Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Picking up from the exact point where its predecessor gave way, Eldest begins with dragon rider and now shade slayer, Eragon, on the battlefield of his greatest triumph. He is saddened by the death and carnage before him, and fearful for the future. King Galbatorix is, despite this battle won, still the cruel ruler of the Empire and must be defeated. Together with the beautiful and elegant dragon, Saphira, with whom he can communicate without speech, they must travel to Ellesmera - fabled land of the Elves to undergo further training in magic, swordsmanship and other worldly necessities.

Meanwhile, in his homeland, in the village of Carvahall, Eragon's cousin Roran faces challenges of his own. The king's men, and the dark creature that instructs them, lay siege to the tiny mountain community in the hope of finding Roran, and thus lead them to Eragon. After fierce resistance, Roran leads the villagers on a long, arduous journey to salvation (hopefully) with the community known as the Varden.

Told in alternate chapters, the stories of both young men on separate missions give this `difficult second novel' a refreshing feel. Eragon is still the star, but has a substantial second cast to make this novel a worthy sequel to the first book and a tantalising bridge to the final chapter in volume three.

(Age 12 and over) --John McLay

Average Customer Rating:

Readable but slow

Customer Rating:

Okay, so I bought this after enjoying Eragon and this is enjoyable to some degree, but I found the pace of the plot a little slow, I was even flicking a few pages ahead to see how much I had left to read on some chapters. However, I still admire the way Christopher Paolini has created a detailed world and the fact that we learn more about Arya and the elves. But the book becomes somewhat of a chore to read after a while and some of the 'revelations' in the story are a little predictable. Paolini is still heavily influenced by Lord of the Rings and Star Wars in this book, yet there is something about the story that makes the reader want to read on.

Fun to read

Customer Rating:

After reading Eragon I had to get the second instalment and found the book more intresting than the first, Mostly due to the other characters the book followed like Rohan. Eragon's story was slow and without cutting away from dull training sessionsto the excitment going on else where I would had been force to put the book down, luckly Rohans character came along and hooked me enough to continue on. I give the book 3 stars as it was good but not great

Eldest	Customer Rating:
Long, slightly dragging book (lots of pages) however the story line is fab, adventure style with a bit of romance on the side. A throughly great book to read with Eragon as the main character. If you've watched the film, let me tell you the film does not give justice to this book. Read it, you are missing out!

Very good read!

Customer Rating:

this book is an excellent read I enjoyed it immensely! the part were he visited the elves was a bit boring but the battle afterwards made up of it. Very interesting plot line but when he tries to romance with Ayra you just want to smash your head into a wall yelling "shut up you stupid person!" Its embarrassing. his training is good reading but he really mucks up his relationship with Ayra. appart from that bit the plot has many interesting twists and turns and it makes up for a lot. all in all a brilliant read!

all i can say is wow!	Customer Rating:
after reading eragon i thought i might as well read the next one, half way through the book i'm getting bored and thinking "this isn't as good as eragon", then a bit further in and i was totally addicted, how could i think it wasn't as good! with all the twists and turns in it. And such a superb ending, i want more-guess i'll have to wait for Brisingr to come out!