Book Review: Eldest by Christopher Paolini

I just finished up reading the second book in the Inheritance Cycle. I found Eldest to be a lot like Eragon in that it was a very long book that too a very long time to get exciting. I was so bored with the book that I put it down for about 3 months and picked it back up a few weeks ago to finish it.

I am glad that I took a chance on picking it back up. The book dragged terribly for the first 500 pages (I guess I'm a stubborn reader for sticking with it that long) but the last 150ish pages made up for how slow it was.

Paolini does a great job of character and scene development. In fact, he almost does too good of a job on it as it takes up a majority of the book. He also does an amazing job of creating a vivid scene. There is a war at the end of the book and the imagery is so good that you feel like you are standing there on the field with everyone else during the war.

I would have to say that overall I am satisfied with this book. I wasn't blown out of the water by any stretch of the imagination but I was not overly disappointed in the book either.

My rating: 3.5/5

Recommendation: If you are a die hard fantasy novel reader it is worth the read. If you are just looking to start your journey in the fantasy realm I would say that there are better options out there for you to dabble with.