Eragon Book Report
I read the book Eragon, by Christopher Paolini. It is
about a land called Alagaesia, where elves, dwarves,
humans, and dragons could all live in peace. It was
protected by a group called the Riders, humans and dragons
who contained a special magic bond. The dragons were
said to only hatch from their eggs when they believed was
the most needed time or when their fated companion came
into contact with them. One day, a new Rider was
introduced into their ranks. His name was Galbatorix, and he
was a troublesome man. When he became strong enough,
him and his dragon defeated all the other Riders and
proceeded to crowning himself as King of Alagaesia. Far
away in a town named Carvahall lived a boy named Eragon.
His parents died when he was young, so he lived with his
uncle Garrow and cousin Roran. Eragon would venture into
a maze-like mountain called The Spine to hunt for food since
the whole town was headed to bankruptcy. As he was about
to send an arrow into a nearby deer, a huge explosion and
crater formed not too far to his left. When he went to explore
it he found a large blue stone lying in the center. After a few
weeks the “stone” ended up hatching a dragon who he calls
Saphira. With Eragon being the first new dragon rider in
over 500 years, he is faced with a choice: should he join
King Galbatorix and rule cruelly over Alagaesia, or join the
group of rebels named the Varden who seek to overthrow
the king?
King Galbatorix’s secret group of elite assassins, the
Ra’zac, were sent to Carvahall to investigate rumors of the
newest Rider. The Ra’zac learn about Eragon, burn down
his home, kill Garrow, and return to give word to the king.
This is where the main conflict begins. There is a man in
Carvahall named Brom who pretends to be a storyteller and
a wise old man, but really has a high reputation with the
Varden and is destined to train the next Rider. Brom finds a
way to allow Eragon to travel with him. They decide to get
revenge on the Ra’zac and along the way Brom reveals his
true identity and teaches Eragon to sword fight, use magic,
and how to react during quick situations. Eragon has to
keep in mind that magic has it’s limitations and could leave
him weak or even dead if it is too powerful. He also has to
struggle with smaller problems like not being recognized by
the guards looking for him and hiding Saphira. After the
Ra’zac problem going away, they met up with a man not
much older than Eragon named Murtagh, who wouldn’t say a
lot about himself. Brom was fatally wounded and could not
survive. Eragon and Murtagh were set to travel towards the
Varden, but Murtagh would not join them for reasons he
chose to kept to himself. They faced hordes of monstrous
creatures called Urgals, an evil Shade named Durza, and
having to care for Arya the elf who sent the egg to Eragon in
the first place.
I enjoyed this book a lot. In particular, I liked how the
author forged his own world and based the story off of it.
The beginning pages of the book has it’s own map and
Eragon didn’t even go to half of Alagaesia because it was so
large. Another thing was that I could turn back to the map
and track where they had gone and what was going on
there. I could also see how far they went and in how long.
The way that the story is written made me enjoy it, too.
When the story began to quicken it made me want to read
to the next important part. Another thing was that it was
extremely imaginative and creative. It had it’s own language
called The Ancient Language. You should read this book if
you enjoy fast paced fantasy books with lots of action and
adventure. It is also good if you like in depth characters and
stories thats create their own history and background.
Paolini, Christopher. Eragon.
USA: First Knopf,
2005. Print