Book Review: Eldest

(Minor Spoiler Alert)

I finished Eldest, the sequel to Eragon, this weekend. Has anyone else noticed that the series is Star Wars with dragons? Maybe it's just me, but from about 1/3 of the way through the Eragon movie (which I uncharacteristically saw before reading the book), I was sure that I was watching "A New Hope" (or whatever the name of the 1st/4th movie was...I always used to call it just "Star Wars"...).

Eragon does not know his parents, and was raised by his uncle, who is killed by minions of the evil empire (with Galbatorix as the emperor), and is saved by Obi Wan (Brom) who happens to be a Jedi Master (a Rider) and can begin teaching Eragon about his newfound powers. Then they have to go rescue Princess Leia (Arya), and deliver her to the rebellion (Varda), and help them win a great battle. In the second book, Eragon meets his Yoda, and has to leave before completing his training, in order to save his friends from a certain doom.

Now, there are a few plotlines that have been changed around. Murtagh, for example, seems at first to be the Han Solo of the series, but by the end of Eldest, he has become more Darth Vadar. I am not sure which way the author is going with this one--surely Murtagh will be redeemed by the end of the not-yet-released Brisinger. But whether he dies in the process like Anakin, or lives through the final battle with Galbatorix to help Eragon found a new era of Riders, I can't guess. And obviously, Arya isn't Eragon's sister, but his love interest. (I always felt sorry for Luke, you know--but maybe it's best that he doesn't have a girlfriend, given how his father juggled the whole career/family issue....)

Right now, I'm stumped as to who fills Chewbaca's role. The dwarf Orrik who goes to Du Welden Varden with Eragon? Roran? And really, there's just no substitute for R2D2.

I suppose I'm poking a bit of fun at the series, but I'm not intending to be mean. It is very enjoyable and I didn't stray to other books while reading so far. I can see the growth of the author as a writer from the first book to the second. He apparently began writing Eragon at age 15. Impressive. And given the timeline, I bet he had just seen the re-releases of the original Star Wars trilogy in the theaters...