The Merchant of Death
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| The Merchant of Death | |
 Book Cover |
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| Author | D. J. MacHale |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Victor Lee |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Pendragon |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Aladdin |
| Publication date | September 1, 2002 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback & Hardback) |
| Pages | 372 pp (first edition, paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-7434-3731-4 (first edition, paperback) |
| Followed by | The Lost City of Faar |
The Merchant of Death is the first book in the Pendragon series by D. J. MacHale.
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
The story takes place in a "territory" (Universe separate from the "Second Earth" universe of the story, of which there are many.) called Denduron. Denduron has three suns, one to the east, the north, and the south, but besides that, it has most of the same characteristics as Earth. The story is based around two tribes: the Milago and the Bedoowan. The Milago are treated very poorly by the Bedoowan; they live in little huts without running water or even outhouses, and have to mine for a valuable stone called glaze every hour of the day in order to meet the demands of Kagan, the queen of the Bedoowan. If the Milago do not meet the required supply of glaze for each day, then one of them is killed by being pushed into an abandoned mine shaft. The Bedoowan have more advanced tools and technologies such as running water, stoves, and artificial light.
[edit] Plot summary
This book, the first of the series, is written as two different subplots happening at the same time. One subplot is Bobby's adventures in the territory of Denduron, but the story also tells of his friends back on Earth, Mark and Courtney, who read of Bobby's adventures in the journals he sends them.
The story starts when Bobby,who is living a life he is content with, is just about to leave his home to go to the state semi-finals for basketball, when Courtney, one of the most popular girls in his school, shows up on his front porch. After a passionate kiss between Bobby and Courtney, Bobby's Uncle Press comes and tells Bobby to come with him.
They drive on a motorcycle to a boarded-up subway station in the Bronx, where they meet the main villain, Saint Dane, whose dominant purpose is to destroy the barriers between the ten territories of Halla (the Travelers' name for every territory, every person, every living thing, every time there ever was and will be). Saint Dane is disguised as a cop but Uncle Press recognizes him and tells Bobby to run. Uncle Press shows Bobby a passage through space-time transport called a flume. He and Bobby travel to the territory of Denduron, where Bobby learns how he is not an ordinary fourteen-year-old boy, but a Traveler chosen to fight Saint Dane. Bobby meets Loor, the Traveler from Zadaa and Osa, the woman who raised Loor, who was attacked by Bedoowan knights and killed while taking Bobby from the mines, Alder, the Traveler from Denduron; Rellin, the chief miner of the Milago; and Figgis, a strange merchant who attempts to sell anything he can get his hands on.
When Bobby and Press arrive at Denduron, they change their clothing and find a bobsled, along with two spears and a dog whistle, left by the acolyte (a person native to a territory who aides the Travelers by leaving items such as clothing and means for transportation). Bobby and Press start their descent from the mountain, and they are attacked by twelve quigs (animals Saint Dane uses to patrol the gates of the flumes). They manage to live through the situation by using the dog whistle and the spears, but the sled crashes, and Press is kidnapped by Bedoowan knights. Bobby, Alder and Loor try to rescue him from the Bedoowan castle, armed with a backpack full of tools brought from Bobby's home, Second Earth, to make the job of rescuing Uncle Press easier, despite the warning Press gave Bobby that territories are not to be mixed (through items or otherwise). During this time, Bobby realizes that the Bedoowan live a luxurious and lazy life, as they listen to music, relax on pillows, and eat, attended by the pallid, taciturn Novans. Also, technologically speaking, the Bedoowan are light years ahead of the Milago with examples including dumbwaiters, running water, and artificial light. Bringing items from Second Earth turns out to be a mistake. While Bobby is sleeping in a mine ventilation shaft before the rescue attempt, Figgis had stolen a flashlight from Bobby's bag. When Bobby, Loor, Alder, and the newly rescued Press return to the Milago village, they discover that Figgis, the native merchant, had been selling tak, an unstable explosive that is to be used as a weapon to free themselves from Bedoowan rule. The final component to build a weapon that will destroy the Bedoowan (and probably all of the Milago village, though the Milago are willing to take that risk) is the battery and the switch from the flashlight, which Bobby accidentally supplied. Their plan was to present the tak bomb to the Bedoowan during the transfer ceremony (where the Bedoowan receive the glaze), disguised as a rather large mine cart of glaze, and destroy the remaining Bedoowan with smaller amounts of tak.
They manage to stop the chief miner Rellin from setting the bomb off, and all the Bedoowan and the Novans evacuate to a field, where the battle between the Milago and the Bedoowan is to take place. In the meantime, Bobby and Loor are faced with the task of getting rid of the bomb. Bobby finds out that tak dissolves in water. Thus, they dissolve the tak and spread the solution over the stadium field so it will not be able to detonate again in the short term, except for one small ball, which Bobby slips into his pocket. At this point, Figgis the merchant lures Bobby and Loor into the mines, where they find an immense supply of tak. They soon realize that Figgis is really Saint Dane. The real Figgis died when one of his own traps backfired. Disguised as Figgis, Saint Dane sold the tak to the Milago, urging them to rebel against the Bedoowan. At the same time, Saint Dane has disguised himself as Mallos, Queen Kagan's chief adviser, and had turned Bedoowan minds further against their neighbors. The traps that the real Figgis set trap Bobby and Loor with Saint Dane in the mine. Seeing it as the only way out, Bobby throws his small ball of tak at the large supply, which ignites the tak and will cause all of it to explode underground. Saint Dane escapes the impending destruction by using the flume in the mine to go to the territory of Cloral. He stops Bobby and Loor from following him by sending a high speed wave of water and a giant shark back through the flume. To make matters worse for Bobby, the water knocked Loor against the wall of the cavern, knocking her unconscious. Bobby just manages to escape the explosion by pushing a mine cart that held the unconscious Loor into the ocean through a ventilation shaft. When Bobby swims back to the shore and surveys the damage, they find that although there had been lots of destruction because of the explosion, most of the people are still alive, including Uncle Press and Alder. The castle, symbolic of Bedoowan rule over the Milago, falls into the ocean because of the force of the explosion, most of the Milago huts are destroyed, and the glaze mines are forever closed. Thus, the two tribes can use their best strengths to rebuild and improve each other's lives (Milago-farming and building and Bedoowan-engineering and chemistry).
Bobby travels back to Second Earth with Uncle Press, hoping to find his family and carry on with his former life. Unfortunately, he soon learns that his house and family have disappeared, leaving not even a trace to show that Bobby had once lived there, so he decides to travel to Cloral and continue his mission to avert Saint Dane's evil mission.
While all this is going on for Bobby, his girlfriend Courtney Chetwynde and their friend, Mark Dimond are on the receiving end of his Traveler journals, through a Traveler ring that Osa gave Mark in the middle of one night. Following the advice of Osa, Bobby and Loor are using their spare time to write logs of their journeys, which are sent to their respective home territories via the Traveler rings. These rings are made of the same stone which lines the flume; when the desired territory is named, the ring becomes a minuscule version of the flume, through which the journals are dropped.
Although initially reluctant to believe the astonishing story, Mark and Courtney accept it in time. They soon have no choice; Bobby's family, his home, and all record of his existence have vanished without a trace. Only memory remains.
When Bobby returns, he too must face this difficult fact. As his Uncle Press sets off for the territory of Cloral, Bobby goes with him to fulfill his duties as a Traveler.
[edit] Characters in "The Merchant of Death"
- Robert "Bobby" Pendragon - The main character of the story, a 14-year-old boy from Second Earth.
- Saint Dane - The villain of the story, an evil Traveler capable of shape-shifting. His goal is to bring chaos to Halla and re-build it for himself.
- Press Tilton - Bobby's uncle. A very experienced Traveler, who helps Bobby learn as he becomes one. He is one of the older generation of Travelers, so he is able to answer most of Bobby's questions.
- Mark Dimond - Bobby's best friend from Second Earth; described as a nerd with bad vision, long black hair that "always looks as if it should have been washed yesterday", and extremely intelligent.
- Courtney Chetwynde - Another of Bobby's friends from Earth; described as being very attractive, doing pretty well academically with the exception of math, and exceptional at sports.
- Loor - The traveler from Zadaa. She is described as an extremely attractive warrior. Loor travels to Denduron with her adoptive mother to help stop Saint Dane. She shuns Bobby because of her mothers death, but later makes up with him
- Osa - Loor's adoptive mother, who is also extremely attractive and a warrior.
- Alder - The Traveler from Denduron. Although he is a trained Bedoowan knight, he is concerned about the Milago and helps the rest of the Travelers whenever he can. He is described as being very clumsy and not very good looking.
- Kagan - The evil queen of the Bedoowan. It was mainly the fault of Kagan that the Milago have to live so poorly. Described as having an annoyingly high voice and is extremely obese. Was originally thought of as a man by Bobby because of her name.
- Rellin - The leader of the Milago miners, and later their revolution.
- Mallos - The adviser to Queen Kagan. He is Saint Dane in disguise.
- Figgis - A mysterious merchant. Later revealed to also be Saint Dane. The real Figgis died years ago according to Saint Dane. He is sneaky and always trying to sell any item he has.
[edit] Graphic Novel
A graphic novel of the Merchant of Death is planned, adapted and illustrated by Carla Speed McNeil. The release date is set for May 20th 2008, the same as Raven Rise.
A preview of Loor in the Graphic Novel can be found on the official website. It appeared after the update on December 11th[citation needed].
[edit] External links
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