Where we left off Eragon had an encounter with Urgals which he struggled greatly. After he passed out and had his vision he began to wake up. He found himself crumpled in the corner of the alley he was laying in. After he gathered the energy to get up he made his way over to Brom. He examined the man who had passed out on the ground and found that he was still breathing and alive. Eragon bandaged up the old man. He then left Brom and found their horses so they could leave as fast as possible. Once he found their horses he lifted Brom into his saddle and they left the town as soon as possible. After some time Brom woke up on his horse and Eragon was able to stop leading the animal. Eragon explained what had happened after Brom had been wounded as they made camp. Eragon questioned Brom, asking him how he was able to kill the two beasts with only one arrow. Brom sighed and explained that Eragon had used magic to kill the creatures. He had known that Eragon would eventually develop the ability to use magic as he was a rider and all riders eventually develop the skill. He had wanted to wait until a later time to begin instruction on magic however as with the development of the skill came a lot of hidden rules and consequences that Eragon would have to live by. That night Brom only told Eragon a few things about magic. They were that magic was only to be used for things that could not be done normally, as magic consumed the same strength from you as doing a task yourself. Secondly, he told Eragon that magic was greatly affected by distance, and it would take huge effort to move a pebble from a league away, and thirdly that if Eragon used more magic than he had strength in his limbs then he would die a most painful death, and that if he wanted to avoid this he should refrain from experimenting that night and wait until he grew stronger and had supervision from Brom. He then did one last thing, he gave Eragon a pebble and told him the words “stenir reisa”, and explained to Eragon what they meant. He then explained that saying the words together would allow him to move a stone through the air and that Eragon could practice magic by using those words to do so.

Where we left off we were watching Eragon and Brom leave Carahall with Saphira. After about a day of traveling, they stop and make camp and start setting up everything they need to make dinner. They set up a pot over the fire and begin to make soup. While they are waiting for the water to boil Brom tosses a sharpened stick to Eragon, which Eragon catches out of reflex. Without warning Brom charges at Eragon yelling “defend yourself!”. Beginning to spar with Eragon. In this fashion Brom and Eragon would spar for several weeks. As they continued to track and follow the Ra’Zac (as Brom told Eragon they were called) they came across a small town that seemed to be empty, but as they continued through the town they heard a crash, and start to escape from the town, but get stopped by two Urgals (Giant Greenish-Brown Humanoid creatures with horns) who attack them immediately, surprising them. Brom and Eragon fight back against the terrible creatures but Brom is wounded and falls from his horse. Both creatures turn on Eragon who tries to flee on his own horse. But gets cornered in an alleyway by the two Urgals. At this point, something primal burns inside of Eragon, and he lets out a strange cry “Brisingr!” he yells and he lets an arrow fly from his bow at the two creatures. A strange blue light shines from the tip of the arrow as it flies through the air, and as it strikes the Urgals a small explosion occurs, killing them instantly. As the two beasts fall Eragon begins to feel weak, his vision dims and he passes out. As he sleeps he has a vision. His vision is of a strange woman sitting in a prison cell. As he watches her for a few minutes she looks up from the ground and stares dead at him and faints, at which point he wakes up.

Last time Eragon began to grieve over the loss of his uncle. After crying at the foot of his dead uncle’s bed he passes out and wakes up late in the day with a plan for revenge on the strangers that came and killed his uncle, he then communicates his plan with Saphira. At this point in the story, he sneaks out of the house his uncle was being kept in and goes to get supplies for his journey. He steals meat from the town butcher, Sloan, a man that scorned him in the past. He felt no remorse from stealing from him. Then he went and stole leather from the town leatherworker in order to make Saphira a saddle. A man he knew well and promised himself he would pay back for the theft. He then told Saphira to land in the woods so they could leave and chase the strangers. At the spot where Saphira said she would pick him up, he found Brom instead. Brom said that he knew Eragon was a dragon rider and that he would be coming along with them. This angered Eragon who pushed Saphira to pick him up quickly, she replied that she wouldn’t land until they settled their differences. Brom explains that Saphira and he spoke telepathically and that he might as well just be allowed to come along with Eragon. He went on to say that he might as well come along as his years and experience might serve Eragon well and keep them alive out in Alagaesia (the name of the land in which The Inheritance Cycle takes place). After a bit more persuasion Brom and Eragon agreed that Brom could come along with them so they set out on their adventure to find the strangers who murdered Eragon’s uncle and destroyed his home.

Where we left off two strangers just arrived in the town near where Eragon lives. These two figures corner Eragon and seem like they are going to attack and kill him, but he is saved by a town elder, Brom. Brom takes him into his house and asks him what happened in the street, Eragon then explains his situation and then realizes that he needs to get home to his uncle to make sure he is ok. He makes the journey to his home and sees it on fire. Just then his dragon Saphira comes from the woods to see what is troubling him, and upon him telling her about the strangers she goes into a blind rage and kidnaps him into the forest to try and protect him. They land in a clearing and Eragon realizes that her rough scales rubbing against his legs stripped the skin clean off, and he will bleed to death if the bleeding isn’t stopped. After some hard work and pain, they manage to make a suitable bandage and go to sleep. The next day they wake up and talk about their problems, in what turns out to be a pretty intense scene that dives deep into the problems both characters are having. They return to Eragon’s house and find only rubble and Eragon’s uncle, just barely clinging to life. They take him back to the village, but Eragon faints right outside the village and has to be carried into the village’s doctor’s house. Eragon wakes up after 3 days of sleeping and finds himself tucked into a warm bed. After some time he is allowed to get up and see his uncle. He spends some time resting and recuperating until one night he is woken up and led into his uncle’s room. His uncle dies that night while Eragon cries over his body.

I am currently reading Eragon, one of my favorite books of all time and one that I am excited to read again. The beginning of the story is entertaining but still expositional and informative. This is one of the reasons I love Eragon and the other books written by Christopher Paolini, because when normal books are boring at the beginning this one certainly is not. Eragon finds a dragon egg near the beginning that he keeps safe until it hatches into a dragon. The dragon binds itself to him and marks him of their bond, causing some changes to Eragon, including the ability to communicate with the dragon mentally. This process connects them permanently at the base of their being causing the rest of their journey to unfold. Eragon cares for the dragon, treating it like his greatest friend or closest family. He carries on like this until one day the dragon speaks to him through their mental link. One word: “Eragon”. This prompts Eragon to realize that the dragon is more than just a beast, it has thoughts, feelings, wants, and needs just as he does. This is a realization for more than just Eragon, but also the reader. This epiphany prompts Eragon to pick out a name for the dragon. He goes through many names. Names of great dragons that fought and won great battles… and the dragon declines each one. This goes on until Eragon has the realization that the dragon might be female, which prompts a hum of confirmation from her. Eragon lists female dragon names which are all declined as well until the very last name. Saphira. She loves the name and decides that it will be hers. The two continue to grow and learn together for a few more weeks until two mysterious strangers come to town and shit hits the fan.

The book really is beginning to get to the conflict at this point, and it continues to get more and more interesting. The main character drives to go pick up pizzas for delivery but gets caught up in some light traffic, making him worry about delivering on time. He ends up arriving at the pick up area in a reasonable amount of time, but when he arrives there he finds out that the building is on fire. He doesn’t notice right away, so he ends up wasting even more time. After he finds out and deals with the problem, he looks at his timer and sees that it reads 22 minutes. 22 minutes out of his 30 minutes of allowed delivery time. This sends the main character into a panic as his minds races with all the problems that he could have on the way there, causing him to not deliver the pizza and having to face unthinkable consequences because of his lateness. This part of the book is really interesting as it really shows the main character use everything available to him in order to successfully deliver the pizza in time.

I think the beginning of Snow Crash is very interesting, I think that the ideas that it put forward are very interesting and new to me. The book begins with the main character detailing the job he currently performs: pizza delivery. The main character explains that pizza delivery is one of the only industries left that exist in the United States and that he works for what is basically a pizza mafia. He describes the struggle that he constantly fights against – trying to bring honor to his family (the pizza mafia) through delivering pizza on time. While reading this section of the book I was really surprised by how unique and interesting the setup for the story was, while most books nowadays copy great hits from the past there was a very unique and special story resting right in my hands. Back to the story, however, the main character went into great detail talking about the delivery process, speaking at length about the process of loading pizza through a special machine into the special delivery car he drives around, a vehicle with special modifications and technologies that allow it to get from place to place very efficiently, such as super armor plating and the ability to go into overdrive and get out of rough terrain and other sticky (literally sticky, as is mud, slush, etc.) situations. The main character then gives a lengthy explanation of the delivery process, which is actually a very interesting process. The main character states that they have never delivered a pizza in over 23 minutes and that if he ever delivered a pizza in over that time he may be killed or worse, as the only delivery driver that ever took longer than that to deliver a pizza disappeared without a trace. The person who received that pizza was given a large sum of money and offered a very high up job on the ladder, near the head of the mafia. Overall this beginning section of the story was very interesting and certainly made me want to keep reading.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton