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{\*\generator Msftedit 5.41.15.1507;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\qc\f0\fs24 DragonRider Book Report\par
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A rat heads to the village of the dragons to warn dragons that humans are coming to ravage the land with their machines, causing a great flood that will wash their home away. Firedrake, a silver dragon, hearing this, sets out to look for the dragons a new home. But before he does, he is told by Slatebeard, an elder dragon, of a Rim of Heaven, where dragons can live in peace forever. The same rat who warned them tells Firedrake where a rat will be located, who makes maps, and warns them that they'll need to head to a big city to get there. Firedrake and Sorrel however, set off for there.\par
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As they enter the city, they enter a structure, where they see something behind the crates. Turns out it's a small human boy. The boy introduces himself as Ben, and he shows them where the warehouses that the rat is located are. They enter the warehouse, and it turns out that a rat named Gilbert Graytail does indeed live there. They ask him where the highest mountain range, where the Rim of Heaven is located, is. He shows them that it might be in the Himalayas, and he gives them a map that shows where their destination is. The yellow markings on it are dangerous areas. When they go back for Firedrake (who was hiding at the time they visited Gilbert), they see some humans near the warehouse. Ben tries to keep them at bay while Sorrel runs to warn Firedrake, and when Ben was grabbed a hold of by the humans, Firedrake steps up and spits blue fire at them, scaring them off, and thus, rescuing Ben. Then they wait for night, when Firedrake is able to fly, and Firedrake allows Ben to come with him as they set off.\par
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After Ben and Sorrel have an argument, they veer off course and land somewhere near a castle. They meet a few dwarves during their brief stay there. Nearby however, an evil was lurking in this castle. His name is Nettlebrand, a golden dragon. He has a henchman named Twigleg, a manikin. He learns from one of the dwarves, Gravelbeard, that a silver dragon had landed near his castle. He sends Twigleg to spy on them. Twigleg finds out that they're looking for the Rim of Heaven, where more dragons will be, and sends the news to Nettlebrand by water.\par
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Ben, Sorrel, and Firedrake set off that night. They get caught up in a storm, and land on an island. They land near an archaeologists' camp. Ben found Firedrake a hiding place in a cave, but when he checked on Sorrel he finds that she's gone. It turns out she gets captured along with Twigleg. However, Ben and Twigleg manage to help Sorrel escape. Firedrake, while in the cave, encounters a basilisk, which tries to lure him into a deathly stare. Firedrake resists, and a man destroys the basilisk by making him look into his reflection with a mirror. The man introduces himself as Professor Barnabas Greenbloom. Ben, Sorrel, and Twigleg eventually arrive and Greenbloom explains himself. He mentions that he's on the search for the winged Pegasus. He also mentions a dracologist named Zubeida, who he advises to visit later on their journey. He also tells them about a djinn with a thousand eyes, who will grant a wish if it's in exactly seven words and it's never been asked before. Before they left, he gave the group some provisions and told them how to get to the Djinn. He gave Ben a book on fabulous creatures, Sorrel some mushrooms, and a golden scale for Firedrake. And then they said their goodbyes and left.\par
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They stopped at a castle for a day. Meanwhile, Nettlebrand got a report from Twigleg and then set out. Greenbloom has a run in with him in which he barely escapes. He then found out that Nettlebrand was hunting Ben, Sorrel, and Firedrake down.\par
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The group flew, and land near a signpost. All they need to do is read it, but sand-elves are blocking it. They are insistent that it's the wrong way. To get rid of them, Twigleg chants a series of incantations. The sign reads Shibam, meaning that it is the right way. They follow the road to the djinn. They finally meet him, and they ask the question. Luckily they are the first to have that question asked, and Asif shows the way to the Rim of Heaven. Shortly afterwards Twigleg makes his decision to betray Nettlebrand and send him off to the desert.\par
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A few nights later they fly over water. However, eventually the moon gets eclipse and Firedrake is forced to land. They land on an island that looks kind of weird. Eventually it turns out to be a sea serpent. They were warned of sea serpents who had chased off dragons. However, it turns out the sea serpent didn't chase off the dragons, but a golden dragon did.\par
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Nettlebrand, while at the desert, gets angry. He and Gravelbeard traverse the desert, searching in vain for the group. A sandman stumbles upon them, and attacks Nettlebrand and Gravelbeard.\par
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Ben, Sorrel, Twigleg, and Firedrake end their sea serpent ride near a village. It is apparently the village where Zubeida Ghalib the dracologist resides. Ben and Twigleg start to look for it. They speak to children there first, luckily Twigleg knows many languages, so speaking isn't a problem. They show them the way. They also reunite with Greenbloom there as well, and his daughter Guinevere. They also meet up with Zubeida. It turns out that dragons are welcomed, in fact, highly respected in the village. Greenbloom warns them about Nettlebrand.\par
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The dragon is welcomed with open arms in the village. In fact, it seems to be a very special occurence for the village. Later, they head to the tomb of the dragon rider. They are told the story of a dragon rider. They also learn that dragonfire can turn creatures back into their original shapes, and it can cure beings.\par
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Twigleg reveals that he is...or rather...was Nettlebrand's servant. Somehow though, the revelation wasn't taken as bad as expected. In fact, Zubeida suggests Twigleg be a double agent for the group. Act like he is spying for Nettlebrand, when in reality he's spying for the group.\par
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Nettlebrand finds out that Twigleg doublecrossed him through a raven. He orders Gravelbeard to invent a story about how Nettlebrand rusted up and got buried alive.\par
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A prophecy is revealed that the dragon rider will return in the shape of a boy with skin as pale as the full moon, coming to save his friends the dragons from a terrible enemy. The prophecy seems to describe Ben well, therefore, it seems apparent that Ben is the next dragon rider.\par
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Twigleg contacted Gravelbeard, who lied and said that Nettlebrand is buried in the sand. Twigleg thinks it's too good to be true, but the others rejoice. Nettlebrand however, is alive and well, and he spies on Firedrake and the group from afar. He then decides to follow them.\par
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The group takes off, and they follow the images Asif showed them. However, a bird swoops down and kidnaps Ben. They try to rescue him, but the bird carries him off. It dropped Ben down on a nest, and then the bird's chick tried to eat Ben. However, Firedrake comes to his rescue again. Then the bird chases after the dragon, but eventually returns to her nest. Then they land, being lost and not knowing where the monastery where they need to go is. Then they meet a rat named Lola Graytail. They tell her that they're looking for the monastery, and she just so happens to have been there before. So they follow her to the monastery.\par
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They land at the monastery. There they meet the professor again. He tells them that his daughter Guinevere may have seen Nettlebrand. Lola then decides to take a flight to see if Nettlebrand is anywhere around. Afterwards, they enter the monastery. They are greeted by a monk, and they see a scroll with the dragon rider's picture on it. He looks a lot like Ben. They are shown moonstones which give off moonlight when broken. Later Greenbloom takes Ben to see Guinevere. They talk a little. Lola comes back and reports that nothing was found.\par
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Nettlebrand however, is lurking on the bed of the river Indus. Gravelbeard goes out to spy on the group in the monastery.\par
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The monk leads the group to the Temple of the Angry Gods, which is said to keep out evil. Then they enter a room with 2 stone dragons. Ben breaks the stone on one of them, and then a rumble was heard. Then all was still, then a 4-armed brownie appeared. His name is Burr-Burr-Chan. They ask him about the Rim of Heaven, and he says he knows where it is. However, he says that the dragons there have turned into cowardly weaklings who don't leave their caves, and are too afraid of the golden dragon to do anything. He offers to lead them to the Rim of Heaven though.\par
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Before they leave, they spot Gravelbeard. He gets away, but they learn that he had been spying on them the whole time. That also confirms that Nettlebrand is still alive. Greenbloom offers for Ben to stay with him after the adventure, and Ben accepts that idea. But for now, they were to depart for the Rim of Heaven. However, Nettlebrand found out from Gravelbeard that the dragons had been hiding from him for all this time.\par
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Firedrake flies onward, toward the Rim of Heaven, with the group. They fly into the Valley of the Dragons. They run into a problem. They think that Nettlebrand may be waiting in a body of water at the entrance there. Lola flies to look for him, taking Twigleg with her. They look around the bank, looking for Nettlebrand. He feels it in him that Nettlebrand is here. They spot Nettlebrand. They fly around him for a bit and then he disappeared for a little. Then they had breakfast.\par
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The rest of the group enters a cave. At first it seemed no one was there. But then a female dragon came out. They then discover that there were others, but they had gotten so lazy that they had thought everything was hopeless and they eventually turned to stone. The dragon is named Maia. Firedrake vows to fight Nettlebrand, and Maia decides to help him. The group decides to help too.\par
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Twigleg captures Gravelbeard. He questions him and his greed for gold. Then Burr-Burr-Chan throws him in a cave, all tied up, so he won't overhear their plans. Then the group starts making plans on how to defeat Nettlebrand. Ben brought out Nettlebrand's scale, which still seemed impregnable. Then Sorrel spits on it. That gives them an idea. Firedrake breathes fire on it, and it melts. This is how to destroy him. So they grab one of Twigleg's old bottles of armor-cleaner and Sorrel and Burr-Burr-Chan spit in it.\par
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So Twigleg goes to Gravelbeard. He makes Gravelbeard believe that he didn't turn traitor after all. He discusses things with him, and them gives him the bottle of armor-cleaner. Then Gravelbeard went back to Nettlebrand.\par
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He polishes Nettlebrand's scales, and gets him ready for the fight. Then, after a discussion, Nettlebrand heads toward the cave.\par
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As Nettlebrand approaches the cave, Firedrake, Ben, and Maia prepare themselves. The two dragons take off, and fly up to the roof of the cave, waiting for Nettlebrand. Nettlebrand barely enters the cave. Lola distracts him by flying overhead him. Firedrake and Maia circle Nettlebrand, and Twigleg taunts Nettlebrand. Nettlebrand tries to attack Firedrake, but he narrowly avoids it. Firedrake and Maia battle with Nettlebrand for a while. Eventually though Firedrake and Maia breathe fire onto him. He started to melt. Thoughts and fear start to run over him how to escape this predicament. He eventually melts away and dies a slow and painful death.\par
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Inside the remains of Nettlebrand a toad emerged. Now there was the dilemma of the stone dragons. Gravelbeard says he can bring them back to life. So Gravelbeard set off to work on the first stone. The dragon who emerged is a dragon named Shimmertail. Maia introduced him to the group, and told how they defeated the Golden One. Then Gravelbeard sets to work on all the other stone dragons.\par
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Ben and Firedrake talk about what they were going to do now. Firedrake doesn't know yet, he's not sure if the dragons back home want to come to the Rim of Heaven. Ben doesn't know either, but Firedrake suggests staying with the Greenblooms.\par
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So they left the Rim of Heaven, Maia coming along as well. They returned to the monastery. They saw Greenbloom again and told him that they defeated Nettlebrand. They tell him all what happened. Ben decides to come with Greenbloom, taking Twigleg with him. Firedrake decides to return home with Maia, Sorrel, and Burr-Burr-Chan.\par
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2 months later, Ben recieves news that Firedrake and Maia have convinced the others to come to the Rim of Heaven. They try to work out a plan to meet Firedrake in 2 months' time. It seems like a long time, but it'll be worth it.\par
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Firedrake - A silver dragon that learns that his home is about to be ravaged by humans with machines and a flood. When he learns of this, he and a brownie (furry cat-like creature) named Sorrel set off to find the Rim of Heaven an elder dragon named Slatebeard told him about. At the beginning of his quest he meets a human named Ben, and they set off for an adventure. Firedrake feeds on moonlight, so he's usually active during the night.\par
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Sorrel - A spiteful brownie that loves mushrooms. She doesn't take kindly to humans, or humonculi for that matter, either. She travels with Firedrake and eventually, Ben on their quest for the Rim of Heaven. She doesn't trust Twigleg, who later tags along on their quest, either.\par
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Ben - A human boy who stumbles upon Firedrake and Sorrel while in a warehouse in a city. Though Sorrel doesn't like it at first, he tags along with them on their journey. He befriends the dragon Firedrake, and he in turn rescues Ben when humans get close to the factory Firedrake was hiding. They begin a friendship, and set off on their adventure. Along the way, they stumble upon a humonculus named Twigleg, which Ben eventually befriends as well. As they adventure, they encounter elves, sea serpents, even a djinn that helps them along their quest. Later in the story, when they are visiting Zubeida the dracologist, Ben discovers that he is the reincarnation of a dragon rider.\par
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Nettlebrand - The main villain of the story. A golden dragon made of artificial means. His master, a long time ago, made him to capture dragons for scientific purposes. He hasn't hunted dragons in a long time, since they escaped to the Rim of Heaven when he was trying to catch some during a hunt. He has since dwelled in a castle nearby the journey's beginning spot, and when Ben, Firedrake, and Sorrel land nearby the castle, Nettlebrand sends Twigleg, a humonculus made by the same person who created Nettlebrand, to spy on those to see if the creature that landed was a dragon. Sure enough he finds out it is, and Twigleg spies on the gang while he occassionally reports back to Nettlebrand.\par
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Twigleg - A humonculus made by the same person that made Nettlebrand. He had 11 brothers, but they were all eaten by Nettlebrand. He was originally Nettlebrand's armor-cleaner. He then was sent to spy on Firedrake, Ben, and Sorrel. He winds up captured with Sorrel, but he escapes and frees her. He tags along with the adventurers, originally a spy for Nettlebrand. Eventually though, he and Ben form a sort of a bond, and he eventually betrays Nettlebrand by lying to him, saying that the djinn said to go to the desert.\par
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Professor Greenbloom - An archaeologist who searches for the winged Pegasus. During an exploration he runs into Firedrake, who he saves from a basilisk. He eventually meets Ben, Sorrel, and Twigleg as well, explaining why he was there and telling them about a djinn. He proves to be helpful, eventually accompanying Firedrake and company near the end of the quest, when they were looking for the monastery that eventually will lead them to the Rim of Heaven.\par
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1. Flocks of white seabirds circled above the dragon, announcing his arrival with excited cries\par
2. "Away, abominable airy apparations!"\par
3. If only the gigantic serpent would simply rear up and lick it out of the sky with her tongue, like a frog catching a fly!\par
4. Nettlebrand bit like a mad dog.\par
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The theme of this story is that when you are around someone for a while, you start to become attached to the person. This is noticed by Twigleg's "spying" on, but then eventually becoming a real friend to Ben. Firedrake and Ben also seem to be like family to each other in a way. I agree, sometimes you can become attached to someone you were pretending to be a friend with to the point where it isn't pretending anymore.\par
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I recommend this book to the younger crowd, and for those who like mythical creatures, especially dragons.\par
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