It is less like this book was written and more like it was sewn together from the torn apart products of others, like some old quilt on which the stitches are showing. A third review, while not identifying any specific themes, said the author was "layering his themes" to make the book more exciting.

He’s particularly protective of children in a way that wasn’t displayed by previous series protagonists. Maybe the world he "created" is a comfort to him, and something he wants to mine for his own personal enjoyment--or maybe because it was a massive cash cow he milked for years and years, and that's all he knows. When I was fourteen, I admired Christopher Paolini out of jealously: publishing a book at the age fifteen, and having it hit the New York Times Bestseller list? But in retrospect (and nearly vomiting as I attempted to get through a chapter of Eldest, which I failed at miserably), I realized that I had no reason to envy Paolini at all. Eragon has a prophetic dream of the coming battle, and decides to interrupt his training to aid the Varden in battle.

It was obviously a bad book without opening the cover: the back cover carries a quote from the book, and an endorsement by Anne McCaffrey, and I'm pretty sure I could get that woman to supply a blurb for a double mint wrapper to the effect of "I couldn't put it down! A Montana bookseller gave author Carl Hiaasen’s 12-year-old stepson—on vacation with his family—a copy of Paolini’s Eragon. The Varden are then joined by an army of Urgals, who seek an alliance with them after being freed of Durza's control. The main character's most interesting bit of characterization and only vestige of personality is that he collects rocks, and this is only mentioned in one paragraph.

Prepare for the flight of a lifetime with Eragon as you’ve never seen him before in this dazzling edition with brand-new full-color illustrations throughout.I could understand going for a deeper voice for a dragon, but she's a young, female dragon, not a crotchety 1000-year-old creature with a chip on his shoulder. Then we meet a Shade which is kind of just like a magical being but this one is not someone you want to mess with. Overnight his simple life is shattered, and he is thrust into a perilous new world of destiny, magic, and power.

A "limited edition Eldest includes a fold-out poster with art by Paolini, additional illustrations, a sneak preview at book III and more. Farthen Dûr is in the southeastern part of Alagaësia, the fictional continent where The Inheritance Cycle takes place. I get that it's sooooo freaking cheesy, with a Gary Stu and a BABY DRAGON and a weird elf with whom ---- oh, can't say that cause it's a spoiler. Across the bay stood the mountains of the Spine, sawtoothed and ridge-­backed behind a bank of obscuring haze, and the salt water between appeared deep and cold and unfriendly.Then Murtagh pulled the hood of his cloak over his head and started down the side of the hill, picking a path between jags of solitary stone and clusters of prickly hordebrush. After the dragon, named Thorn, had hatched for him, they were both forced into loyalty by Galbatorix.