Eldest

After a second read-through, Eldest felt like a better book than Eragon - this was not how I'd remembered it. It seemed to me that Paolini's writing had become sharper. The introduction of Roran's viewpoint helped somewhat, though it would have been better if the two characters had been a little different, the fact that they're (foster) brothers notwithstanding. They're basically twins as far as character is concerned.