The Pendragon Adventure Book 6: The Rivers of Zadaa Discussion [Summer Reading Challenge]

Hey, y'all! I'm here with another summer reading challenge post! I'm continuing on with my July challenge: The Pendragon Adventure!

Series Info

Since this series is a little less well-known than the other series in my Summer Reading Challenge, I decided to discuss the premise of the series as a whole. The Pendragon Adventure is a 10 book series centered around our main character, Bobby, and his adventures through multiple dimensions (or territories, as they're called in the books). The books are told from a dual perspective. Our main perspective is of Bobby, told in first-person through journals which he sends to his best friend to keep a record of what is happening. The secondary perspective is of Bobby's best friend, Mark, and pseudo-girlfriend, Courtney, who receive the journals and go through their own problems on Earth. The majority of the books focus on a single territory each, as Bobby travels there to thwart the evil Saint Dane.

Book Summary
As always, remember not to read this if you haven't read the previous books in the series, because this summary will probably spoil you for any books that came before this one!

After battling Saint Dane on Eelong, Bobby moves on to Loor's home territory of Zadaa. In Zadaa, there are two main tribes- the Rokador and the Batu. The Rokador are very technologically advanced and live underground, while the Batu are a warrior class tribe who live above-ground. Tensions between the Rokador and Batu are becoming more and more strained because of the lack of water. The Batu believe that the Rokador are holding back the water, and the Rokador are running out of room underground and are abused when they go above ground. Bobby knows that this must be the turning point of the territory, and must figure out a way to stop Saint Dane before he can claim another territory.

Overall Thoughts

Non-spoiler section!

I forgot a lot of the plot of this book. I remembered that the conflict was over water, and I remembered one or two plot points, but apart from that I forgot almost all of the book. Normally, I would be surprised about that, but after re-reading it, I think that's totally understandable, because this book wasn't that memorable as far as Pendragon books go.

I'm not saying that the book is bad, but in the scheme of the whole series, this pretty forgettable and not as exciting. For me, Zadaa isn't as interesting as the other territories. All of them have something that makes them really interesting or unique, like being all water or cats being the dominant species, but Zadaa is literally just like a desert on Earth. I guess that nothing is different enough from Earth to be interesting for me. What I really love about these books is how interesting and cool the different territories are and this one just... isn't.

Along with that, the plot isn't so exciting or interesting to me either. I guess that that the warring tribes is kinda getting old at this point since both Denduron and Eelong had warring tribes. I guess that nothing about this book really excited me, interested me, or surprised me.

Except for one thing. THE ENDING. There was something that happened at the end that I totally forgot about, and when it happened, I was shocked and upset and freaked out. Whoa.

As far as rating, I'm going to have to give it 4 stars out of 5. As far as Pendragon books go, it's not as good as the other books, but it's still a pretty OK book. 

Spoilery Discussion!

OK, so the ending... whoa. Loor DIED for a hot second. DIED. I totally forgot about that whole scene and my memory is vague on the books after this, so I wasn't sure whether or not she was in later books and was fully convinced that she was actually dead. I sobbed. And then when she came back to life, I was shocked. I was a little annoyed at the speed she healed because even though Bobby and Alder healed quickly, they still took several days. Bobby even took an entire month. But Loor DIED and she only took about 10 seconds to be conscious again. Huh? It just doesn't make any sense.

That was really the only exciting part of the book though. I think that it might be more from a lack of interest on my end than the book actually being boring. I mean, they almost drown several times over, and they take this long trek underground to stop a war. I guess it's exciting, but it just didn't really interest me. I'm not sure why, but I just really didn't care. Honestly, my favorite part of the book was probably when Bobby was training.

One thing I did really enjoy was getting to see both Alder and Loor. As I've said, Loor is one of my favorite characters, if not my absolute favorite character, and I loved getting an entire book with her in it rather than just little snippets of her life. I also really like Alder and was really glad to finally get to see him again because he's just a total teddy bear. So nice.

As far as Mark and Courtney's story went, the first half was a little boring. I remembered the fact that Courtney got run off the road, but although I suspected that Saint Dane was posing as Whitney, I couldn't remember whether that was accurate or not. Also, the very end scene where Andy is implied to be Saint Dane... whoa. I remembered that Andy was really Saint Dane, but I couldn't remember how or when that was revealed. And I still don't get why he saved Courtney. He said something about coming too far to let her die, but he was the one who tried to kill her...? I dunno, I don't get it.

Also, the Loor/Bobby romance thing made me really sad. I just want them to be together. Who cares about Courtney? Loor is way cooler. Ugh I just want them to be together.

This book is also kinda a turning point for me with the books because my brain kinda divides the books into the "old" books- the ones that were out when I first read the series- and the "new" books- the ones I read as they came out. Now, although The Quillan Games was already out the first time I read the series, it was the newest book, so my brain lumps it in with the "new" books. But if I remember correctly, there are also some major changes that occur in The Quillan Games that change the rules a bit, so I guess that's also a literal turning point in the series... I'm not sure. Either way, I definitely feel like I'm leaving one era and beginning the next.

Overall, this book just isn't my favorite. It doesn't bring me the excitement that I want from a Pendragon book, and maybe that's just because I don't find the territory that exciting. I'm not sure, but although it's not my favorite, I do enjoy it.

Favorite Quotes

Page 27: "Do not make the mistake of underestimating Pendragon," she [Loor] said firmly. "You do not know him as I do."

Page 37: "I met Pendragon when I made the journey to the far desert, He is from the tribe known as... as..." Loor was scrambling. Bokka didn't know about the Travelers. I had to bail her out.
"Yankees," I said. "The Yankees tribe." Hey, what can I say? It was the first thing that came to mind. "It's a strong tribe," I added. "Respected by all... except our mortal enemies, the Sox tribe. They hate us. Especially the Red ones. Cannibals. Nasty characters."

Page 68: Once I started moving, each day I felt a little better. Pain is a weird thing: When you've got it, you know it- but you don't really know the moment it stops. It's kind of like, afterward you realize: "Hey, it doesn't hurt to breathe anymore. Or walk. Or blink."

Page 223: "I guess that's the Yellow Brick Road," I said.
"The what?" Loor asked.
"The way to Kidik." Note to self: Stop making clever Second Earth references.

Page 244: Loor froze... and dropped her stave.
Uh-oh. Whatever she was looking at had shocked her so badly that she dropped her weapon. Let me write that again. Loor was so shocked, she dropped her weapon. Loor. I don't have to tell you how wrong that was. 



So, there you go, that's all for this summer reading post! Have you read the Pendragon series? What do you think of the series? Let me know in the comments!

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