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!

I've also created a Facebook page for my blog, so if you want to check that out and like it, you can click HERE. I'll try to keep that pretty up-to-date with new posts and such.

Thanks for reading this! If you like my posts, don't forget to subscribe/follow, since it lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm doing. See y'all soon!

The Pendragon Adventure Book 5: Black Water 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 Saint Dane's first victory on the territory of Veelox, Bobby follows him and Gunny to the territory of Eelong. On Eelong, the jungle cats called klees are intelligent and treat the humans, called gars, like slaves. The tension is mounting between the klees and the gars, and the only way to save the territory may be to break the rules.

Overall Thoughts

Non-spoiler section!

You're probably surprised this is going up so soon after my post for The Reality Bug. Honestly, I kinda am too. These late-night BookTubeAThon Twitter sprints are really helping me get through books. I finished up The Reality Bug during Monday's sprints, and got 325 pages into Black Water during Tuesday night's sprints! Then today (Wednesday!) I pushed through the last 100 pages. And when I finish this post, I'll be starting Twitter sprints again. Whew. It really is a reading marathon!

Anyway, on to the actual book. I liked it more than I remembered liking it. I've never been a huge fan of Eelong, and at best, I'm indifferent about Kasha, the traveler from Eelong. As I've said many times, I tend to prefer the books that take place on the territories I like the best. That may be why my memory was a bit cloudy as to how good this book is. The plot is excellent. The end of Reality Bug/ beginning of Black Water is kinda the turning point of the series. Things start to get more confusing, the plots get more intricate, and it becomes harder to figure out what exactly Saint Dane is really up to. I like that because the series really ages as the characters do.

As I said, I'm not a fan of Eelong. Since I can't remember a ton about some of the other territories that the series hasn't touched on yet, but I can tentatively say that this is my least favorite territory. If it's not my absolute least favorite, then it's at least in the bottom three. It's dangerous to even walk around on solid Earth and humans are treated like animals. No thanks!

Also, I forgot how exciting Mark and Courtney's plot-line is in this book! I totally forgot about what they had going on in this book and the part that they played in everything! I think that's what helps the plot out. Not only is Bobby's plot really interesting, but Mark and Courtney get an even more interesting plot than they got last time.

As far as rating, I'm going to give it around a 4.5. It may vary a bit in the end, but I'm going to go with 4.5 for now.

Spoilery Discussion!

First of all, the ending. THAT ENDING. I remembered that it happened, but it's just... whoa. As if Kasha dying wasn't bad enough, Spader and Gunny got trapped on Eelong. Honestly, I just feel bad for them. Of all the territories to get trapped on, they're stuck on EELONG. That just sucks. And Spader finally had his head on straight and was going to be a great asset to Bobby, which is such a bummer. At least Bobby's continuing on to Zadaa, where he has his best asset- Loor. But the loss of Spader and Gunny is damaging. Also, does anyone else picture Morgan Freeman as Gunny? Just me?

I love that Courtney and Mark jump into the action. I was yelling at them the entire time for using the flumes even though they could tell things were going wrong, but I knew that was what they needed to do because they had no other way of helping Bobby out. They couldn't get in touch with the real acolyte on Eelong. I guess they could've gone to the guy who was the previous acolyte on Second Earth and asked him for some names, but he's pretty grumpy and not helpful. Either way, I loved getting one long narrative with everyone attempting to save Eelong. It made the book super action-packed. Plus, we got to see Cloral again, which is always great.

Honestly... I don't have a ton more to say about the book. It's not my absolute favorite in the series, but I do think it has a really great plot. And I love that all of the characters band together to save Eelong. I hate that this spoilery discussion is so short, but that was really all I had to say about the book.

Favorite Quotes

Page 58: "Tell you what," I said. "I'm going back home, to Second Earth, where humans are humans and cats pee in a litter box. If this Seegen character wants my help, he can find me there. Let's see how he likes dealing with a world where he belongs in a zoo."

Page 125: Truth was, Mark was a terrible swimmer. But he put his faith in the fact that using the air globes was as easy as Bobby described. he wasn't going to let something silly like an irrational fear of a horrific death by drowning stop him from seeing Cloral.

Page 144: "I need something to write with," I said. I figured it was time to catch up with my journals. 
Kasha looked at me like I had just announced I was going to grow a second head.
"You can write?" she asked, not hiding her surprise.
"Amazing, but true," I answered snottily. "And I can count too. Want to hear?"

Page 174: There was nothing else to think about. I had already counted the stones in the walls (8,462), done every math problem i could think of, and even came up with my own lyrics to that old song "Smells Like Teen Spirit," since I never understood the real lyrics anyway. Tell me that's not desperate.

Page 259: The town was a strange oasis tucked into the mountains of nowhere. The only thing that would have made it more surprising was if there had been snow and a guy with a red suit who made toys and drove a sleigh.

Page 316: Boon added, "And we're not there yet."
"Hobey!" Spader exclaimed. "Let's be positive."
"Okay," Boon said. "I'm positive we're not there yet."
Spader laughed and said to Boon, "I like you, mate. When this is over I want to show you Cloral."
"You sure about that?" Courtney asked. "Can klees swim?"
"No, we can't," Boon answered. "Would I have to swim if I went to Cloral?"
Courtney, Mark, and Spader exchanged glances, and burst out laughing.

Page 259: "The sprinklers!" Bobby exclaimed. "On the light posts."
"They have sprinklers on light posts?" Courtney asked.
"What's a sprinkler?" Spader asked.



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!

I've also created a Facebook page for my blog, so if you want to check that out and like it, you can click HERE. I'll try to keep that pretty up-to-date with new posts and such.

Thanks for reading this! If you like my posts, don't forget to subscribe/follow, since it lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm doing. See y'all soon!

The Pendragon Adventure Book 4: The Reality Bug 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 a bittersweet success on First Earth, Bobby continues on to the territory of Veelox. The inhabitants of Veelox spend nearly all of their time in their individual, perfect, virtual realities. However, the outside world is not quite so perfect. Although Veelox's traveler, Aja, claims to be getting things under control, food is scarce and the land is a desolate wasteland. Bobby must uncover Saint Dane's plan and save the territory before its inhabitants destroy themselves.

Overall Thoughts

Non-spoiler section!

A lot of Pendragon fans say that this one is one of their least favorite books in the series. But I never really understood that, because it's one of my favorites! Because each book is set on a different territory, the books kinda fall into different genres. The Merchant of Death is mostly high fantasy, but The Never War is more historical fiction. The Reality Bug, however, is a mix of sci-fi and dystopian. And those two genres make me very happy.

Aja though... she really irks me. I feel like personality-wise, she's not very different from myself. We're both pretty confident in our intelligence and despise asking others for help. But those qualities don't necessarily add up to a good traveler. You have to know when to ask for help.

One thing that I really like about The Reality Bug is that you never quite know exactly what's going on. It leaves you confused a lot. And because it's crafted to confuse you, I really enjoy it.

I both love and hate the territory of Veelox. I think it's super interesting, but I would never, ever want to live there. It's kinda like with 1984. I think that the world is really interesting and well-constructed and I love learning all about it, but it would be a nightmare to live in. I love learning all about Veelox and their virtual reality, but I don't think I'd ever want to live there, even though the virtual reality is really tempting.

I also really enjoy Mark and Courtney's plot in this one. Finally, finally they get an interesting plot. I like both of them as characters, but I'm always sad when I reach the end of one of Bobby's journals because I know I'll have to read a chapter of them going  through their boring lives before getting back to the action. But this is when they actually start getting actually interesting and I loved it.

As far as rating, I'm going to give it at least a 4.5 out of 5. It might end up getting higher, but it's definitely at least a 4.5.

Spoilery Discussion!

I was so excited when Bobby went and got Loor to help him, and I loved how much sass she gave Aja. Speaking of Aja, I think she has no business being a traveler. She's a great phader but she isn't a good traveler. I can't remember whether or not she shows up later in the series, but I doubt it because she won't even leave Veelox. Compared to Loor, who is a really great traveler, Aja is useless. At least her heart is in the right place. Kinda.

That reminds me. Please tell me there's someone else out there who ships Bobby with Loor and not Courtney. Please? I get that Courtney was that girl he crushed on forever and she's totally beautiful and stuff, but... LOOR. She's loyal and strong and smart and just super awesome. Courtney is kinda... whiny. Especially in this book. I'm not saying that I dislike Bobby and Courtney as a couple. I like them. I just like Loor and Bobby better. Because LOOR.

Anyway, back to the actual book. Saint Dane was pretty absent in this book until the end, which I liked, because it gave Bobby a chance to work things out on his own without Saint Dane constantly trying to stop him. Saint Dane knew he'd won. This time, his plan was pretty much Bobby-proof. I really don't think that Bobby could've done anything to save Veelox. And honestly, I like that it wasn't a happy ending. So far, Bobby has managed to pull everything off, and when he defeats the Reality Bug with only 20ish pages left, you think he's done it again, but then Saint Dane pulls it out at the last second and it sucks. But at least for once, it wasn't predictable. And Saint Dane's win and the rules changing allows the books to get even more crazy and interesting. Again, I don't get why this is one of Pendragon fans' least favorites in the series. I think it's great.

Another reason why it's my favorite is, like I said, that Courtney and Mark actually get an important plot! I can't remember for sure, but I'm pretty sure that now that they're acolytes, they're going to continue having more interesting plots, which is great because like I said above, their stories tend to be a low point for me in the story.

I really like the sequences where they're inside Lifelight. Regardless of whether it's perfect or whether there are imperfections, I think it's a really interesting invention and like to see what everyone comes up with.

Overall, I just really like this book. It's always been one of my favorites in the series, and this re-read reminded me why I like it so much!

Favorite Quotes

Page 165: Loor looked right into my eyes and gave a little smile. That didn't happen often. Loor wasn't the smiley type. But when she did, it made my heart melt. It wasn't until I saw her again, here on her home territory of Zadaa, that I realized how much I had missed her.

Page 173: Loor pumped her legs and drove the guy backward, through the room and out of the portal. She finished him off by flipping him over her back into the waterfall, sending him plummeting into the fast-moving river.
I looked up at the Rokador guy who was operating the water controls. He didn't stop working, but gave me a nervous glance.
"You should see her when she's mad," I said to the scared guy. 
I thought the poor dude was going to faint. I hurried out of the room, jumping over the bodies of the groaning guards, and joined Loor on the ledge behind the waterfall. 
"Finished playing?" I asked. She gave me a sly wink and we were off. 

Page 174: Aja gave Loor an up and down once-over. She then said, "Is Loor a man's name or a woman's name?"
Ouch.
Loor answered,"It is the name of a legendary hero on Zadaa. A woman."
"Really?" Aja said. "What did she do that was so heroic?"
"She killed her enemies and ate them."
Aja's eyes opened in shock. She turned forward and clutched the wheel of the vehicle nervously. Loor looked at me and winked. She was kidding. Great. That's all I needed. 

Page 350: Loor and I had been through some hairy adventures but we were now connecting on a whole new level. I think they call it "normal." I always had a ton of respect for her. Now I felt as if I had found a friend. 

Page 352:"Thank you for coming to Veelox," I said. 
"Gratitude is unnecessary," she declared. "I am a Traveler."
"But I threw you into a pretty nasty situation without a whole lot of warning and... you are an amazing person, Loor."
I wanted to hug her, but she wasn't the sentimental type. So I was surprised when she reached forward and touched my cheek. It was a tender gesture. Something I never thought she was capable of.
"I feel the same about you, Pendragon," she said sincerely. "I am glad you are our leader... and my friend."



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!

I've also created a Facebook page for my blog, so if you want to check that out and like it, you can click HERE. I'll try to keep that pretty up-to-date with new posts and such.

Thanks for reading this! If you like my posts, don't forget to subscribe/follow, since it lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm doing. See y'all soon!

The Pendragon Adventure Book 3: The Never War 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 another successful defeat of Saint Dane and the devastating loss of Uncle Press, Bobby and his newest companion, Spader, follow Saint Dane to First Earth in an attempt to thwart his evil plans once again. But Saint Dane's plans to send 1930s Earth into chaos aren't quite so easy to uncover, especially when gangsters are constantly after you.

Overall Thoughts

Non-spoiler section!

I went into this one remembering what the "turning point" was, but not remembering which way it was supposed to play out. The only other thing I really remembered about the book was that it hadn't been one of my favorites in the series, but I didn't dislike it.

The one problem that I had with this book was that some of the characters' thought processes were totally illogical concerning the turning point. I'll go into more detail in the spoilery section, but Bobby, being from Second Earth and knowing things about the incident as well as about the future of Earth, should have figured out Saint Dane's plan really early on in the book. Like I said, I went into the book not remembering how the turning point was supposed to play out and was able to figure out what was really going on pretty quickly just through logic.

As I've said in past posts, my favorite territories tend to dictate which books I really enjoy in the series. As far as territories go, First Earth floats somewhere in the middle for me. In a fantasy series set in all of these fantastic worlds, being on Earth isn't quite as exciting. I want to be on one of the territories I didn't learn about in history class.

As far as the plot goes, it's ok. I think that may be why it's not necessarily my favorite. And I can't really pinpoint why I don't like it quite as much as the previous books. I don't think there was anything wrong with it. This is, I think, the shortest Pendragon book, and I feel like if the book didn't have the flawed logic I talked about earlier, it would be more successful plot-wise. However, it would be significantly shorter. Maybe the flawed logic was added in to make it a little longer? I don't know. Like I said, I'm not totally sure why I don't like this one quite as much.

As far as rating, I'm going to give it similar to The Merchant of Death. Maybe around a 4.25 or maybe just a 4. 

Spoilery Discussion!

So, as I was saying earlier, some of Bobby's logic annoyed me. Once it was mentioned, he remembered learning about the Hindenburg explosion. Therefore, if he was actually thinking, he would have realized that the explosion of the Hindenburg didn't send Earth into chaos. I can understand that his immediate reaction would be that Saint Dane was using the explosion to create chaos, but if he would've just thought about it for more than two seconds, he would have realized that nothing that had actually happened in the past would have sent Earth into complete chaos or Second Earth would have been affected.

I've never been on-board with there being more than one Earth. Earth shouldn't get multiple territories just because the main character is from there! Also, I have so many questions about the logistics of it. If a traveler, 10 years later in Second Earth, went to First Earth, would they still wind up in 1937? Or would it be 1947? And why are 1 and 2 so close in time? So, so many years have been neglected prior to 1937. Also, story-wise, I got kinda annoyed with Patrick discussing details about the 20th century so easily. That's like me giving a detailed account of something going on in 1000 BC. And yes, he has fancy computers and is a scholar, but he was discussing a 1969 football game. There's no reason for him to have that random knowledge stored up in his head. 

I really enjoyed the trip to Third Earth. It's probably my favorite part of the book. I think that the future that DJ MacHale has set up is a fairly unique one. While it is the very technologically advanced society of science-fiction, there are many differences. It's a very environmentally conscious world. People have discovered new ways to expand, such as living underwater, on the moon, and underground. I think this part of the world was really well done, because it seems like that would take a very long time to come to fruition. There are, however, a few things that I'm not sure were quite so well done. For example, there were still cars. 3000 years in the future, I'm pretty sure that they would have discovered a better way to travel. Logically, I also think that computers would be more advanced than they actually were. Also, the fact that trains/monorail were even used at all seems a little far-fetched. We're talking three thousand years. Like I said earlier, that's basically the time between us and the people living in 1000 BC. That's biblical times. Think how much technology has changed between now and then.

I was surprised at how much of the plot I'd forgotten. I forgot that there were gangsters. And the conflict between gangsters is literally the center of the entire book. I had also totally forgotten the role that Saint Dane played. I'd forgotten that he was Farrow, a gangster, and Zell for a brief bit. I forgot several other things, but the point is that I forgot nearly everything that happened in this book except that the explosion of the Hindenburg was the turning point. And at first, I couldn't even remember whether it was supposed to blow up or not. It was almost like I was reading it for the first time. Almost. 

Favorite Quotes

Page 1: The way things are going, I know what I want for my fifteenth birthday... the chance to have a sixteenth.

Page 48: "Is there anyone in this town who isn't a gangster?" Spader asked.
"I know three for sure," said Gunny. "You, me, and Pendragon.
"Swell," said Spader sarcastically.

Page 60: Spader said, "So maybe we should go over to Germany and talk to this Hitler fella."
I laughed at that. "You don't get it," I said. "We can't just go over to Berlin, knock on Adolf Hitler's door and say, 'Excuse me, Mr. Hitler, you don't know us, but we'd really like you to reconsider this Holocaust thing. Okey dokey?"

Page 64: "Then tell me about this World War Two. Is it really the natty-do you're saying?"
"Worse," I answered solemnly. "I don't know the words to describe how bad it was. If there's a chance we could stop it, it would be beyond incredible."
Spader stood up and smiled. "Right then! I have a sudden urge to pee. Not that I'm nervous mind you. I'm just... scared to death."

Page 112: The bodyguard sitting next to Rose went for his gun. But he was too late because just as he pulled the gun from under his jacket, Max Rose got slammed with a wave of tableware, flowers, and Bobby Pendragon, Undercover Traveler.

Page 121: Spader looked at me with a sick expression," If I fall out, pull this ring?" he repeated. "What happens then? I sprout wings and fly?"

Page 183: I don't know how long the trip took. Actually, now that I think of it, it took around three thousand years. Time sure flies when you're having flume.

Page 253: A few times I looked back to check on Gunny. The poor guy was having a rough time. His face looked green, but he still have me a brave thumbs up. At one point I wondered if gunny thought the thumbs up meant "I'm going to puke again," because that's pretty much all he was doing.


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!

I've also created a Facebook page for my blog, so if you want to check that out and like it, you can click HERE. I'll try to keep that pretty up-to-date with new posts and such.

Thanks for reading this! If you like my posts, don't forget to subscribe/follow, since it lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm doing. See y'all soon!

Pendragon Book 2: The Lost City of Faar 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 successfully defeating Saint Dane in Denduron, Bobby and Uncle Press follow him to the territory he has escaped to- Cloral. Cloral is a world made up completely of water, and rather than having land, there are floating cities called habitats. But, upon arriving on Cloral and meeting up with Press's friend, Spader, they find that Cloral seems to be doing just fine. But things may not be exactly as they seem.

Overall Thoughts

Non-spoiler section!

In my last post, I said that I didn't remember much about The Lost City of Faar. That's both true and false. I remembered a lot about the world and a lot about Spader. It was the plot that I couldn't remember. I remembered maybe 2 plot points, but nothing else at all. This second (at least, I think it's only the second time) read reminded me why I really like this book. I'll have to get through the entire series before I make a definitive statement, but Cloral is definitely one of my favorite territories, if not my absolute favorite. It's such a cool world and DJ MacHale does such a great job making it come to life.

Along with that, Spader is one of my favorite characters in the series. He has so many really great qualities along with being just a really pleasant person in general.

Although The Lost City of Faar and The Merchant of Death are about the same length, The Lost City of Faar seems like a much quicker read than Merchant of Death. I guess this could be because in Merchant of Death, we not only learn a lot about everything, but also get a ton of action, whereas Lost City of Faar is less action, more adventure. Which I fine with me, because I've always been more a fan of adventure than action.

Lost City of Faar is also a really important turning point in the books. I obviously won't say why right here since this is the non-spoiler section, but some of the events in this book cause a huge turning point for Bobby continuing on into the rest of the series, and it's definitely great to see the way that Bobby responds to it.

As far as rating, because I really love the territory and the characters and the adventure, I'll go with a 4.5 out of 5 for now. As always, this could change for my final ratings, but that's where it is for right now.

Spoilery Discussion!

I know I said this about both Loor and Alder, but Spader is one of my favorite travelers. A lot of my favorite travelers are introduced fairly early in the series. I had actually forgotten that Spader accompanied Bobby in to the next territory. I remembered him being in more of the series and being a bit of a sidekick for Bobby, but I couldn't remember if it was immediately after Cloral. And I still can't remember how long he's with Bobby. Like I said, it's been a really long time since I read these books. I read most of them in 7th grade, then read books 7 &8  when book 8 came out, and then the last two when they were released. So it's been quite a while. I remember people and places but all of the plots are fuzzy.

As I said, I really like Cloral. That would be a really cool territory to visit. But I also enjoy the adventures they have while on Cloral. And the gadgets that Cloral has are really cool. And, of course, the city of Faar being totally hidden for centuries and centuries is also cool. Saint Dane also got pretty sneaky on Cloral. In Denduron, we saw him pretending to be two people, but this time we got three. I had totally forgotten that he impersonated one of the scientists, as well as the scene where he took the form of an aquaneer to get out of the brig. I'd forgotten how many different forms that Saint Dane took. Also, it seems like my question has been answered- Saint Dane clearly doesn't always have the blue eyes. However, it seems like he retains the blue eyes for whatever main villain he's impersonating, but whenever he actually doesn't want Bobby to know who he is, he'll change his eye color.

One of my favorite scenes in the book is when Bobby takes Spader to Zadaa to talk to Loor. Like I said in my last post, I used to not like Loor, but she's now one of my favorite characters. She's always there when Bobby needs her. Always.

And, we have the turning point of the entire series- the death of Uncle Press. Uncle Press's death always makes me thing of Dumbledore's death. Both are the only real mentors that the main character has, and their death shows that the main character is now on his own and has to solve his problems by himself. I think that's why, on my first read-through, I was shocked that Uncle Press died. I think I knew it would happen at some point in the series, but I don't think anyone expected it that early in the series. And it was just so sudden.

I haven't talked a ton about Mark and Courtney up until this point. Obviously, their plot isn't as exciting as Bobby's. I don't really remember a ton about their plot throughout the rest of the series, although I do remember bits and pieces. But I do know that their plot throughout this book is frustrating. Mitchell is just so annoying and I wanted him to go away. I had totally forgotten about Mark and Courtney tricking him, but I still wasn't sure why that was necessary. Once Mitchell had started claiming that the pages had come through some magic passageway in Mark's ring, the police would've just thought he was some crazy kid. Either way, their little trick worked, so yay.

Favorite Quotes

Page 58: "Nice of you to say, Press," replied Spader. "Last one to Grallion buys the sniggers?"
"Snickers?" I said. "They have candy bars here?"
"Sniggers, Bobby. It's a drink," answered Uncle Press

Page 71: A small grocery store was next to a small library and that was next to a shop that carried a little bit of everything from tools to toys to cookware. On Second Earth we had a name for this kind of store. Target.

Page 172: Unfortunately nobody else in the stadium was as excited as I was. Here I was jumping up and down like some crazed fan from the Cleveland Browns Dog Pound, and everyone else was just sat there, watching me, wondering who this idiot was who had lost control. Every eye in the stadium was on me, including the warriors down on the field. I felt like a total imbecile.
"Is this a custom where you come from?" asked Spader, who was just as surprised at my enthusiasm as everyone else in the stadium.
.........
She didn't even know who I was. I felt horrible. Then, a moment later, I saw it in her eyes. She finally recognized me; that's when something happened that I never would have expected. It was so shocking that I no longer cared about being embarrassed. It just didn't matter anymore, because as she stood there breathing hard, Loor looked up at me and smiled.

Page 236: If I had only one sentence to describe what it was like to be a Traveler, it would be this: "Just when you think you've seen it all... you haven't."

Page 309: "You want to know what I think?" I asked Saint Dane. "I think if you truly knew what was going to happen, if you really believed this was all part of your plan and that you couldn't be beaten, then you wouldn't keep begging me to join you."
Saint Dane blinked. I saw it. I had hit a nerve.
"What do I think?" I added. "It might not be here, it might not be today or even on this territory, but for the first time since I met you on Second Earth, I think that when this is all over, I'll be the one who's beaten you... because that is the way it's supposed to be."

Page 343: "Okay," I said, not really understanding. "What will stop his quest?"
Uncle Press didn't answer at first. I wasn't sure if he didn't want to tell me, or he didn't know. Finally he said:
"It won't end until he thinks he's won. That's when he'll fail.

Page 350: "I've told you there is only one Traveler from each territory," he said. "You never asked why there were two from Second Earth."
He was right. I never did. I don't know why, but the thought never crossed my mind. It was so obvious, but I never thought about it. Or maybe I didn't want to.
"Are you going to tell me?"
"The answer is, there can't be two Travelers from Second Earth. I knew my time was short. That's why I brought you from home. It was your time. It was Loor's time, and Spader's too. You are the next Travelers."
..........
"I'll tell you something else," he said. "You are the last. All that has gone before is prelude. The fight is yours. You will take it to the end. You are the last Travelers."

Page 360: I seriously thought about getting back to Second Earth and hiding under your bed, Mark. You could feed me leftover mac and cheese, nobody would know where I was, and I'd never have to think about anyone named Saint or Dane again.


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!

I've also created a Facebook page for my blog, so if you want to check that out and like it, you can click HERE. I'll try to keep that pretty up-to-date with new posts and such.

Thanks for reading this! If you like my posts, don't forget to subscribe/follow, since it lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm doing. See y'all soon!

Pendragon Book 1: The Merchant of Death Discussion [Summer Reading Challenge]

Hey, y'all! I'm here with another summer reading challenge post! I've finally reached 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

Bobby believes he's a normal fourteen-year-old kid. One day, however, his Uncle Press shows up from out of the blue and insists that Bobby accompany him on a mission to help a group of people. What Bobby didn't realize was that these people live in an alternate territory (or dimension) called Denduron. Bobby learns that his Uncle Press is a Traveler, a person tasked with the duty of maintaining balance within all of the territories (referred to as Halla). When he arrives at the territory of Denduron, he discovers that Saint Dane, an evil, shape-shifting traveler, is attempting to cause the territory to fall apart into chaos, and that Bobby is one of the only people who can stop him.

Overall Thoughts

Non-spoiler section!

It's been quite a while since I've read this series, so it's nice to get back into it and to read it for the first time in at least 5 years. What I noticed immediately was that it definitely read like a fourteen-year-old was speaking. That's both good and not so great. Obviously, Bobby is fourteen and so it needs to sound like he's fourteen, but there were moments when it was a bit over-the-top. Most of the time, I really enjoyed Bobby's voice. He's a pretty humorous narrator. There were a couple moments, however, when I thought that something he said seemed to be kinda... dumbed-down. Like an adult was trying just a touch too hard to sound like a fourteen-year-old.

One thing that I appreciate about Bobby as a character is how he reacts when thrust into this new fantasy world. A lot of times in fantasy books where the main character discovers something magical or supernatural, they react rather illogically. Rather than being shocked or confused or skeptical, they just kinda accept this totally illogical thing to suddenly be fact. But not Bobby Pendragon! Bobby is confused. Bobby panics. Bobby asks 20 million questions. Bobby tries to run away. Bobby insists that something's gone wrong and that he should really be back in New York. He reacts as any real fourteen year old guy would.

I've noticed that I tend to prefer the Pendragon books set in the territories that I find most interesting. Denduron falls somewhere in the middle for me. I like it, but not as much as some of the other territories. But it's certainly not my least favorite. It's almost got a kinda medieval thing going on. Kinda. It's interesting, to say the least.

When comparing this first book in its series to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, I tend to think that this is a better opener. Now, I'm not saying this is a better book than Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It's not (obviously). However, I do feel that Merchant of Death does a better job of setting the tone for its series. The first two Harry Potter books (and the first one especially) have a pretty different tone from the rest of the series. Merchant of Death, however, is action-packed and exciting from cover to cover with minimal info dumps, and that definitely gives us a good insight into what the whole series will be like.

As far as rating, I'm not quite sure. I feel like it's going to fall somewhere between a 4.25- 4.5 out of 5, but I'm just not totally sure. For now, I'll just go with 4.25 and see if I feel differently when I get to my series discussion.

Spoilery Discussion!

Let's talk about Alder. I guess this isn't really spoilery, but we don't really find out who he is until we're around 100 pages in, so I figured I'd put it down here. Alder is one of my favorite travelers. He's kinda that lovable, bumbling sidekick, but at the same time he's a warrior and can fight. I've always just really liked him. And speaking of people I like: LOOR. The first time I read the series, it took me a really long time to warm up to Loor. But in the end, she became one of my favorite characters in the series. Yes, she's a great warrior, but she's smart, headstrong, and independent. Even though it takes her a little while to come to like Bobby, I love the friendship that they form and maintain throughout the series.

At this point, I'm just the tiniest bit confused about Saint Dane's power of changing his appearance at will. In my mind (not sure why) I thought that his eye color never changed, and that's how Bobby knew who he was pretending to be. However, while Saint Dane was transformed into Figgis, he didn't have those blue eyes. So clearly he is able to change his eye color as well. I guess I'll have to wait and see how that works (especially since I remember literally nothing about the plot of The Lost City of Faar)

I was surprised at how much of the plot that I had forgotten. I couldn't really remember anything past Osa's death. I remembered that tak was the problem and that Bobby's items ended up causing problems, but apart from that, I couldn't remember anything. I guess that's partially because this is a pretty action-packed book. There's always something going on, and it makes for a plot that is completely packed with events and scenes.

Also, quigs were said to be animals that Saint Dane used to keep Travelers away from the flumes. However, the normal people of Denduron clearly know about them and use them, although the dogs on Second Earth seem to be solely used for guarding the flume. That makes me wonder what these animals actually are on Denduron. Or maybe the people just call them quigs. Also, they have yellow eyes no matter what form they take, which makes me think of Saint Dane's eyes that (from my memory, except for Figgis) remain a piercing blue regardless of the form he takes.

Overall, this book was a nice re-read. It's the book I'm the most familiar with and remember the most, so it'll be fun to get into the ones I remember less.

Favorite Quotes

Page 29: "Bobby, the door!"
Right! The door with the star and the abracadabra. Got it.
Well, at least he got the right word eventually. Abracadabra wouldn't have helped much.

Page 48: "Bobby, I know you're confused about-"
"Confused? Confused doesn't begin to cover it!" I stormed over to the mouth of the tunnel and screamed, "Denduron. Denduron!" I'd say anything to get out of there. But nothing happened.
"This is Denduron. We're already here," he said as if that were supposed to make sense.
"Okay then," I looked into the tunnel and screamed, "Earth! New York! The subway! There's no place like home!"
C'mon, Bobby, you're in Denduron, not Oz.

Page 54: "I hope you know how to drive this thing," I said.
"Hold on tight," was his answer. Yeah right, like I planned on waving my hands in the air like on a roller coaster. Give me a break.
Such a sarcastic jerk. But I love him.

Page 280: Whenever you look back and say, "If," you know you're in trouble. There's no such thing as "if." The only thing that counts is what really happened, and the truth was that every chance I got, I screwed up. Even when I thought I had done something good, it always turned out bad.
Bobby got so close to getting deep.

Page 297: Alder then spun around and ran back toward the Milago village. Now it was just the three of us. The warrior, the boss, and the kid who was so scared he had to pee. Guess which one I was?
This quote actually made me lol. That's literally the epitome of Bobby.

Page 302: I felt like I needed to say something important, but the only thing that came to mind was, "I really wish you had let me go to that basketball game." Okay, maybe not the most eloquent last words, but it was how I felt.

Page 357: Of course! I should have known! Quigs on Second Earth are monster dogs, quigs on Denduron are monster bears, and quigs on Cloral are monster sharks. It was so simple. Everybody knew that. Mental note to self: Stay away from Cloral. 
Good luck with that one, Bobby. Guess where you're headed next?


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!

I've also created a Facebook page for my blog, so if you want to check that out and like it, you can click HERE. I'll try to keep that pretty up-to-date with new posts and such.

Thanks for reading this! If you like my posts, don't forget to subscribe/follow, since it lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm doing. See y'all soon!