Eldest

The Inheritance Cycle, Book 2

By: Christopher Paolini

Narrated by: Gerard Doyle

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

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. . . .

Critic reviews

Praise for The Inheritance Cycle:

A #1 New York Times Bestseller
A #1 Publishers Weekly Bestseller
A #1 USA Today Bestseller
A Wall Street Journal Bestseller

"An authentic work of great talent." —New York Times Book Review

“The new ‘It’ book of children’s lit.” –U.S. News & World Report

"Paolini is a spellbinding fantasy writer." —The Boston Globe

"A breathtaking and unheard of success." —USA Today

“Christopher Paolini make[s] literary magic.” –People

“Unusual, powerful, fresh, and fluid.”—Booklist, Starred

“Will appeal to legions of readers who have been captivated by the Lord of the Rings trilogy.”—School Library Journal

Praise for Eldest:

"Fans of the first volume will find...a wealth of descriptive detail, mythic archetypes and prolonged battle sequences" —Publisher's Weekly

Great Book - Horrible Narration

I’ve owned this series of books for several years and as I started reading back through them I decided to get the audible version... it was a waste. I couldn’t get past the first chapter because the narration was so bad. The overly thick accent of the narrator made it difficult enough, but when Saphira’s ‘voice’ was conveyed he made it sound like a troll! I couldn’t listen any longer. Dragons are majestic, magical, and powerful in Paolini’s world. The narrator made her sound brutish, unintelligent, and barely understandable. Absolutely horrible! Literally the worst narration I’ve heard on audible in my many years and scores of titles.

Almost 'Analgesia'

As another reviewer noted, the middle of the book seems to be bloated with excessive details about Eragon's training with the elves. That part -- about eight hours that could have been reduced to two without losing anything necessary to the story -- reveals signs that the author has discovered his own importance and lost sight of the goal of storytelling. Fortunately the beginning and the end were good enough to bring this up to four start combined with the excellent narration. Hopefully the third book will show that the author has moved beyond using a thesaurus to impress the reader and that he says just what is needed to move the story forward.

Good Book

As a mother of young children, I am always looking for books to listen to that are children friendly (no vulgarity, cussing, etc) yet interesting enough to hold my attention. The book does drag a little bit, but I don't mind really long books. I thoroughly enjoy the narrator and think that Paolini is doing a great job considering his age.

Eldest

What an amazing first novel. While critics of this novel say that it is to similar to JRR Tolkiens lord of the rings trilogy. Yes there are some similarities, but there are far more significant differences. With a very drawing story and in depth characters this is one of my favorite novels of the year.

Enjoyable!

I really enjoyed this audiobook, am looking forward to the next one. Would reccomend this for anyone interested in fantasy genre.