I've been listening to Eldest, the sequel to Eragon, on tape. It's a good book, but my friend Tyler and I agree that the first one was better.

The second one has much more of a feel that this is a young writer. Not that the story isn't interesting, it's that he's getting himself lost in the description. Now, normally description is a fine thing to include, but the over-use of eosteric words to describe mundane things or events (like the rain in Carvahall) takes you away from some of the immersion.

On the other hand, I have found that these kinds of issues are magnified when listening to a book rather than reading it. I started listening to The DiVinci Code and in the second or third chapter after I'd heard about the "parkay floor" at The Louvre for the 500th time, I decided to turn it off.