Customer Reviews

Raven Rise (Pendragon)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I thought it was a good thing that I had picked up my first Pendragon book about 3 months ago. I thought well, lot of them are out already, I will not have to do the wait like I had to do for Deathly Hallows.

I was so wrong.

This ninth book in the series is truly amazing read. I had a hard time keeping it down after I received it from Amazon. The book moves very fast, although, I found a lot of explanation about things from past books, which gets boring specially when you want to read at like 100 miles an hour (if there is such a thing!). I think that could have been avoided. Ties in very well with the series, but is slightly depressing as well (you will know what I mean when you read the book).

If you havent read any books in the series, I would highly recommend start from the first one and be ready for the last book to come out (Dont know when, but I am guessing fo the benefit of promotion/ fan fare it will not be within the next 12 months).

I dont want to give any spoliers here, but I think it would have been slightly better if this book would have left the readers slightly more educated about the mysteries of travellers and halla. It is just leaving out too much for the last instalment....kind of makes the whole series last instalment heavy. Just my view...probably that works for all writers.

And it does end at a very nail biting note...you will be left on tenterhooks wanting to know- WHAT NOW? WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? So be ready with a lot of theories and speculation like we have seen in the past- Is snape evil?

Hobey-Ho!

This installment of Pendragon is both exhilarating and disappointing all at the same time. There is so much going on and so much to take in from the past books that the bulk of adventure from any one territory is muted, which disappoints me because I love the individual experiences on each of the territories. I still am lingering on the past descriptive genius of unique territories such as Cloral and Eelong! The cool part is that the story line all still works well and I could not put this book down. I am definitely left with more questions than answers, which leaves a tall order for finishing out the series.

Bobby Pendragon is now grown and his decisions have not gotten any easier. The bond of friendships are still what make him such an endearing and flawed character. Halla is pretty chaotic and things are not as they are meant to be. That premise drives the book, shakes up former realities and brings us one step closer to understanding what is really going on in this Matrix-like world of adventure.

You have to read this book! Please make sure you read all of the others first, though, as not doing so is pointless. DJ MacHale has done it again and I can't wait for the finale!

Hobey Ho, One Mo!

Everyone knows about Harry Potter, Eragon, and Artemis Fowl. But whenever I ask anyone if they've read Pendragon, I get a funny look. No one I know has even heard of it. That's unfortunate, because it is one on the best fantasy series ever.

The plot goes something like this: Bobby Pendragon is a fairly normal boy. One day his Uncle Press picks him up and whisks him off to another dimension. He learns that he is a Traveler, one of a special group that can travel through space and time by using a "flume", a sort of tunnel that transports them quickly from place to place. The Travelers have to battle the evil Saint Dane and stop him from turning the dimensions, or territories, to chaos.

I'm no sucker for any fantasy book. Harry Potter really was original. Fowl was too. Eragon, not as much, but it was still enjoyable. However, books like Charlie Bone (seemed like a complete HP ripoff to me) displease me. Pendragon is completely original. It's a stunning mix of science fiction and fantasy, magic and dark matter. While some book series' with the general plot of "they travel to territories all over space and time" might have the cliche "dino worlds" and "future robot world", D.J. MacHale keeps the territories new and exciting. The characters are also not generic; they have many sides and you really end up caring about them.

The only thing some people might find wrong is the writing style. D.J. is a TV guy. He's written several teleplays. Naturally, reading this book is like watching a TV show. Bobby Pendragons journals feel like separate episodes, and the plot lines changing from Mark and Courtney in First Earth to Bobby on Ibara keep it flowing. The style also makes the book much easier to visualize, which I think is key for a book. MacHale is descriptive in all the right places.

Now onto this specific book. This is the best Pendragon book. Hands down. It has the worst villains (Naymeer and Nevva are amazingly terrible in this book) while giving SD an almost human side. He actually believes all he is doing is right. Also, Travelers like Patrick and Alder are given a chance to shine for once, and shine they do. And by the end, you'll be yearning for the last book.

The best part about these books is the intensity. The stakes always feel high, and the pages keep on turning. For some reason, Pendragon has never caught on like HP or Fowl. You don't see any fan sites devoted to the books. But they deserve the acclaim, and you should help give it to them.

Bobby Pendragon has grown up. It's been such a difficult ride for the young man who didn't ask for the job of Lead Traveler. He wants to understand who he is, why he is in this seemingly endless battle with Saint Dane, and why he can't just give up. Book Nine finds Bobby enjoying his retirement. The flumes of Ibara and Veelox are buried under rocks and concrete. Saint Dane is trapped. Bobby misses his friends and fellow travelers, but he feels like he's made the ultimate sacrifice to safeguard Halla.

He must also admit that, to be honest, there were selfish reasons for staying on Ibara. He was tired of the battle. He didn't want to do this anymore. He just didn't understand who all his enemies were.

The first part of the book went just a little slower than I liked. Too many pages of Bobby being happy on Ibara, too many descriptions of Bobby finding Dado body parts to throw into the sea, of how he was building new homes and rebuilding Ibara in general. Maybe this was supposed to help build tension for later on when he realizes that everything was not as perfect as he thought (I mean, this is not a spoiler: there's still one more book to go, for goodness sake!) But for building tension? That didn't work.

On the Pendragon website I read on some of the message boards that people think this book is a "filler" book, that the author contracted to write a certain number of books and this one was sort of unnnecessary (I have to agree that dedicating pages and pages to fighting with quigs was over the top). A lot happens in this book, too much to be considered totally filler. (Still, the book could have been shorter by condensing a lot of that early stuff, or keep the book this length and advance the story a bit more. I'm afraid the final book will be too packed.)

We still have lots of questions: how come Saint Dane and Nevva Winter can change shape? Couldn't the other travelers conceivibly do the same? Or are Saint Dane and Nevva different somehow? How come Saint Dane knows so much more than the other travelers? Did the previous generation of travelers have those same abilities but they didn't pass the knowledge along to the final generation? Who is behind it all? And so on, and so on, and so on.

Looking forward to the final book.

The title says it all. I have been reading the Pendragon series since the beginning, and honestly this one isn't as good as the others. The story line itself is set on second earth, our time, and I like where the book goes, and this battle was the best of them all, in my opinion. The thing is, though, the book is written badly. The others were just so vivid and you were actually surprised by who Saint Dane was, but now I feel like too much is given away and is being written by a child. I will still pick up the next book, which shall be the last, only to read the ending, but if the next wasn't last i wouldn't bother reading on...

RAVEN RISE is a wonderful addition to the PENDRAGON series. It is just as exciting as the rest and keeps you wanting more. I had a hard time putting it down and there is no way that I will not be purchasing the next one so I can find out what happens next!

RAVEN RISE is about a Traveler named Bobby Pendragon. Now eighteen, his struggle to save Halla is harder than ever, and everything he's ever done has come down to this. He must save Halla from an extremely evil man, Saint Dane, who is trying to merge all of the worlds into one.

Saint Dane is not only trying to mix territories, which is something that Travelers are not supposed to do, but he is also trying to create the perfect group of people who will follow under him. What will he do with the "not perfect" people? He will take care of them.

Saint Dane plans on controlling all of Halla, and he will decide what he thinks is right for the people of the territories. He believes he is doing right by deciding people's destinies for them and not letting them make their own decisions. Pendragon, on the other hand, thinks that people should make the decisions of their lives on their own.

The battle is on in RAVEN RISE. The battle for Halla. The internal battle of Bobby Pendragon. The battle of the people of the territories. And the battle between Saint Dane and Pendragon. This is what it is all coming down to.

Reviewed by: Shyanne

The last 3 to 4 chapters of this book are the best of the whole series. Honestly, this book, if you've read the past ones, is a must read.

There isn't an introduction of a whole lot of information but there are times in the book where new things are learned. You'll start to notice that some of the things said in the past book were really [really] important yet did not seem like it at all. At some points of the, the past books that is, some of the things said seem meaningless- nothing but politeness. But, reading this book- with the help of it being pointed out that this has been said before- you'll find out that wasn't so.

Read it!

My boys are reading each of the books in this series and really enjoying them. They are 13 and 18 and believe me, getting something for the 13 year old to actually sit down and read is not an easy task. Fantastic books - I hope the writer continues the series. The boys are reading them as fast as they are published.

I'm a devoted Pendragon fan, so I enjoyed this book and can't wait for Book Ten. But this segment of the series fell a little flat for me for several reasons. First, the story jumps from place to place, from character to character, which makes it hard to embrace the storyline and feel fully involved. A lot of head hopping. The turning point is on Second Earth, but much of the novel occurs elsewhere. Secondly, the action is less riveting than previous books. Too many car rides and not enough jaw-dropping surprises. Thirdly, the author repeats himself. I thought I'd scream if I had to hear about Saint Dane's grand master plan one more time, told by one character to another. The characters kept acting shocked and horrified whenever they heard about the plan, but I was yawning, because I'd already heard about plan ... several times. Fourth, many chapters are not told in Bobby's first person voice; they are written in third person narrative, and the writing style in those chapters is very clunky and choppy. That choppy writing style works fine when it's Bobby's hip voice. But not when it's supposed to be a flowing narrative. So I thought the writing style was poor, except when it was Bobby's voice. I hate writing so many criticisms about my beloved Pendragon, because I truly adore the Pendragon Series. MacHale is a creative genius with many original ideas. The fans will love this book. But I hope Book Ten improves on some of these flaws. Especially the clunky writing style.

The Pendragon series has been a favorite of mine ever since my mom sent me the ARC of Merchant of Death my freshman year of college. I remember picking it up to kill the morning and getting sucked in from page one. Needless to say, I stayed in most of the day reading it. Expectations were high for Raven Rise, for I think the two books before this were very well done. I'm happy to say that Raven Rise went beyond my expectations.

We all knew that Bobby's actions at the end of the last book were going to royally mess up Halla, but, never did I think they would impact the whole of Halla as much as it. In Raven Rise we travel along with multiple travelers to different territories, seeing the vast changes in Halla from many different point of views.

The only problem that I had with the book, which might be a personal thing, was that there were some times where the constant narration grated on me. I wanted dialogue or some interaction between someone during some of the journal entries. That was only a minor problem, though.

Raven Rise is action packed, as always, but also has moments where it really gets to you at an emotional level, or at least, it got to me. DJ has again written a book where you could laugh and cry and throughly enjoy the entire ride.

4 stars from me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did