Lord of the Rings and Dragonriders of Pern, as well as the lack of humor. The review commented that Roran, one of the secondary major characters, had the best part of the book.^[12] SFSignal also gave Eldest a poor review, giving it one out of five stars. The main reason of this was for its dull pace. The SFSignal review, like The Christian Science Monitor, did say that Roran had the "strongest sequence" in the book.^[13]

However, there were also some more positive reviews of Eldest. Bookmarks magazine saw Eldest's similarity to other works, but said that Eldest displayed more emotional depth than Eragon.^[7] Publisher's Weekly also gave a positive review for Eldest, praising the revelations in the final pages.^[9] Barnes & Noble gave a positive review for Eldest, in particular for its style, characters and themes such as friendship, forgiveness, responsibility, and honor.^[9] Eldest won the 2006 Quill Award in Young Adult Literature.^[14][15] Eldest also was nominated for a British Book Award in the Children's Book of the Year section,^[16] the Disney Adventures Book Award, the Colorado Blue Spruce Award Young Adult Book Award, and the Wyoming Soaring Eagle Book Award.^[17]

Themes

Several themes in Eldest have been noted. A Barnes & Noble reviewer praised the honor, friendship, responsibility, and forgiveness in the book. The reviewer called these themes "age-transcendent".^[8] School Library Journal commented on how Eragon looked for a definition for good and evil.^[8] A third review, while not identifying any specific themes, said the author was "layering his themes" to make the book more exciting.^[18] Another review praised the story for the themes of power, family, and maturing.^[19] Paolini commented on the theme in Eldest of vegetarianism:^[20]

"One of my goals as an author is to explore various aspects of human nature. It's my job, then, to attempt to understand why people act, even if it differs from my own point of view or practice, and to present those reasons to the best of my ability. The actions and beliefs of my characters are not necessarily my own."

There are also themes of religion and atheism, the dwarves being highly religious, the elves being atheists, and Eragon, growing up without a religious background but a set of superstitions, wondering if there are higher powers.

Literary style and genre

Eldest falls in the genre of juvenile fiction^[21] and fantasy.^[22] Reviews often commented on how Eldest borrowed from the fantasy genre.^[7] Other reviews criticized and praised the writing style of the author. Los Angeles Times, while noting that the writing was more matured, criticized the novel for being inconsistent and having an archaic style. An Entertainment Weekly review was negative toward the story because it was slow-paced, while The Washington Post said Eldest needed to be shortened.^[23] A reviewer from The Boston Globe said:^[9]

"He is to English as a bad dog to a chainsaw: he worries it, and worries it, and devastation spreads around him."

On the other hand, Barnes & Noble called the writing style fluid^[9] and Children's Literature praised the story for being richly detailed. Kirkus Reviews compared the story to a patchwork of fantasy elements and characters, then concluded that it, despite being derivative, was exciting and held together well.^[23]

Film adaptation

Whether or not the book will be adapted to film remains a matter of speculation. When asked whether there would be a movie adaptation of Eldest at the premiere of Eragon, Christopher Paolini replied, "I think we'll know after opening weekend."^[24] Since the opening weekend passed, Paolini has not commented. Many critics have considered the possibility of a sequel in their reviews of Eragon. One critic said that 20th Century Fox's plans to adapt Eldest was "jumping the gun" and that "they will have a tough time convincing anyone but the most die-hard fans to return for another helping."^[25] Even some critics who gave the film positive reviews were skeptical towards the possibility of a sequel: "That the studio hopes to build a franchise on this, now that—that is expecting way too much."^[10]

According to an interview with director Stefen Fangmeier:

“

I'm not quite sure what is currently going on. My own personal perspective is that until we sort of figure out what happens in the third book. Evidentially, I asked Christopher... about that and he was not volunteering much of what was going to happen. I think it's very important to see where this ends up; how it's resolved. I think until you kind of have an understanding of what the third piece of that puzzle is, it's kind of hard to look at that second book, of course I read it, it's very much a transitional story element. I think one would be best off to write the third film first, and then, being happy with that, going back to the second one and doing all the set-up work that will pay off in the third. Then probably filming two and three together as they did with Pirates of the Caribbean; as one production." That means, given the time frame, it might still be another year before there are actually are scripts for both films and these things can move ahead. I don't know if Fox is waiting to see the revenues the DVD will create. I think they were modestly happy with the worldwide box office."[26]

”

Fangmeier's comments were made in March 2007, before the October 2007 announcement that the trilogy was to be expanded into a four-book cycle.^[27] As of 2010, there are no plans for Eldest being made into a movie.

Limited edition

A deluxe version of Eldest called the "Limited Edition" was released on September 26, 2006.^[28] It was published by Random House.^[29] The deluxe edition included an excerpt of Brisingr, a poster of Glaedr (which would become the cover art for Brisingr), the history of Alagaësia, art by Christopher Paolini, and a list of characters, places, objects, and dwarf clans.^[29] The deluxe edition was also released in an Ebook format.^[30]

Eldest has been published in forty-one countries,^[31] several translations from English into different languages have been made. Translations for languages such as Spanish,^[32] Portuguese,^[5] and Serbian have appeared.^[33] Worldwide Eldest has several publishers including Gailivro, which publishes the Polish and Portuguese Eldest,^[34] and Gramedia Pustaka Utama, the publisher of the Indonesian translations.^[6]

An omnibus of Eragon and Eldest was published on July 8, 2008 and included never-before-seen manuscripts by Christopher Paolini.

References

External links

• Official site, which includes autobiographical comments from Paolini
• Inheriwiki, the site of the Inheritance Cycle Wikia
• Audio Interview with Christopher Paolini

The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini Novels Eragon (2003) · Eldest (2005) · Brisingr (2008) · Untitled fourth book Adaptations Eragon (film) · Eragon (video game) Other articles Eragon (character) · List of characters · Dragon Riders