Eldest

The Inheritance Cycle, Book 2

By: Christopher Paolini

Narrated by: Gerard Doyle

Length: 23 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

Nominated, Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award, 2007

Nominated, Disney Adventures Book Award, 2005

Nominated, Iowa High School Book Award

Nominated, New York State Three Apples Award

Nominated, Pacific Northwest Young Readers Choice Award

Winner, Quill Award, 2006

Nominated, Wyoming Soaring Eagle Book Award, 2007

Don’t miss the eagerly anticipated epic new fantasy from Christopher Paolini—Murtagh, coming 11.7.23!

New magic and new threats take flight in Book Two of the Inheritance Cycle, perfect for fans of Lord of the Rings! This New York Times bestselling series has sold over 40 million copies and is an international fantasy sensation.

"Christopher Paolini is a true rarity."—The Washington Post

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. Now Eragon must travel to Ellésmera, land of the elves, for further training in the skills of the Dragon Rider: magic and swordsmanship. 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.

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

©2005 Christopher Paolini (P)2005 Listening Library, a division of Random House, Inc.

Even better than Eldest

Christopher Paoli continues to grow in skill as an author. This book is filled with very profound thinking and ideas. It proceeds at a measured pace, and keeps the reader enthralled. I am eagerly awaiting the final book of The Inheritance Trilogy, though will be sad to see the end. These stories keep me coming back to listen over and over again. The author's writing transcends the ages of readers. Early teens through adults will enjoy reading Eldest and Eragon. It's a shame the movie industry gave the first installment such a poor treatment. I hope another studio gives The Inheritance Trilogy another chance with a a director such as Peter Jackson. The story has the potential for success to rival Lord of the Rings.

Awesome!!!

This is a wonderful story. I loved listening to it and I was very disappointed when it was over. I can't wait till the next book in the series comes out!

Eldest on audio

This was my first attempt at an audio book. I have read the story at least twice before and with the new book Brisingr coming out next month, I wanted to re-read it but don't have the time. So, I figured I would try the audio version. Although the content is true and genuine, I find the voice of the narrator to be quite annoying. I also find that he is mispronouncing names of people and places. I also do not care for the changes he makes to his voice to signify different characters who are speaking especially his feeble attempt at doing a female dragon voice. Truthfully, it makes the book difficult to listen to especially after having seen the movie which, no doubt, has placed an indelible idea as to who the characters are from the story into my mind. I am trying very hard to get past the sounds and focus on the content but this is proving difficult. I only hope that future audio books are not similar. The 4 stars I gave as a rating applies strictly to the book's content/story and NOT to the performance of the narrator.

Great overall series

This is by far one of the best books of its length and subject. I personally am not a huge fan of the narrator, but after a while I just focused on the story itself. The pure amount of detail is amazing and the plot is one to remember. If you like Harry Potter/lord of the rings/hobbit be sure and check out this series

Very Entertaining

This book is very entertaining and inventive. Everything in this imaginary world fits together neatly and there are multilayered plots that are cleverly woven together by the author. It really approaches “Lord of the Rings” in places, although it is impossible for anyone to be as original as Tolkein again. I think. I was not crazy about the voice of the dragon as it sounded like a gravely male dragon instead of a female dragon, but I got used to it. I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it to those who like fantasy novels.

Wow

This is a more than worthy sequel to the excellent Eragon. It builds more on the world of the elves and has some great turns of the plot. If you've read Eragon and liked it then this is simply more and better of the same quality writing and has the usual excellent narration as well.

Elves were SO BORING. Loved side story and ending!

The "training" with the elves nearly ruined the book! It would have been a complete disaster if not for the side story told throughout and a very up tempo ending. I have not been so bored by any character(s) in my life. Instead of the elves being fun and majestic they are a bunch of boring, snooty, vegetarian, tree hugging, faithless, yoga masters! Elves are generally supposed to be connected to nature, wise, fair etc, but the elves in this book are so unbelievably dull. I almost stopped listening because it was so slow.

Luckily the side story from the valley kept me intrigued. So, I continued on. In the end I'm glad I did because the ending was excellent!
I look forward to completing the series with my fingers crossed that we don't have to revisit the home of the elves.

MOST EXCELLENT!

I can't wait for book three and I pray it is read by the same guy. Everything about this book and Eragon was perfect. THANK YOU!

A gripping tale nonetheless

In quick succession I listened to the 4 books in the Inheritance Cycle, which should tell you something about the quality of both the story and the narration. Both are excellent!!

The story is gripping, lots is happening and our curiosity to find out what happens next is always tickled. Getting further into the series I did find myself skipping over more parts as Paolini somehow gets into the habit of describing more than is necessary instead of moving the story along.

As for the critics who have alluded to the fact that - to put it mildly - Paolini has been inspired by either or both “The Lord of The Rings” and “The Wheel of Time”, they are right.

At times it almost seems he's plagiarising liberally both of those series. With elves, dwarves, humans, magic, talking trees, and much, much more I often had the feeling I was revisiting either LoTR, WoT or both.

Still, I remember having similar feelings while reading WoT - I often found myself thinking R.R. Jordan looked a bit too closely at what Tolkien had done with LoTR. It nonetheless didn't diminish my pleasure in reading WoT.

So ... If you've got a love of reading adventure and fantasy as well as listening to a great voice, don't let the accusations of plagiarism stop you from enjoying a great story line!

Enter a New World!

Any additional comments?

I love this series! I never finished it when I went to college, but I am grateful for the opportunity to listen, now, and with my busy life.
I do sometimes think Doyle is a little unnecessarily enthusiastic, perhaps in the wrong places, especially when giving a nice, big Hrrrrothgar! But, he keeps your attention, so I can't fault him, too much. So far, he is one of my favorite voice actors. At first, I didn't think I'd like Saphira's very dragon-like voice because she is a girl dragon. But, I got used to it.
Reading it again, as I am older, has me appreciating the subtleties a bit more, such as how Eragon and Roran are met with similar issues, but approach them differently.
Frankly, if you are looking at this audiobook, then you've probably already read Eragon, so I don't have to convince you to read it. So, enjoy!