Eldest
core novel 2005 The Inheritance Cycle
Record
| First published | 2005 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.06 (503,305 ratings, collected 2026-08-20) |
| Page count | 704 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780375840401 |
| Internal chronology | 2 |
Synopsis
Picking up three days after the events of the first book, Eldest opens in the dwarf city of Tronjheim, where the rebel Varden face a crisis when their leader, Ajihad, is killed in an ambush. His daughter, Nasuada, steps into command and decides to relocate the Varden to Surda in order to openly oppose the Empire, taking on the burdens of leadership while managing financial strain and gathering unsettling information about the strength of Galbatorix's forces. Eragon and Saphira travel to the elven forest of Du Weldenvarden to receive advanced Dragon Rider training under the reclusive elf Oromis and his dragon Glaedr, the only other known Rider and dragon still alive, though both are crippled from past injuries.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Inheritance Cycle
- Series: The Inheritance Cycle core; position 2 of 4 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Christopher Paolini
Notes
- From the series record (The Inheritance Cycle): A farm boy in the land of Alagaesia finds a dragon egg and is drawn into a rebellion against the tyrant king Galbatorix; the original quartet, self-published by the author in 2002 before Knopf's 2003 edition.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series The Inheritance Cycle: position 2 of 4: previous Eragon (2002) · next Brisingr (2008)
- Internal chronology, within The Inheritance Cycle: position 2 of 5: previous Eragon (2002) · next Brisingr (2008)
Sources
← The Inheritance Cycle dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.