Eldest by Christopher Paolini
Like the first book in the series, there is something oddly addictive about fantasy, even formulaic and somewhat predictable fantasy. Maybe that’s why there will always be a market for it – you may know what is going to happen, but you speed through the pages anyways, curious to both reacquaint yourself and see if the story will present some surprising twists and turns (this is why George R. R. Martin remains the best fantasy writer present – his books are full of twists, turns, and actually strong prose, something absent from most fantasy books).
This second volume in Paolini’s trilogy is an improvement on the first – you can feel his writing and his pacing mature. Eragon is sent off to the elves, where he and Saphira train in preparation for the cataclysmic battle that will come in Book III. Paolini does something that reminds me of early Robert Jordan – he tries to present multiple perspectives, but has problems making any but Eragon’s compelling. His rendering of other characters and their somewhat uninteresting perspectives made me skim as fast as I could to get to the Eragon storyline. I hope that with his final book, he will have become better at pacing and balancing between his characters.
Overall, a decent fantasy read that will certainly entertain you, but may not quite impress you.
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