Tags
book club, book review, D. J. MacHale, fantasy, fiction, Pendragon, science fiction, The Merchant of Death, three nerds, three nerds and a book club, young adult
Author: D. J. MacHale Series: Pendragon, Book #1 Publisher: Aladdin Publication Date: Sept 2002 Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fantasy Pages: 374 Buy: The Book Depository
Book Description: Bobby Pendragon is a seemingly normal fourteen-year-old boy. But there is something very special about Bobby. He is going to save the world.
And not just Earth as we know it. Bobby is swept off to an alternate dimension known as Denduron, a territory ruled by a magical tyrant, and plagued by dangerous revolution.
If Bobby wants to see his family again, he’s going to have to accept his role as savior. because as he is about to discover, Denduron is only the beginning.
First Line: “I hope you’re reading this, Mark.”
*Book read for March/April’s Three Nerds and a Book Club*
When I was much younger, probably 8 or 10 years ago, I read through the first half of this series with vigor. I absolutely loved this series and the different worlds. It was the series that triggered those stories I come up with in my head that I occasionally write down. Even after all this time I still really enjoyed reading this book. The whole universe that MacHale is so unique and different. Even the way it was written was interesting.
You read through the book as if you were reading journals written by Bobby. But there are also chapters where you see things from Mark and Courtney’s perspective – Bobby’s friends who he sends the journals to. While it is written like a 14-year-old would write, it was still well written and interesting. I’m curious to see if the writing matures as the series continues and Bobby ages. Even reading this as a twenty-something college student, it was fun seeing things from Bobby’s perspective.
While this book is for young adults, I did enjoy that it had some heavy concepts in it. Death, for one, and how it can be messy and fast or slow and painful. It showed the darker side of humanity and what can happen when people make the wrong decisions for the right intentions. And it showed how evil some people can really be.
I’m so glad I read this book again and I have every intention of finishing the series this time. I highly recommend this to young adults/preteens who like science fiction or fantasy.
My Rating: ★★★★
The Big Nerd 
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Pendragon has the same problem Rick Riordans Percy Jackson books did.
The first few books are great, but they steadily grow worse and worse. In Percy Jackson’s case it was because the author stopped trying to be clever with his depictions of mythical beings. In Pendragon’s case everything stopped making sense. It got silly… very silly.
I haven’t read the Percy Jackson novels yet so I don’t have an opinion on that. But from what I remember of Pendragon, I felt like the books were still good, albeit there are going to be some books in series that are better than others. I remember liking the second of the five I read the best.
I liked them up until the eighth novel. The time travel stuff just got too silly for me.