Customer Reviews

Pendragon (Boxed Set): The Merchant of Death; The Lost City of Faar; The Never War

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The popular Booby Pendragon is a normal kid until he his peculiar Uncle Press showed him a "flume" a portal that allows "travelers" to travel to different dimensions.

Of course there is no story without an evil villian, and that's where Saint Dane comes in. As you probably can guess Saint Dane wants to control all of "halla" which is everything that ever is, was, or will be.

The traveler's mission is to defeat Saint Dane, and all travelers have special powers. Travelers can only die when it was meant to be. Travelers heal extremely quickly. Every language spoken sounds like a traveler's costumary language. Saint Dane can transform into any creature he wishes.

This is the greatest series of books. It is well writen, very detailed, and most of all a great series of stories. Anyone who reads these books will become fans quickly, as the magic that D.J. Machale has written pull you into Pendragon

(I pressed "chilkdren's review" by accident)

Many of them were reading below grade level, and only read if forced to.
The day I first started reading Merchant of Death in class, their interest and attention was immediate. What 8th grader WOULDN'T be interested in a book that starts with making out?
After reading the first book aloud in class, I ordered 9 of these box sets for eager and demanding students wanting to find out what happened next. As enough people started reading them, a "Pendragon is cool" culture became acceptable within the "It's cool to be apathetic and hate reading" culture, and even more kids started reading them. The Pendragon series is extremely appealing to this age group, and is a great way to throw the lifeline of recreational reading to those drifting out to sea.
I will not kid you and tell you these books have immense literary value. They are, however, fast paced, suspenseful, and entertaining. MacHale should be congratulated on creating a series that appeals to readers and nonreaders alike.

Hobey ho, folks!

Vaguely reminiscent of Animorphs, the Pendragon books are light reading, but enjoyable nonetheless. It should be noted that these books demand that you don't think about them too hard. Nitpicky people who want their fantasy to be anything in the realm of believable should steer clear. By believable I obviously don't mean "realistic." Pendragon is based on a teen's travel through time and space in a hunt for an evil demon. Rather, I mean there's nothing to make discriminating readers feel that the world they're reading about is something tangible enough to spend their precious time exploring.

The first three books in the series, included in this set, are in my opinion the best. "The Merchant of Death" is a gripping, intriguing, fast-paced novel that is more imaginative and mature than those that follow it; like the original Matrix movie, it is the least flashy but also has the most enigmatic and breathtaking plot; it contains none of the pretension or drabness that threaten to well up in later parts of the chronicle. "The Lost City of Faar" involves a Waterwold-style setting and a hackneyed but still very fun storyline. "The Never War," involving time travel to 1930's NYC, is probably my favorite book in the series. This is odd because I'm usually much more interested in extraordinary fantasylands like those in the first two books than some boring trip to the `30's, but "The Never War" is exciting and introduces Gunny, a very appealing character.

The more recent fourth and (especially) fifth entries are not so hot, as author MacHale becomes cocky and starts running out of ideas at the same time. But you won't have to commit to them here! Hypothetically, though, let's say you buy this item and read the three books included (which you darn well better do! right now!). Some advice:

If you *love* these books go ahead and buy the rest.
If you're not exactly enthralled but enjoy these books somewhat, don't waste your time with the rest of the books. Or else you should further test the waters with book 4, which is pretty good.
If you hate these books, you either have bad taste or no idea what you want in a story.

A creative reader can come up with a better plot path for the series than the last book has presented. It's sort of disappointing. BUT that's a nonissue if you're just looking at this set, which includes three great books. Like sci-fi? Buy these books now. It's a great price. I swear I don't work for Amazon, the publisher, or the author. Come on. Add it to the cart.

I finally finished all three books!

When I first started this, I didn't like it that much and thought it was slow. I also didn't like the way it was written, using Bobby's journals to tell the story. I kept on going and after 70-80 pages or so, I was hooked. I got used to the way it was written and actually liked it because it allowed me to go back and forth between the worlds with ease. The idea of being a Traveller is awesome. I just really enjoyed this book and I like how it is a continuous story not just one isolated adventure in each book. MacHale's way of writing really allowed me to see the different worlds. I really felt like I was in Denduron running through the forest. I strongly suggest this book to anyone who is a fan of Harry Potter or Artemis Fowl. Go out and get Pendragon!

3/19/06

I just finished the second book, it is just as good as the first. In Cloral we learn more about the Travelers and what is meant to be. I thought the world was described perfectly once again. Sometimes I felt like I was actually swimming or riding a skimmer. I like the world of Cloral more then Denduron. It just seemed like a more fun place to me. Spader is a great character, I look forward to seeing him more in the next chapter of this series.

4/21/06

This was another fun adventure for Bobby. It was cool to learn about Third Earth and how the the events on First Earth effected all the other Earths. Gunny is a new lovable, loyal character that adds another demension to the Traveler. I thought the plot in this one was a little anti-climatic though, it just seemed too simple. The issues that Bobby has with Spader finally came to the surface and it will be interesting to see how Spader is after some time off.

Book 2 was my favorite out of the trilogy by far. I am going to take some time off and read other books before I read another one of these. Sometimes long serieses can be overplayed and I want to keep the idea of being a Traveler fresh.

This book is action filled with quig attacks,wars and explosions from tak bombs.They are on an island with giant mine shafts that go down for what seems like forever and a huge castle were the bedoowans live.The milago live in shacks.The bedoowans are useing the milago for slaves and make them mine glaze for kagan.It's for people who love action.

First of all, to refute the reviewer who spoke of profanity. We do not use profanity in my family either and I can't think of any profanity that was in this series. Actually, there is one word used, and while we choose not to say "The name of the Lord in vain" in my family and get offended hearing others say it, I was grateful at least that was the only extent of the profanity. It was used by people in the same way millions of people use it daily and wasn't overused, it was used primarily to add emphasis to the intensity of what was going on. At least it wasn't some of the other garbage words that people use now days. It was easy to ignore it, like I said, it took me a minute to even recollect it's use.

My son got me hooked on these books. We recently moved to India and I was dying for something to read. His friends introduced this series to him and after watching him choose to read these books over video and computer games, as well as TV, I knew I had to give it a shot. I was impressed. It constantly keeps a good flow of movement and action. Like my son, I had a hard time putting this down. We have always been Harry Potter fans, and I dare say I think this series is even better.

I will admit the first book was a little dry, but that is to be expected when reading the first book of a series, there is a lot that needs to be introduced. In the ensuing books, the introductions are very small and fast as to be expected.

this series is one kids read. I have three and they love it. The only problem I'm currently having is getting them to get to bed on time due to their desire to finish the book. Oh well, I suppose I could have worse problems.

Overall, for kids this series is great. It's a bit below my standards, later on it gets better, but they really don't care, the story line and action is what has drawn them in. Good work!!

**A book I would also recommend is The Unsuspecting Mage by Brian S. Pratt. This, the first installment of The Morcyth Saga is a great beginning for a new author. Battles, magic, gods, secret passages and intrigue, all the elements of a classic epic fantasy! Any fantasy reader will enjoy it.

I purchased this set for my son's 13th birthday and he loved it. He's an avid reader anyway, but couldn't wait until we could go and get the next book in the series.

I think these books are totally brilliant. They're funny, clever, entertaining and imaginative. They're written in a really cool way too, you can really believe it's a kid writing, not an adult.
You get to know the characters really well and you care about what happens to them.
They're good for reading in one long stretch on a plane, or a chapter a night (that's kind of hard though since it's really difficult to put it down!!)
I really recommend this book to anyone!

I will say I lied on the rating. It isn't a five star book. but they didnt have +10000000 stars, so i went with the highest. lol :)
I love this series. I can't explain...
But I have a need for this series. It is definitly my favorite series ever. The last one that was written the Sixth left off on this major cliffhanger. But this series is excellent. It should be the first thing you read. It would be a great summer series, if you don't read a lot. you may finish it in a week though, because it is that addicting. trust me. a great series you don't want to let slip through your fingers. It's mainly about this teenager who has to save territories, which are like planets, from this villian named Saint Dane. it's not about dragons..so don't get thrown off by that if you don't like dragons.