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Eldest

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Eldest
File:Eldest-usa.jpg
AuthorChristopher Paolini
IllustratorJohn Jude Palencar
Cover artistJohn Jude Palencar
LanguageEnglish
SeriesInheritance cycle
GenreHigh Fantasy
PublisherAlfred A. Knopf
Publication date
August 23, 2005
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardcover and Paperback) and audio-CD
Pages704 pp (hardcover edition)
ISBNISBN 0-375-82670-X (hardcover edition) Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character
Preceded byEragon 
Followed byBook III 

Eldest is the second book in the planned Inheritance cycle by Christopher Paolini. It is the sequel to Eragon. Eldest was first published in hardcover on August 23 2005, and was released in paperback in September 2006.[1] Eldest has also been released in audiobook (narrated by Gerard Doyle)[2] and ebook formats.[3] Like Eragon, Eldest became a New York Times bestseller.[4]

The story follows the continued adventures of Eragon and his dragon Saphira, centering around their journey to the realm of the Elves in order to further Eragon's training as a Dragon Rider.

The book includes a translation guide to the Ancient Language, a glossary, and a synopsis of Eragon, the previous book in the series. A deluxe edition was released on September 26, 2006, which includes an excerpt of the third book, a fold-out poster of the dragon Glaedr by artist John Jude Palencar, the history of Alagaësia, art by the author, including an image of Brom’s elf ring, and a list of people, places, things, and dwarf clans.[5]

Plot summary

This book begins with Ajihad's death and funeral, the disappearance of Murtagh and The Twins (they are captured by Urgals, and assumed dead), and the election of a new leader of the Varden - Nasuada, to whom Eragon swears fealty following some internal politics among the Varden's Council of Elders. Saphira says she can fix the Isidar Mithrim.

Meanwhile, in Carvahall, Roran is being pursued by Galbatorix, who has sent the Ra'zac and a unit of Imperial soldiers to capture him and thus lure Eragon out. After repelling many attacks, the town manages to drive the army away, but Katrina, Roran's fiancée, is captured by the Ra'zac. They decide to leave Carvahall and travel to Surda. Roran earns the name "Stronghammer" because he defended Carvahall with a hammer given to him by Horst.

By that time, Eragon has decided to go to Du Weldenvarden to further pursue his training. Before leaving, Hrothgar invites him to join his clan, which Eragon accepts. On the way to Du Weldenvarden, they go to the dwarf city containing Celbedeil, a temple. Eragon finds his choice to join Hrothgar's clan made him an enemy of a dwarf clan The Tears of Anhuin, descendants of guards of a person whose clan was killed in the war against Galbatorix. Eragon learns of the Dwarf religion and their gods.

After many adventures on the way, Eragon comes to his destination and meets Islanzadí, the elven queen. It is revealed that Arya is Islanzadí's daughter. Eragon is introduced to another Dragon Rider, Oromis; the Mourning Sage or Osthato Chetowa: The Cripple Who Is Whole, Togira Ikonoka; who shielded Eragon in the first book. Eragon and Saphira begin their training with Oromis and his dragon Glaedr. Eragon learns how to read and fluently speak the Ancient Language, as well to use various magic skills. While Eragon's feelings for Arya increase, he continues to train under Oromis's wing and suffers repeated bouts of pain from the scar on his back Durza, the shade formerly known as Carsaib, gave him. Nevertheless, he and Saphira grow steadily more powerful, but he is held back immensely by the pain from his scar. On a traditional elvish celebration day of the pact with the dragons, called the Blood-Oath Celebration, or Agaetí Blödhren in the ancient language, Eragon is healed of his wound and, as an unprecedented gift from the dragons, gains elvish qualities that enhance his strength and agility.

Meanwhile, Nasuada learns that the blessing Eragon bestowed on the child in Eragon was worded wrongly due to his lack of basic knowledge of the Ancient Language at the time, becoming a curse of sorts. Eragon too is horrified when he hears of this, and promises to try and nullify it. In the meantime the girl, Elva, serves as a sort of bodyguard to Nasuada against Galbatorix's assassins, the Black Hand, who are discovered in the Varden.

Nasuada has made a momentous decision and moved the Varden to Surda, and the threat of war with Galbatorix seems imminent. Upon hearing of this, Eragon immediately leaves for the battle in Surda, but not before receiving gifts from Oromis and Islanzadí. During Eragon's very long stay in Ellesméra and travel to Surda, Roran travels and meets Jeod Longshanks in Teirm, who as a member of the Varden, helps Roran lead his group of Carvahall villagers to Surda and tells Roran and the villagers about Eragon and Brom.

Eragon arrives to find the situation poised on the edge of battle. The armies of the Varden, together with the army of Surda, camp on a plain opposite the vast armies of Galbatorix. Before the battle, four Kull offer to act as a bodyguard to Eragon during the fight. Angela the herbalist poisons the enemy's drinks and bread, killing many soldiers, and causing the officers to hallucinate. Meanwhile, Roran, Jeod, the people of Carvahall and Uthar Wynn, the head sailor, take command of the new Empire ship, the Dragon Wing, leading it to Surda. They manage to cross a large maelstrom called The Boar's Eye to shake off pursuing Empire ships, and arrive in time in Surda.

The battle begins, and Eragon is able to repel the opposing armies for some time with his new forces, but the tide soon turns. During the fighting, Roran arrives at Surda, and his group of villagers join themselves to the forces of the Varden. Then, with the appearance of the dwarves from the east, the situation changes again, until an unknown Dragon Rider appears and kills Hrothgar, the dwarf king. Also at the same time, Eragon feels two new, powerful spell casters arrive on the field of battle and recognizes them for the Twins, thought dead. The Twins systematically start killing off the Varden's group of mages and sorcerers who are under Eragon's command.

But Eragon faces off with the unknown rider in both aerial and ground fights and ultimately unmasks his opponent, revealing Murtagh. Murtagh tells Eragon that the Twins had betrayed the Varden and taken him to Galbatorix. Galbatorix made Murtagh and Thorn, his red dragon, swear in the ancient language to try to capture Eragon; Galbatorix knows the true names of both Murtagh and his dragon, and thus is able to control them. One of the two remaining dragon eggs has finally hatched which was eagerly awaited by Galbatorix for a long time. Murtagh also reveals that Galbatorix is working to save the dragon race by capturing Saphira and having her mate with the third dragon hatchling, still lying dormant in its egg. He and Thorn prove to be more powerful than the battle-weary Eragon and Saphira, while Murtagh displays the great and terrible potency of his magic powers, using spells that would have killed a normal human. Eragon senses Murtagh's mind is different, as if Eragon can hear multiple spirits inside Murtagh's mind. Murtagh decides to have mercy on them, but before leaving them, he reveals that Eragon was the youngest son of Morzan and Selena, and that therefore Murtagh is Eragon's elder brother. Murtagh takes Zar'roc away from Eragon, saying it should rightfully have been his, an inheritance from Morzan. Eragon decides that even though Morzan may be his parent, Garrow was his father and Roran is more of a brother than Murtagh. In the meantime, Galbatorix's army is forced to retreat after the arrivals of the Dwarves, the death of the Twins, and the leaving of Murtagh.

In the end, Eragon and Roran decide that they will seek out Katrina together. Through scrying Eragon comes to believe she is being held captive by the Ra'zac in Helgrind.

List of characters

Main article: List of characters in the Inheritance cycle

Critical reaction

Eldest was received poorly by several critics, mainly due to its length and similarities to Lord of the Rings, Dragonriders of Pern, and Star Wars. School Library Journal noted that Eldest lacked originality, but would still find reception among fans. It also acknowledged that Eldest is heavily inspired by Tolkien (Lord of the Rings), Anne McCaffrey (Dragonriders of Pern), and George Lucas (Star Wars).[6] BookBrowse also criticized Eldest, but said, as School Library Journal noted, that nothing the reviewers can say will stop some children from reading the book.[7] Entertainment Weekly rated Eldest as one of the worst five books of 2005, calling it a "700-page drag."[8] The Boston Globe gave a negative review for Eldest, criticizing the very low points and for "drama that rises to a wet pop."[7] The Christian Science Monitor gave Eldest a C+ grade. Similar to other reviews, it criticized the long plot and its similarities to Lord of the Rings and Dragonriders of Pern, as well as the lack of humor. The review commented that Roran, one of the secondary major characters, had the best part of the book.[9] SFSignal also gave Eldest a poor review, giving it one out of five stars. The main reason of this was for its dull pace. The SFSignal review, like The Christian Science Monitor, did say that Roran had the "strongest sequence"[10] in the book.

There were also some more positive reviews of Eldest. Bookmarks Magazine saw Eldest's similarity to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern, but said that Eldest displayed more emotional depth than Eragon.[6] Publisher's Weekly also gave a positive review for Eldest, praising the revelations in the final pages.[7] Barnes and Noble gave a very positive review for Eldest, in particular for its style, characters and themes such as friendship, forgiveness, responsibility, and honor.[7] Eldest also won the 2006 Quill Award in Young Adult Literature.[11][12] Eldest also was nominated for a British Book Award in the Children's Book of the Year section,[13] the Disney Adventures Book Award, the Colorado Blue Spruce Award Young Adult Book Award, and the Wyoming Soaring Eagle Book Award.[14]

Movie adaptation

Whether or not the book will be adapted to film remains a matter of speculation. Even the author seems to lack confidence that such a project will be completed. When asked whether there would be a movie adaptation of 'Eldest' at the premiere of Eragon , Christopher Paolini replied, "I think we'll know after opening weekend."[15] Since the opening weekend passed, Paolini has not commented. Many critics have considered the possibility of a sequel in their reviews of Eragon. One critic said that 20th Century Fox's plans to adapt Eldest was "jumping the gun" and that "they will have a tough time convincing anyone but the most die-hard fans to return for another helping."[16] Even some critics who gave the film positive reviews were skeptical towards the possibility of a sequel: "That the studio hopes to build a franchise on this, now that—that is expecting way too much."[17]

According to an interview with director Stefen Fangmeier:

I'm not quite sure what is currently going on. My own personal perspective is that until we sort of figure out what happens in the third book. Evidentially, I asked Christopher (Paolini; writer of the Eragon cycle)..., about that and he was not volunteering much of what was going to happen. I think it's very important to see where this ends up; how it's resolved. I think until you kind of have an understanding of what the third piece of that puzzle is, it's kind of hard to look at that second book, of course I read it, it's very much a transitional story element. I think one would be best off to write the third film first, and then, being happy with that, going back to the second one and doing all the set-up work that will pay off in the third. Then probably filming two and three together as they did with Pirates of the Caribbean; as one production." That means, given the time frame, it might still be another year before there are actually are scripts for both films and these things can move ahead. I don't know if Fox is waiting to see the revenues the DVD will create. I think they were modestly happy with the worldwide box office." [18]

It should be noted that Stefen's statement was made before the trilogy was transformed into a four book cycle.

Release details

  • 2005, USA, Alfred A. Knopf ISBN 0-375-82670-X, Pub date 23 August 2005, hardback (first edition)
  • 2005, UK, Doubleday ISBN 0-385-60790-3, Pub date 25 August 2005, hardback
  • 2006, Spain, Roca Editorial ISBN 84-96284-96-4, Pub date ? January 2006, paperback (Spanish language translation)
  • 2006, UK, Random House ISBN 1-84657-657-1, Pub date ? September 2006, Audio CD
  • 2006, UK, Corgi Children's ISBN 0-552-55211-9, Pub date 7 September 2006, paperback
  • 2006, USA, Alfred A. Knopf ISBN 0-375-84060-5, Pub date 26 September 2006, hardback (deluxe edition)

Deluxe edition

A deluxe version of Eldest was released on September 26, 2006.[19] It was published by Random House.[20] The deluxe edition included an excerpt of Book III, a poster of Glaedr, the history of Alagaësia, art by Christopher Paolini, and a list of characters, places, objects, and dwarf clans.[20]

The deluxe edition was also released in an Ebook format.[21]

In Translation

As Eldest has been published in forty-one countries,[22] several translations from English into different languages have been made. Translations for languages such as Spanish[23], Portuguese,[24] and Serbian have appeared.[25]

A translator would be Enrique de Heriz, who translated Eldest into Spanish.[26] Publishers include Gailivro, which publishes the Portuguese Eldest,[27] and Gramedia Pustaka Utama, the publisher of the Indonesian translations.[28]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Eldest paperback". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
  2. ^ "Eldest audiobook". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
  3. ^ "Eldest eBook". eBooks.com. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
  4. ^ "Children's Books". New York Times Bestseller List. Retrieved 2007-11-03.
  5. ^ "Eldest - Deluxe edition". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2006-05-27.
  6. ^ a b "Reviews of Eldest". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2007-09-23.
  7. ^ a b c d "BookBrowse reviews of Eldest". BookBrowse. Retrieved 2007-09-23.
  8. ^ "Books: The 5 Worst". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2007-09-23.
  9. ^ "Book Roundup". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2007-09-23.
  10. ^ "Review: Eldest". SFSignal. Retrieved 2007-09-23.
  11. ^ "The Quill Book Awards". Borders. Retrieved 2007-09-23.
  12. ^ "Eldest wins a 2006 Quill Book Award". Alagaesia.com. Retrieved 2007-09-23.
  13. ^ "Winners". British Book Awards. Retrieved 2007-11-10.
  14. ^ "Eldest". Random House. Retrieved 2007-11-09.
  15. ^ "Interview with Christopher Paolini". Shurtugal.com. Retrieved 2006-12-25.
  16. ^ "Eragon film review". TheMovieBoy. Retrieved 2007-07-12.
  17. ^ "Eragon films review". Hollywood Video. Retrieved 2007-07-12.
  18. ^ "Interview with Stefan Fangmeier". Movieweb. Retrieved 2007-05-30.
  19. ^ "Eldest Limited Edition". Random House. Retrieved 2007-11-09.
  20. ^ a b "Eldest (Inheritance Trilogy #2): Deluxe Edition". Barnes & Noble.com. Retrieved 2007-11-09.
  21. ^ "Eldest Limited Edition eBook". Ebooks.com. Retrieved 2007-11-09.
  22. ^ "News". Alagaesia.com. Retrieved 2007-11-10.
  23. ^ "Eldest Spanish language translation". Barnes & Noble.com. Retrieved 2007-11-10.
  24. ^ "Eldest". Gailivro. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
  25. ^ "Spain's "Eragon CE", Serbia's Eldest". Shurtugal.com. Retrieved 2007-11-10.
  26. ^ "Enrique de Heriz". Barnes & Noble.com. Retrieved 2007-11-10.
  27. ^ "Eldest covers". Shurtugal.com. Retrieved 2007-11-10.
  28. ^ "Detail Buku". Gramedia Pustaka Utama. Retrieved 2007-11-13.

Official

Interviews

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