The scent must have wafted far ahead of its owners. He did not let the Urgals get up or warm themselves. He denied himself those luxuries, too, and stayed behind the tree, watching the trail.
Another gust of wind rushed through the forest. The smell was stronger this time. Excited, he lifted a thin lip in a snarl. The tip of his sword moved in small circles. It had taken many plots and much pain to bring himself to this moment. It would not do to lose control now. Eyes brightened under the Urgals' thick brows, and they gripped their weapons tighter. Ahead of them, the Shade heard a clink as something hard struck a loose stone. Faint smudges emerged from the darkness and came down the trail.
Three white horses with riders cantered toward the ambush, their heads held high and proud, their coats rippling in the moonlight like liquid silver. On the first horse was an elf with pointed ears and elegantly slanted eyebrows. His build was slim but strong, like a rapier. A powerful bow was slung on his back.
A sword pressed against his side opposite a quiver of arrows fletched with swan feathers. The last rider had the same fair face and angled features as the other. He carried a long spear in his right hand and a white dagger at his belt. A helm of extraordinary craftsmanship, wrought with amber and gold, rested on his head. Between these two rode a raven-haired elven lady, who surveyed her surroundings with poise. Framed by long black locks, her deep eyes shone with a driving force.
Her clothes were unadorned, yet her beauty was undiminished. At her side was a sword, and on her back a long bow with a quiver. She carried in her lap a pouch that she frequently looked at, as if to reassure herself that it was still there. One of the elves spoke quietly, but the Shade could not hear what was said. The lady answered with obvious authority, and her guards switched places. The one wearing the helm took the lead, shifting his spear to a readier grip.
They passed the Shade's hiding place and the first few Urgals without suspicion. The Shade was already savoring his victory when the wind changed direction and swept toward the elves, heavy with the Urgals' stench. The horses snorted with alarm and tossed their heads. The riders stiffened, eyes flashing from side to side, then wheeled their mounts around and galloped away.
The lady's horse surged forward, leaving her guards far behind. Forsaking their hiding, the Urgals stood and released a stream of black arrows.
The Shade jumped out from behind the tree, raised his right hand, and shouted, "Garjzla! A red bolt flashed from his palm toward the elven lady, illuminating the trees with a bloody light. It struck her steed, and the horse toppled with a high-pitched squeal, plowing into the ground chest-first.
She leapt off the animal with inhuman speed, landed lightly, then glanced back for her guards. The Urgals' deadly arrows quickly brought down the two elves. They fell from the noble horses, blood pooling in the dirt. As the Urgals rushed to the slain elves, the Shade screamed, "After her!
She is the one I want! A cry tore from the elf's lips as she saw her dead companions. She took a step toward them, then cursed her enemies and bounded into the forest. While the Urgals crashed through the trees, the Shade climbed a piece of granite that jutted above them. From his perch he could see all of the surrounding forest. Grimly he burned one section after another until there was a ring of fire, a half-league across, around the ambush site.
The flames looked like a molten crown resting on the forest. Satisfied, he watched the ring carefully, in case it should falter. The band of fire thickened, contracting the area the Urgals had to search. Suddenly, the Shade heard shouts and a coarse scream. He doesn't know how to write. String together a vague semblance of a story? But at the end of the day, the description is purple, the dialogue is stilted, and the character development is next to non-existent.
For starters, has anyone noticed that he is obsessed with stating distances? Something like, "Two feet away stood three troops of fifty, in rows of five, making ten people per row" is a sentence uncannily close to one I read in the actual book itself.
This kind of information is superfluous and distracting, taking away from important aspects of a novel such as character development--which, by the way, he integrates next to none of. Who is Eragon? I seem to have forgotten everything about him, other than the fact that he is creepily obsessed with a woman who has no interest in him, he acquires fighting skills incredibly fast read: Mary Sue red-flag , and only reprehensible villains disagree with him.
Basically, he's perfect, and he only gets even more amazing at everything he does. Where is the fun in a character like that? I do, however, remember Murtagh Probably because he's the only one who changes at all as a character throughout the book, other than the occasional insight into Eragon's personal airplane--I mean, pet dragon--I mean, companion, Saphira.
Even her characterization is sacrificed because she's used as a plot device by Paolini rather than fleshed out as an actual character.
None of the characters are memorable and the main character is my least favorite character of them all! How are we supposed to root for the main character when he is nothing but an arrogant snot, constantly reaffirming a holier-than-thou attitude to everyone around him?
The plot is a cliche hero's journey that has been done before, and better , might I add. Where's the appeal in that? Answer: there is none. What left is there to hold in high regard? His world building skills? I don't know why he decided that his world of Alagaesia had to have EVERY single climate condition imaginable, but doing so made his world seem juvenile, fake, and forced. Not to mention boring judging by the awful over-description of said world.
With regards to the language he "created"? He mostly ripped from old Norse words. He's admitted to it himself. Look, anyone can string a bunch of letters together and call it a language. But Paolini hasn't a single clue when it comes to linguistics.
And hey, I'll admit that I don't either. But I also don't try to create my own languages--that I more or less steal--and claim that I created all by myself. All in all, sure, it's fantastic that he published a book at such a young age, but are we as a society lowering the bar that much as to celebrate mediocrity? The man is now twenty-eight years old and his successive books Eldest , Brisingr and finally, Inheritance are decidedly much worse than his first book on every front.
That he wrote when he was fifteen. This is a huge problem in my eyes. Someone so unwilling to grow or change like any other writer should have their title of "writer" stripped from them. It's insulting. Jan 23, Ben Alderson rated it it was amazing. Why have you not read this sooner. This beast has been sat on your TBR pile for years. What is wrong with you? Was little Ben intimidated by the size? Such a classic! View all 12 comments. This was straight up painful Full review to come! View all 36 comments.
Oct 29, Julio Genao rated it did not like it. View all 29 comments. Aug 20, Swankivy rated it did not like it. Boy finds mysteeeeerious stone. Turns out to be dragon egg. Boy raises dragon and bonds with it strongly. Bad guys come and destroy boy's house and kill his uncle. Boy swears revenge. Boy's secret dragon is discovered by mysteeeerious storyteller who turns out to be master swordsman and random magic user.
The hunt for the bad guys begins, and boy searches for his destiny as a legendary Dragon Rider of course, that must be capitalized.
Eragon goes through traditional bouts of training and learning about himself under the stern tutelage of old wise traveling companion. Along the way he gains and loses friends, and rescues a mysteeeerious woman from a horrible dungeon while never straying from his quest to put right all that is wrong in a world oppressively ruled by an evil king.
This book has gotten lots of attention since it first came out, partly because the author is so young. He was fifteen when he started the book, and was nineteen when it was published. Age isn't always correlated with mastery, of course, but when I read this book, I could TELL that the writer was either young or an immature writer.
Though it seems people think it "got published" somehow because of its great merit, this book was actually self-published by the author's parents company was Paolini International , and then it was paraded around on a self-funded signing tour the way most self-published people do. An established author happened to run into the family doing a signing while he was on vacation, thought a kid writing a book was interesting, bought a copy and made his stepson read it, and decided to try to get the book a deal when the kid liked it.
The people at Knopf re-edited and repackaged and re-released it under that label. I believe that if this book had meandered its way to publishing houses the usual way, it would have been rejected as unpublishable, for reasons I will discuss in depth here. Christopher Paolini himself, in his own words, describes his story thus: "Eragon is an archetypal hero story, filled with exciting action, dangerous villains, and fantastic locations.
There are dragons and elves, sword fights and unexpected revelations, and of course, a beautiful maiden who's more than capable of taking care of herself. There was absolutely nothing new or "unexpected" in this book though the author claims there are "revelations" , and if a reader is excited by this book, they are probably reacting to the concepts themselves e.
My feeling was that this book was nothing special because, if I may be so blunt, "it's been done," and it's been done better. Overall, I just think that this book was written as though it had a template or blueprint for "traditional fantasy novel" and the details and names were simply filled in.
I couldn't help feeling the entire time I was reading it that I had read this story before, nothing was much of a surprise, and things that didn't make sense or got in the way of a conflicting original vision were smoothed over with excuses or deliberate muddling of motives. I think that in order to write something so traditional, a writer needs something special, a unique twist or slant, and this just hasn't got it. In other words, I'm not saying that writing an "archetypal fantasy epic" is BAD; I'm saying that it needs to not be a rehashing of overused themes that have been done to death by classic writers.
The boy and his powerful companion having an intimate relationship? Done, in everything from Anne McCaffrey to freaking Digimon. The hero quest to punish the baddies and bring the good guys back into power? Done, in Lord of the Rings and Star Wars.
Lush descriptions of landscapes and surroundings? Done by Tolkien of course, but more as a background to action rather than in stagnant heaps of detail. Mysterious companions to whom there is more than meets the eye?
I don't even want to think about all the books and movies that have done that. I can't pick out a single thing that this book has that has never been done before, the characters didn't interest or capture me, the storytelling was riddled with too many attempts to be grand that I was just entirely turned off by it. Some specifics about the bad writing style: Every imaginable permutation of the word "said" is used. If the reader cannot tell how someone is saying something by what they are saying, it is likely that the dialogue has been written sloppily.
Leave it out. Running into "'Sorry,' apologized Brom" made me cringe. The fact that Brom said "Sorry" means that he apologized, so use "said. Leave out the decorations because they're tacky. The speech tags are not the part of the writing that is supposed to be interesting, so don't distract us; believe me when I say that if you do it, nearly any editor will consider it an early warning sign that you are an amateur.
Unnecessary description is inserted with maddening frequency. I am not usually a reader of traditional fantasy, and traditional fantasy does tend to be more flowery than the hard stuff, but either way random descriptions should not just be thrown into the mix.
Eragon is waking up and stretching. Suddenly we get a description of the items on his night table, including the random information that he likes to look at one of the objects on it frequently. In the meantime, while we are getting this rush of information, Eragon is putting on his shoes. He then does not proceed to touch, pick up, or look at anything on the night table, and none of it is ever mentioned again.
Also, people and places just get sudden paragraphs of description. We're fighting an Urgal and all of a sudden.
While he's rushing at Eragon with drooling fangs, no less. By all means, describe the fangs, slipping the adjectives in gracefully. But don't give us a run-down of a typical Urgal when we're a lot more interested in whether those fangs are going into Eragon's head. And lastly, too many words, phrases, and concepts seem to be entirely lifted from other well-known works. Word choice seemed as though it was the author's attempt to use all his SAT words; it was verbose and flowery as if on purpose, trying to impress with vocabulary that would have been better used sparingly.
The similarity of some people's and places' names to those of Tolkien have not gone unnoticed by seasoned fantasy readers; I have heard several people call this book "Aragorn" without even noticing that they weren't saying it right, not to mention things like Ardwen compared with Arwen , Isenstar compared with Isengard , and Isidar compared with Isildur --and there are a LOT more.
A ridiculous number of phrases seem to be something I've heard before, though I'm not sure where; for example, near the beginning someone is touching a wrapped package repeatedly, "as if to reassure herself that it was still there. How's that for an original simile? There's definitely not enough space in this little box which has a character limit for me to go into as much detail as I'd like talking about how bad this book is, so if you really want to read my ranting in all its entirety, you might want to check out my essay about it on my website.
View all 64 comments. Feb 19, Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it Shelves: adventure , magic , 21th-century , united-states , fiction , fantasy , childrens-young-readers. Paolini, born in , wrote the novel while still in his teens. After writing the first draft for a year, Paolini spent a second year rewriting and fleshing out the story and characters. His parents saw the final manuscript and in decided to self-publish Eragon; Paolini spent a year traveling around the United States promoting the novel.
By chance, the book was discovered by Carl Hiaasen, who got it re-published by Alfred A. The re-published version was released on August 26, The book tells the story of a farm boy named Eragon, who finds a mysterious polished blue stone in the forest. He thinks it is the lucky discovery of a poor farm boy. Not knowing the stone's origin or worth, he attempts to use it as payment to a butcher. A dragon he later names Saphira hatches from the stone, which was really an egg.
When the evil King Galbatorix finds out the general location of the egg he sends the Ra'zac to acquire it. By that time Saphira had been growing for a while and takes Eragon to the Spine after Ra'zac appear in their village Carvahall. Eragon and Saphira are forced to flee from their hometown, with a storyteller called Brom, and decide to search for the Varden, a group of rebels who want the downfall of Galbatorix.
The book tells the story of a farm boy, named Eragon, who finds a mysterious stone in the mountains. View 2 comments. Sep 03, James Trevino rated it really liked it.
Dragons and elves and dragons! A lot of people faulted Paolini for trying to copy Tolkien, but the truth is, their styles are nothing alike. Tolkien is much more poetic and his writing more archaic. Paolini is a much more straightforward fantasy guy. And that is not a bad thing. I really enjoyed this book and the series overall ranks as one of my all time favorites! Because it is so well written!
Seriously now, the descriptions and characters and everything! And it is fascinating really It is like that is written by another person or by Paolini while he was 10 years old. But once you go past that, it gets soooo damn good!!!! View all 5 comments. So I am an aspiring author. And yet imitation is arguably according to Aristotle, Cicero, and numerous other authorities the most effective rhetorical device for learning your licks as a writer.
You can like a certain piece just because of the story line or you can not like a piece because they have a funny name for the main character. You are entitled. What you are not entitled to is saying that a certain author is a piece or crap and a knock off of a literary masterpiece. Every story, no matter where it came from or how old, is an imitation of other stories.
Christopher Paolini talks about how he looks up to famous author J. He has similar species elves and dwarves but a lot of stories have those. So are we going to say that every story that has a vampire or werewolf is a knock off of Dracula?
Because the species is similar to the original? A young, normal and boring girl is thrown into saving mankind against the somehow twisted and corrupted government. The Hunger Games? City of Bones? The Summoning? How about if you changed the young, normal and boring girl into the young, normal and boring boy? The Maze Runner? Harry Potter? Every book is imitating another if you actually sit down and think about it. The real question is: why on earth would you want to do that?
Why would you want to get your panties all tied in a knot? Eragon and Durza fight, but Eragon was greatly outmatched by the Shade. At one point, Durza slashed Eragon across his back and then uttered an inaudible curse upon the wound. Thanks to Saphira and Arya breaking the Isidar Mithrim , Durza's attention was diverted long enough for Eragon to stab him through the heart. Following Durza's demise, the controlling link the Shade held on the Urgals' minds snapped, causing the remainder of them to flee and fight among each other.
Eragon fainted and was tended to by healers. After the battle, Ajihad was ambushed by a group of Urgals and subsequently died. Ajihad's daughter, Nasuada, inherited the leadership of the Varden after his death. Eragon informed Nasuada of Ajihad's dying words. After conferring with Saphira about Nasuada, Eragon knelt and pledged himself to Nasuada as her vassal.
While relaxing one day, Eragon was greeted by the sorceress Trianna , who attempted to seduce him and asked him to head the Du Vrangr Gata.
Though Eragon was taken by her looks and charms, Saphira did not accept Trianna and scared her off. Though Eragon was angered by this, Saphira merely stated that she wanted Eragon to be with someone who cared for him as a person and not just as a Rider. Eragon accepted and Orik helped him complete the ritual to make him a true member of the clan. This was the first time in history that a human joined a dwarf family.
Eragon's training began the following day. Oromis was bonded to a gold dragon named Glaedr. Eragon's lessons with Oromis were frustrating at first, but he gradually learned what the scope of his responsibilities were. Moreover, he learned other things such as history, art, and politics.
His knowledge of magic and the Ancient Language also expanded tremendously. However, he learned from Oromis that he had cursed Elva instead of blessing her due to a mistake in his wording having accidentally said "may you be a shield from misfortune", thus dooming her to constantly suffer from the hurts of others.
He resolved to remove the curse, although such a feat could prove tricky. Eragon's training also focused on his fighting skills.
He developed an intense rivalry with an elf named Vanir and their mutual dislike came to a head during one of their sparring sessions. Eragon was defeated multiple times, often suffering bouts of pain from the scar on his back left by Durza.
During his lessons with magic and expanding his consciousness, he evolved his perception of life and became a vegetarian like the elves. Eragon composed a poem to present at the Blood-Oath Celebration , a traditional Elvish ceremony taking place every hundred years to commemorate the pact between the Elves and the Dragons. During the festivities, as a gift from the dragon race, Eragon was completely healed of every wound.
Also, he was physically transformed, acquiring the features and abilities of an elf. Only after this transformation was he able to beat Vanir in a duel and earn his respect.
Because of his new prowess, Eragon was able to cast much more powerful magic. He still needed to obtain better balance and grace. Upon scrying Nasuada, he found that Galbatorix was mustering his army to attack the Varden in Surda.
The Broddring Empire was over , strong, greatly outnumbering the Varden. Angela, who was still with the Varden, weakened some of their numbers by poisoning the soldiers' food. From the start of the battle, the Broddring Empire pushed the Varden back.
Thankfully, the dwarves appeared not far into the battle, turning the tide for the Varden. Nasuada had also formed an uneasy treaty with some Kull, who also aided in the battle against the Broddring Empire. Unexpectedly, another Rider appeared with a red dragon , and killed Hrothgar with a bolt of energy.
Wearied by the battle, Eragon was outmatched and driven onto the ground with Saphira. He and his opponent then faced off with swords. Near the end of their duel, Eragon recognized the other Rider's manner of fighting. Eragon managed to pull off his opponent's helm, revealing Murtagh, who he thought was dead. He also revealed that Galbatorix knew his and Thorn's true names , so he was able to totally enslave him.
His orders from Galbatorix were to try to capture Eragon and Saphira because she was the last female dragon in existence. Galbatorix needed her to fulfill his vision of rebuilding the order of the Riders under his rule. Murtagh decided to have mercy on them because of his and Eragon's past, but he claimed Zar'roc as his own, as well as stated in the Ancient Language: Eragon was Morzan's son and Murtagh's younger brother.
Haunted by this turn of events, Eragon shared this secret with Roran who had moved all the people of Carvahall down to Surda to join the Varden , Nasuada and Arya.
He then agreed to aid Roran in rescuing his fiance Katrina from the lair of the Ra'zac. Eragon and Roran fought and killed one of the Ra'zac while Saphira battled the Lethrblaka , the Ra'zac's parents and steeds. While Roran rescued Katrina, Eragon discovered Sloan in a nearby cell and stayed behind to rescue him and also to kill the last Ra'zac.
But before he did, the Ra'zac tried to make a deal with Eragon: to have his race remembered for all the terror they inspired in exchange for telling him a secret about Galbatorix: he was close to discovering the "true name" but the Ra'zac refused to reveal more. Eragon accidentally discovered Sloan's true name by pondering his life and motivations for his choices. Invoking Sloan's true name, he forced the butcher to swear in the ancient language never to see Katrina again.
During his journey back to the Varden, Eragon was desperately hungry and decided to eat meat and discovered how much he loved it still. Also, he encountered Angela's former master, Tenga. He later met up with Arya, who had come in search of Eragon after he sent Saphira, Roran and Katrina back to the Varden without him and developed a stronger relationship with her. When Eragon returned to the Varden, he happily agreed to marry Roran and Katrina.
Before the ceremony began, Thorn and Murtagh came with a battalion of soldiers who were immune to pain, due to magic, and could only die if beheaded or stabbed in the heart.
The rematch began with Eragon and Murtagh fighting in the sky. With this assistance, Eragon was able to fight Murtagh and Thorn to a stalemate. No longer having the energy to fight on, the red pair retreated and promised to come back stronger. With Murtagh and the soldiers gone, Eragon was able to marry Katrina and Roran. His wedding gift to them was a pair of golden rings that enabled them to sense the others' presence and safety, as well as Eragon's horse given to him by Brom, Snowfire.
Nasuada sent Eragon to Tronjheim to oversee - and possibly influence in favor of the Varden and speed up - the coronation of the new dwarf king, while Saphira would stay to keep the Varden thinking he was still among them.
He was accompanied by Nar Garzhvog , the war chief of the Kull. Garzhvog traveled with Eragon only so far, but did not accompany him to any Dwarven cities, though Eragon took the opportunity to learn some of the Urgal cultures.
Eragon was welcomed by Orik and met his wife, Hvedra. Shortly before the clan meeting, Orik promised that if he could not secure the crown himself, he would back another dwarf who was in favor of aiding the Varden. Vermund, however, would remain banished until his death. These events worked in favor of Orik, who secured enough votes to be crowned king and readied his warriors to march to assist the Varden.
Saphira was immediately sent to reunite with him, and they oversaw Orik's coronation, as well as use their combined magic to restore the Isidar Mithrim as their gift. Eragon learned from Oromis that Brom was his true father, thereby making Murtagh his half-brother. While he reacted furiously to the news at first, angry that Oromis, Glaedr, as well as Saphira had kept the information from him all this time, thus weighing him down with the belief that he was the son of Morzan, Eragon eventually forgave them.
Saphira even showed him a memory of Brom speaking to him as his father. Although enticed by the idea of creating the weapon that would kill Galbatorix, she told him it was impossible because of her oath and also because she did not have the proper material, brightsteel , required to make a Rider's sword.
Remembering Solembum's prophecy , Eragon and Saphira went to the Menoa tree to search for the star-metal. Eragon attempted to contact the tree and ask if there was any under its roots.
The tree seemed asleep, so Eragon gave it some of his energy as a gift, as to wake it up. When it was clear that all his attempts were futile, Saphira grew impatient and attacked the tree in order to wake her up and answer their questions.
The tree rose, catching Eragon and Saphira in its hold, retaliating against them. Eragon was finally able to strike a mysterious deal with the Menoa Tree and she uncovered the brightsteel from under her roots. The finished hand-and-a-half sword was an iridescent blue, just as the scales on the hollow of Saphira's throat. Eragon named it " Brisingr ". The weapon's blade burst into flames every time he said its name in the Ancient Language. The Varden stormed through the streets of the city but took prisoners wherever possible.
Once they reached the tower, they discovered three spellcasters who were creating a Shade. They hacked through the magician's wards one by one, but were too late. The man they were summoning the spirits into became an extremely powerful Shade named Varaug. However, aided by a mental onslaught from Eragon, Arya thrust her sword into his heart, killing him.
Meanwhile, through Glaedr's heart of hearts, Eragon was able to see the fates of Oromis and Glaedr. Galbatorix possessed Murtagh and murdered Oromis, allowing Thorn to kill Glaedr. Eragon and Saphira next led the Varden troops to Belatona. However, part of the castle fell on top of Roran and Eragon ran in to rescue him. After finding his cousin still alive, they, along with Arya, captured Lord Bradburn. Shortly after the battle, Elain 's difficult pregnancy came to an end and she went into labor.
With Arya aiding the women of Carvahall, Elain gave birth to a baby girl, but everyone was distraught when the baby was born with a cleft lip.
With the women not trusting her ways, Arya gave Eragon the responsibility of healing the child. Using the elves' method of singing spells, he used a cradle song from his own childhood and healed the infant until her face was normal.
After giving the infant a blessing, Eragon presented her to an extremely grateful Horst. As the Varden extended their quest to Dras-Leona, Eragon strove to master his swordsmanship. After a bout with the elf Wyrden , Eragon began practicing with Arya. She, however, proved to be too much for him, as she understood Eragon's emotions and movements and used them to her advantage.
Eventually, Glaedr broke out of his misery and resumed tutoring Eragon, both with the blade and his mind. He passed on a way for Eragon to out predict his opponent: by learning to see what he was looking at. Things only escalated at Dras-Leona with Murtagh and Thorn appearing as the protectors of the city. However, Jeod discovered a secret tunnel leading into the city. Eragon was elected to lead the expedition to use this tunnel to reach the gates so the Varden could enter.
With Arya, Wyrden, Angela, and Solembum as part of his group, Eragon followed the tunnel, which led to caverns and tunnels underneath the chapel. There, Eragon witnessed the death of Wyrden via a trap laid out, and soon he and Arya were captured and separated from Angela and Solembum. Eragon and Arya were gagged and chained within the chapel, where the priests informed them that they would become food for two Ra'zac that were about to hatch from eggs.
Download books for free. Any Extension pdf epub djvu fb2 txt rar mobi lit doc rtf azw3. Book for December 08, Check out other translated books in French, Spanish languages. Eragon book 3 pdf free download I loved it lots and have overtheroadtruckersdispatch.
Gifted with only an ancient sword, a loyal dragon, and sage advice from an old storyteller, Eragon is soon swept into a dangerous tapestry of magic, glory, and power. You can publish your own PDF file online for free in a few minutes! Brisingr Inheritance, Book Eragon Pdf Free. It's been only months since Eragon first uttered "brisingr", an ancient language term for fire.
The first edition of the novel was published in November 8th , and was written by Christopher Paolini. The book was published in multiple languages including English, consists of pages and is available in Hardcover format. The main characters of this fantasy, young adult story are Eragon The Back Choose a collection store.
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