With the fate of his home village providing the action to stir our blood, the more static adventures of Eragon while he is undergoing his next level of training to be a dragon rider with the elves becomes more interesting through the contrast they provide. It's here that Paolini shows his subtlety as a writer in the ways in which he develops the characters of both Eragon and Saphira. For they are each assigned a teacher by the elves, who works with them not only on their martial skills but also hones them intellectually and emotionally. For if Eragon hopes to succeed in his attempt to overthrow the evil King Galbatorix he will have to not only become far more proficient physically, but he will need to somehow gain the strength of self that usually only comes through years of experience in a short while.
While Roran is leading his people across the empire to what they hope to be the relative safety of joining the Varden, and Eragon and Saphira are being honed as a weapon, Galbatorix has not been idle either. Using magic to shield their movements from the Varden's spies, he has gradually gathered together an army of close to one hundred thousand men, far more than the Varden can hope to field. The only hope the Varden have in defeating an army of that size is if their allies the dwarves can reach them in time, and if Eragon and Saphira have come into sufficient strength to even up the odds.
Not content to rest on his laurels, Christopher Paolini has managed to avoid the second book lag that happens so often in fantasy trilogies by taking chances. Adding a new plot line, and throwing in new twists to the all ready existing plot, could have easily backfired on him by making the story too confusing. However he has the wisdom and the confidence take his time with each new element so that we are able to absorb the information properly. Not only does this allow us the opportunity to fully appreciate the new characters and circumstances, but we also grow closer to those we had met before.
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