I’ve just finished reading this book and I think I may be at a loss for words. I read Eragon, the first book in Paolini’s Inheritance saga and I liked it. It wasn’t perfect, but it was good. He had great characterization and decent pacing and a cliffhanger ending that made you want to come back for the next part of the trilogy. With Eldest, Paolini has surpassed Eragon in every respect.
The pacing is excellent. There’s never a dull moment. Occasionally it will slow down, but that serves the purpose of the story. And it expands on the characters that were introduced in the first book but were never seen after the early chapters. Paolini manages to bring them all back into the story in a way that is believable and engrossing. He even covers story elements that I didn’t know that I wanted to know about (but it turns out I did. So I’m glad he did).
This book seems to combine elements of all the greatest fantasy tales so beautifully. You’ve got the heroic rebellion fighting against an overwhelming and evil empire; a teenaged farmboy who ascends to a position of great power through willpower and skill; star-crossed lovers; an oceanic adventure; elves, dwarves, and of course dragons. This tale has it all. And while he clearly borrowed elements from Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Beowulf (to name a few), Paolini was able to weave them together so well, that I didn’t mind.
Additionally, it was a good morality tale. It had a few life lessons that it wanted to bestow upon the reader and thankfully, Paolini managed to sell them without being pushy or preachy. But that’s not to say that this was a G-rated fable either. There were a lot of dark segments in the book as well. Times when even the heroes had to resort to unscrupulous actions to achieve their goals. And it’s because of those dark and lighter elements that the story is so enjoyable. No single aspect outshines any of the others.
But the thing that really knocked the wind out of me was the surprise twist at the end. Some of the more astute readers may have seen it coming, but it totally bowled me over. I wasn’t expecting it at all. And that’s all I’ll say. I don’t want to ruin the surprise for those that haven’t read it.
However that being said, I do have one issue with the tale thus far. My problem is that Paolini’s writing seems inconsistent with regard to Eragon’s abilities. During the final battles in both books, Eragon has gotten his head handed to him. In the first book, it made sense that he was getting beaten by a superior warrior and only managed to triumph over the villain with the help of others. But in this second tome, Eragon should have been much more evenly matched with his foe (due to all the training that he had gone through) and yet he still gets outclassed. I’m not saying that the outcome should have changed, I understand that Paolini had certain plot points to cover, but I think he could have dealt with that aspect in a more satisfactory way.
One other aspect that I’m concerned about is the Inheritance Trilogy’s strong similarity to the Star Wars saga. As I said before, it’s clear that he borrows elements and plot points from it, but overall, I wonder if he’s borrowed too much from Lucas’ saga. What’s more, I’m not sure if he borrowed intentionally or subconsciously. Make no mistake, I’ve enjoyed the first two books of the Inheritance Trilogy, but I wonder if it couldn’t have been even more entertaining if it didn’t seem to borrow so much from Star Wars. I would like to see Paolini compose this tale all on his own, without borrowing as much from other stories. Maybe I’ll get to see that in his future endeavors.
Still, it’s a great read and I’ll gladly wait in line for the third and final volume of this saga. Paolini has certainly shown that he has a great amount of skill when it comes to storytelling and I can’t wait to see what else he has in store.
Huh. Maybe I wasn’t at a loss for words after all.
