The Pendragon Adventure Book 7: The Quillan Games 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 some very bizarre events on Zadaa, Bobby follows Saint Dane to the territory of Quillan. Upon arriving on Quillan, Bobby is thrust into The Quillan Games. Competitors chosen in the Games compete in dangerous, often deadly challenges just to stay alive. Civilians place bets on the games, and for many that's the only way that they can survive the territory run by the omnipresent "Blok." Bobby must fight not only to save Quillan, but to survive.

Overall Thoughts

Non-spoiler section!

I've always counted The Quillan Games among my favorite of the Pendragon books. As I've said in previous posts, due to the ever-changing setting of the series, each of the books takes on its own genre. As I've mentioned several times in the past, I love dystopian. Especially when we get great world-building and the back-story to how the world got so messed up. And we get all of that. I've said it before, but I'll say it again: DJ MacHale is amazing at world-building. We got a real sense of the territory, and even got a scene when the territory's back-story is described. I love it.

My love of the games in this book is part of the reason that I know I need to read The Hunger Games eventually. (No, I haven't read it. Shock, awe, blah, I feel no shame.) I find the actual games in The Quillan Games to be super interesting and cool. And although it has obvious differences from The Hunger Games, there are many very obvious similarities as well. And this was published 2 years before The Hunger Games, so you can't claim that DJ copied. Because he was first.

I really can't complain about much in this book. I even enjoyed Mark and Courtney's plot. It wasn't as action-packed and exciting as Bobby's plot, but it was interesting, especially at the end.

As far as rating, I'm  not going to jump and give it a full 5 stars out of 5, but I will say that it's at least 4.5- 4.75 and might be bumped up in the series post. 

Spoilery Discussion!

I totally love the twist with Veego and LaBerge actually being from Veelox. I also loved that so many of their games were stolen from other territories. Yes, it wasn't how it was supposed to be, but it made things really interesting.

So, a moment with the Second Earth plot. The last bit of that was... whoa. There was that whole split where Courtney went through the flume and returned to a totally different Earth with robotic cats and way advanced computers. And Saint Dane revealing himself as Andy Mitchell! We obviously knew that because of The Rivers of Zadaa, but Courtney didn't know that. That was just all intense.

Oh, and Nevva revealing that she was actually working with Saint Dane. Ouch. I knew it was coming since this was a reread, but I still got annoyed with Bobby every time he did what she told him to.

I don't really think I have anything else that's really spoilery to talk about. I just really enjoy this book.

Favorite Quotes

Page 6: I can't transform myself into other people. Believe me, I tried. I closed my eyes, concentrated my thoughts, and thought: Become Johnny Depp. Nothing happened. Maybe I should have been more specific and thought: Become Johnny Depp in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as opposed to Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean.

Page 100: There were shelves everywhere that were loaded with dolls. Clown dolls. I hate clowns. Have I mentioned that? In my opinion, there are two kinds of people: those who fear and hate clowns... and clowns.

Page 220: I had a restless night. You know that feeling where you can't get to sleep on Christmas Eve because you're so excited about all the great things that will be waiting for you in the morning?
It wasn't anything like that.
Except for the not being able to sleep part.

Page 403: Veego and LaBerge walked away, but as they left, LaBerge stopped and gave me a confused look. "How do you know this game?" he asked.
"Didn't you know? I'm an honorary Batu," I said.
"You are?" LaBerge said with shock. He looked to quickly to Veego for a reaction. She didn't give any. Obviously LaBerge didn't remember me from Veelox, and Veego didn't bother to remind him.



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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