Product Description

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. . . .


Praise for Eragon:
“Unusual, powerful . . . fresh and fluid. An impressive start to a writing career that’s sure to flourish.” –Booklist, Starred
“Christopher Paolini make[s] literary magic with his precocious debut.” –People
“The new ‘It’ book of children’s lit.” –U.S. News & World Report
“An auspicious beginning to both career and series.” –Publishers Weekly

A #1 New York Times Bestseller
A #1 Publishers Weekly Bestseller
A USA Today Bestseller
A Wall Street Journal Bestseller
A Book Sense Book of the Year
A #1 Book Sense Selection

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14101 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-23
• Released on: 2005-08-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 704 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780375826702
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
Surpassing its popular prequel Eragon, this second volume in the Inheritance trilogy shows growing maturity and skill on the part of its very young author, who was only seventeen when the first volume was published in 2003. The story is solidly in the tradition (some might say derivative) of the classic heroic quest fantasy, with the predictable cast of dwarves, elves, and dragons--but also including some imaginatively creepy creatures of evil.

The land of Alagaesia is suffering under the Empire of the wicked Galbatorix, and Eragon and his dragon Saphira, last of the Riders, are the only hope. But Eragon is young and has much to learn, and so he is sent off to the elven forest city of Ellesmera, where he and Saphira are tutored in magic, battle skills, and the ancient language by the wise former Rider Oromis and his elderly dragon Glaedr. Meanwhile, back at Carvahall, Eragon's home, his cousin Roran is the target of a siege by the hideous Ra'zac, and he must lead the villagers on a desperate escape over the mountains. The two narratives move toward a massive battle with the forces of Galbatorix, where Eragon learns a shocking secret about his parentage and commits himself to saving his people.

The sheer size of the novel, as well as its many characters, places with difficult names, and its use of imaginary languages make this a challenging read, even for experienced fantasy readers. It is essential to have the plot threads of the first volume well in mind before beginning--the publisher has provided not only a map, but a helpful synopsis of the first book and a much-needed Language Guide. But no obstacles will deter the many fans of Eragon from diving headfirst into this highly-awaited fantasy. (Ages 12 and up) --Patty Campbell

From School Library Journal
Grade 5 Up–Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, have survived the battle at Tronjheim, but their challenges are not over. Galbatorix, the corrupt emperor, still rules Alagaesia and is looking for them. The magically bonded pair must help the rebellious Varden regroup after their leader is slain. Eragon helps deal with the resulting diplomatic complexities and then leaves for Du Weldenvarden, the home of the Elves, in order to finish his training as a Dragon Rider. Meanwhile, his cousin Roran must unite the small town of Carvahall as it is battered by Galbatorix's forces, including the nasty Ra'zac. The story alternates between Eragon and Saphira and their political maneuvering and Roran and his more traditional adventure over land and sea. Paolini provides a worthy companion to Eragon (Knopf, 2003), though it does not stand alone (a summary of the first book will be included in the final edition). The plot–indeed, most of the fantasy conventions–is heavily inspired by Tolkien, McCaffrey, and especially George Lucas. The momentum of the narrative is steady and consistent: a problem presents itself and is neatly (and conveniently) solved before the next one arises, making it appealing to some adventure-quest fantasy fans and runescape.com players. Eragon's journey to maturity is well handled. He wrestles earnestly with definitions for good and evil, and he thoughtfully examines the question of good at what price.While there's nothing particularly original here, the book will find its fan-base.–Sarah Couri, New York Public Library
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From Bookmarks Magazine
Paolini started his trilogy when he was 15. Now, at the ripe old age of 21, the home-schooled author exhibits literary maturity in the second volume of his heroic-quest fantasy. He still borrows from J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and Anne McCaffrey’s The Dragonriders of Pern. But here, Eragon matures with his author and exhibits more emotional depth. If the pace is inconsistent or the themes formulaic, Paolini has nonetheless created a unified, vivid fantasy world that propelled most reviewers forward. (Don’t even touch it if you don’t like dragons.) Only Entertainment Weekly weighed in with hefty complaints about the novel’s glacial pace and silly plot. Maybe that critic will like the 2006 movie, starring John Malkovich and Jeremy Irons, better.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Don't be taken in by the hype
I liked Eragon well enough and I was looking forward to this book coming out. As it turns out, it's a good thing I waited for the library copy and didn't buy it, because owning it would have been pointless. The prose is really rather tedious and immature, not to mention how unnecessarily LONG it is. I won't summarize; just know that the "influence" of other writers is starkly visible. There's little originality in the writing, and the text is ridden with mistakes that a good editor should have eliminated (e.g., the incorrect and completely arbitrary substitution of words like "mine" and "thy/thine" for "my" and "yours"). Overall, the dialogue is probably the most awkard part, with the next most irksome thing being the superfluous scenes. Side note: anyone interested in joining a rescue mission to free the author's thesaurus? The preachiness really got to me, too; the author seems to dream of a society full of vegetarian atheists who practice elf yoga daily and takes "mates" whenever they want to without any commitment. And yes, "aye" is used with obscene frequency.

However -
I did read the whole book, and I wanted to find out what happened to Eragon even after the stupid training period in Ellesmera that was probably supposed to be formative (actually it just ends with us having to accept that Eragon is amazingly powerful and talented). So, I must say -- with reluctance? -- that this book wasn't a total waste of time. No, it is not good, but I wanted to know what happened.

Can we get some emotion here, please? Pretty, pretty please?
You know when you read a book and find out that some character in it reminds you of someone you know? That's a cool feeling, and every time you read that book, or its sequels, you'll think of that character as that person you know, and therefore it'll feel much more lifelike to you. That's one of the marks of a good book: real characters with real problems and real ways to cope.

Eldest, though, is sorely lacking in this department. Unless you're excellent friends with a ceral box, you won't find any characters in this book that remind you of anyone you know. They're lifeless little robots whose only job in these books is to parade around Middle Earth (oops, I meant Alegaia, or however you spell that) and say, 'Aye', every ten words or so, despite being the only hope against. . .sorry about the spelling. . .Galboratrix.
Also, I don't really think that it was important to make Sapheria drunk all the time. Was that supposed to be funny, or something? Well, it wasn't. And if the dragon wasn't drunk, it was Orik. I'm having a very hard time beliving that these weirdos will save their kingdom. It would be great if they realized that they had problems and had to overcome them, but CP takes the easy way out and just makes his characters move along like robots, not questioning anything and dating hot elf chicks.
Yes, I finished the book. I never leave a book unfinished, no matter how dull. The ending is the best part of the book by far. In fact, this whole series would be much, much better if CP stopped trying to make Eragon fall in love with Arya and just made it one conflict after another. His battle scenes are the best part of his books. That's not really saying much, though.
So, why do I give it two stars? The battle scenes and Roran saved this book from a one-star rating. I look forward to seeing Roran in the third book, amazingly! He's the character I'm rooting for. As for Eragon. . .get rid of him and have Roran and Murtaugh narate! I'd be a much better book without that loser in it!
Read it with caution. If you're expecting something like Harry Potter, you're going to be very dissapointed indeed. If you're expecting something like The Prophecy of the Stones, (another book by a young author that's just a little short of being fantastic)then this book might just be okay for you.

On a side note:
[...] I just hope that people don't lose their faith in teen authors because of CP's novels.

Returning it.......so should you
When my son wanted to return this book to Amazon, I asked him why and we talked about the book. I couldn't believe a book could be published that was so poorly written so I read it myself and was appalled. Glaring errors, disastrous editing, poorly written, poorly organized. Clearly the most overrated book in years. Paolini you've got the last dime you'll ever get from our family of readers. This telephone book should have been trimmed to 1/2 size at the least.