The Pendragon Adventure
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| Pendragon Box Set - Books 1-3 | |
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| Author | D.J. MacHale |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Young Adult, Fantasy |
| Publisher | Simon and Schuster & Aladdin |
| Publication date | 2002-2009 (Planned) |
The Pendragon Adventure is a fiction young adult book series of fantasy novels by D. J. MacHale. They follow the chronicles of Bobby Pendragon, a teenager who discovers that he, as well as his two best friends, Mark Dimond and Courtney Chetwynde, must try to save the universe. The first book, The Merchant of Death, was originally published in 2002 by Aladdin Paperbacks. The series has nine books thus far: The Merchant of Death, The Lost City of Faar, The Never War, The Reality Bug, Black Water, The Rivers of Zadaa, The Quillan Games, The Pilgrims of Rayne, and Raven Rise. Each book switches from a first-person perspective of Bobby's journals to a third-person narrative of other prominent characters. On his official site D. J. MacHale announced that the first graphic novel, based on the Pendragon series, would be released around the time of the 9th book. He also announced that a short series of books meant to be companions to the series will be released, the first of the companions to be released before the release of book ten.
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[edit] Plot overview
In the first book of the series, The Merchant of Death, Bobby Pendragon is leading a normal life in Stony Brook, Connecticut, where he is the star of Stony Brook Middle School's basketball team. When he is fourteen, his uncle, Press Tilton, takes him to an abandoned train station where he and Bobby travel through a portal through space and time called a flume. Bobby soon finds himself in a different territory — possibly a different version of history or a different world entirely — Denduron — where two important tribes are on the brink of a civil war because one tribe is forcing the other to work in mines. There Bobby discovers he was chosen to be a Traveler, a warrior of the universe to defeat Saint Dane, an evil villain who wishes to tip all of Halla (used to signify the entirety of everything that exists, has existed, or will exist, including persons, time, and space) into chaos so he can remake it according to his desire. To save it, Bobby must rescue ten territories from destruction (although at this point in the series it is unknown to Bobby how many territories there are in the first place).
Each territory has its own "turning point", which is a critical point in a territory's history in which the people must make an important decision. Saint Dane is trying to manipulate the people into making poor decisions, which would create chaos, while the Travelers are trying to help people make the right decision, which would create peace.
Bobby has visited all of the territories, and after Raven Rise, it seems that it's over and Saint Dane has won, because he has taken Second Earth. However, the book ends with the Travelers regrouping and preparing to take back Halla.
[edit] Travelers
A traveler is an individual from one territory who is chosen to try to save his or her territory when something goes wrong. They are also the only ones who know of the existence of flumes, other than their aides, who are called "acolytes". Only a Traveler may use a flume, or else the flume will deteriorate and eventually collapse. It is unknown who chooses whom to become a Traveler, and so far it has only been determined that they are born and raised for the purpose thereof. The Traveler before the individual who is chosen to be the next Traveler is the one who trains and introduces the successor to his or her new life. When a person is told that they are a Traveler, all traces of that person's existence disappear, including their families, except in the memories of those who knew that family or person. It is unknown as of yet where the families of travelers go, but the Travelers are reassured by their trainers that they remain alive.
There is one Traveler from each territory; at the time when there are two Travelers, the elder of the two will soon die. The previous Traveler, however, is allowed a certain amount of time in which to train the new Traveler in ways of judgment and responsibility. The purpose of the Travelers is to save Halla, a depiction of the universe, by pushing all "turning points", or historical moments that determine the territory's future, toward prosperity.
Every Traveler has special abilities. Many of the Travelers have demonstrated some of the following abilities at some time in the novels.
- Influence people's thinking through simple persuasion.
- Hear all speech (and see all writing) as their own tongue, although words that describe things individual to one territory do not change. (Omnilinguality)
- Recover from injuries that would kill any normal person very quickly.
- Heal someone or bring them back to life through sheer force of will.
- Travelers are also able to shapeshift into animals or other humans, though only Saint Dane and Nevva Winter are capable of this so far.
- In Raven Rise, Alexander Naymeer has the ability to activate the flume with his ring and allow regular people to travel between territories because of the Convergence. He can also project images of Halla from his ring. It is also revealed that the flumes are made of dark matter.
In The Quillan Games, Saint Dane claims that all travelers are illusions, explaining how they are able to use their "powers", how Saint Dane and Nevva Winter are able to change form, and how the travelers are able to use the flumes.
[edit] Status of the Territories
This is the current status of the territories in the battle for Halla.
- Denduron - Saint Dane's Victory
- Cloral - Traveler Victory
- First Earth - Traveler Victory
- Veelox - Saint Dane's Victory
- Eelong - Traveler Victory
- Flume destroyed in process
- Zadaa - Traveler Victory
- Quillan - Saint Dane's Victory
- Ibara - Saint Dane's Victory
- Third Earth - Saint Dane's Victory
- Second Earth - Saint Dane's Victory
[edit] External links
- Official website
- An interview with D.J. MacHale
- A more up-to-date interview with D.J.
- HallaWiki, a Pendragon wiki
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Sources: The Pendragon Adventure books.
