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The Merchant of Death (Pendragon #1)

3.95 of 5 stars 3.95 · rating details · 17,137 ratings · 1,164 reviews

Bobby Pendragon is a seemingly normal fourteen-year-old boy. He has a family, a home, and even Marley, his beloved dog. But there is something very special about Bobby. He is going to save the world.

And not just Earth as we know it. Bobby is slowly starting to realize that life in the cosmos isn't quite what he thought it was. And before he can object, he is swept off to a...more

Paperback, 384 pages

Published September 1st 2002 by Aladdin (first published January 1st 2002)

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Jan 12, 2012 Stephen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebooks, fantasy, audiobook, retellings-reimaginings-and-mashes, knight-jobs, 2000-2005, ya

Not even something as terrifyingly cuddly as a trio of skydiving "ninja" cats could have won me over to this story.

However, fans of this book/series can keep their dander down as this is not going to turn rant as I have no reason or desire to bash this tale. My angries were not provoked. The writing is fine, the main character is fairly engaging, there’s a decent back-story and nicely drawn diabolical villain.

My less than lofty rating is more a recognition that this sub-genre of light, YA, com...more

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Mar 19, 2010 Ariana Deralte rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: action-adventure, fantasy

I wanted to enjoy this book because then I'd have several more good books to read after this one, but I was ultimately disappointed. I found the first person, diary pov grating and impossible to get into. The writing also came off as either uninspired or overly wordy when MacHale realized he needed a bit more exposition. Though actually, it was a lot of exposition since everything kept being repeated several times. On top of that, a lot of things happened in the plot just for the sake of the plo...more

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Jan 11, 2008 Osho rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2007

There are a number of books entitled "Pendragon" out there, including Lawland's Pendragon Cycle. You'd do best to search for this series by the name of each installment.

The Merchant of Death is the first in the series and sets the grounds for the rest of the series: Bobby Pendragon appears to be a typical popular young teenager, but discovers in a Gaiman-esque scene in an abandoned subway station that he is a Traveler, a sort of interworld, intertemporal good-guy who has a role in the battle bet...more There are a number of books entitled "Pendragon" out there, including Lawland's Pendragon Cycle. You'd do best to search for this series by the name of each installment.

The Merchant of Death is the first in the series and sets the grounds for the rest of the series: Bobby Pendragon appears to be a typical popular young teenager, but discovers in a Gaiman-esque scene in an abandoned subway station that he is a Traveler, a sort of interworld, intertemporal good-guy who has a role in the battle between good and evil. This premise is okay and generally well-executed. The device of having Bobby writing to his friends on magical parchment also works reasonably well.

The major problems with this first volume are the overuse of artificial-sounding teenager language in the narration, the formulaic feel of the plot, and implausible worldbuilding that decreases suspension of disbelief. To give two examples of the latter problem, one more throwaway and one more crucial: One of Bobby's earliest observations of Denduron is that it has three suns, which set simultaneously in three quadrants of the sky. Other than a chance convergence I don't see how this is possible. It has no relevance to the plot, so its only actual function is to irritate the reader. More critically, Bobby and his Uncle Press endure a dangerous and harmful journey from the subway to Denduron via a flume that deposits them atop a snowy mountain surrounded by evil creatures called quigs. Later it is revealed that there is a second flume, much more convenient to the village and with no mention of quigs. Apparently Uncle Press didn't choose this flume solely because the author needed Bobby and Press to be separated. This is poor plotting and not compelling.

I don't mean to be overly critical. This series is clearly beach reading, not enduring literature. It's entertaining enough, and judging by the reviews online, children enjoy it even when critics don't. The next few volumes should show whether this is a picaresque series in which a world is saved per volume, or whether a larger plot unfolds.
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Jun 09, 2008 Martinibeerman rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: young adults, teens and adults

Recommended to Martinibeerman by: Bryant

I just finished reading the first book in this series and I am excited to have 7 more to plough through! I realize that few can come close to the genius of J.K Rowling, but I had hoped that this series would. While I am thoroughly enjoying reading them (I just started the second book,) the set-up is far too obvious. I appreciate when an author tries to take the format of a book into a direction that has not been done before, but with the journal format of the book, I feel like he is constantly t...more

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Jan 22, 2011 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this series many years ago and couldn't remember anything! I do remember why I liked them so much though! This book was a fantastic journey to a new world filled with interesting people. I love how you feel like the main character is writing strait to you. In a sense he is though cause your reading it as Mark and Courtney. I love how you can relate to him. How he isn't some perfect hero that you can't even begin to understand how he thinks. Bobby has doubts and has the same reactions that...more

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Jan 19, 2009 Jemmuel rated it 5 of 5 stars

The beginning book that hooked me on its fast paced, plot twisting, and at times adrenaline pumping series.

This book really cannot be denied. D.J. MacHale, who has created many other favorites for Y.A. has now beautifully written a creative and entertaining book. The story is of youbg Bobby Pendragon, a life of a normal 14 year old, which takes a dramatic turn as he is introduced to a universe that is all so unreal; yet completely in danger. His Uncle Press, who interrupts his great life at th...more

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May 09, 2008 Roxane rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult

The Merchant of Death is the story of Bobby Pendragon, a normal fourteen year old boy who is going to save the world... yeah, nothing out of the ordinary so far I know, your basic fantasy story... Bobby doesn't know it until his Uncle Press takes him through the gates of an alternative world called Denduron, preventing Bobby from attending a basketball game... the basketball game and a certain Courtney Chedwynde are pretty much all that are on Bobby's mind.

Imagine his surprise when he learns th...more

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Feb 17, 2013 Liana rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have to admit, this whole story was pretty good.

This was highly recommended to me by a friend and YES I TRUST THAT FRIEND AND HER OPINIONS VERY MUCH. YEAH DALENA I'M TALKING ABOUT YOU LOL. Yes, I was totally satisfied. Dalena here said that this book wasn't as good as the other books in this series, and that's a pretty awesome fact to take in because this book was good already on its own.

Bobby Pendragon is fourteen years old, the same age I am. However, the cover dude doesn't look it. The co...more

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Apr 22, 2009 Mary added it Recommends it for: Anyone who likes fantasy adventures

Recommended to Mary by: My really good friend from school

Goodreads is being annoying today (it may just be my computer) so I'll try and make this quick:

The Merchant of Death, the first book in the Pendragon series, made hardly any sense--I can't wait to read the rest of them. My friend has pestered me like crazy to get me into this book. And so, obviously, when I went to get books for my trip to Mexico, Pendragon was pretty high on my list. At first I didn't really want to read it, so I read a bunch of different books, including a very good vampire bo...more

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Mar 09, 2009 Jeremy rated it 5 of 5 stars

The homeless guy jumped and got hit by a train. In the “Merchant Of Death” by D.J. McHale there were many different things that kept me interested in the book.

One thing that made me enjoy this book was that this book’s cover was kind of cool looking. The cover had a boy in a tunnel with a light shining through the door. Another reason I liked this book was because the personalities of the characters were defined they each had a different one. Like how Loor thinks bobby is unworthy to be a Trave...more

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Mar 06, 2009 gilbert rated it 4 of 5 stars

My book the lost city of Faar written by D.J Machale. The ending was phenominalaction filled. Here let me tell you what happened. There are two main protagonists, the lead traveler Bobby Pendragon and his uncle Press. and he has a friend along with him called Spader a aqueneer. The scene in the ending was when Saint Dane where he wanted to leave cloral and go to Elong another territorie. Saint Dane is a malevolent person always a step ahead of Bobby. The ending was good with face to face confra...more My book the lost city of Faar written by D.J Machale. The ending was phenominalaction filled. Here let me tell you what happened. There are two main protagonists, the lead traveler Bobby Pendragon and his uncle Press. and he has a friend along with him called Spader a aqueneer. The scene in the ending was when Saint Dane where he wanted to leave cloral and go to Elong another territorie. Saint Dane is a malevolent person always a step ahead of Bobby. The ending was good with face to face confrantation with spader and saint dane. Spader wanted to kill him for the death of his dad. But Saint Dane succeeded and jumped into a flume where Spader was still standing, rounds of bullets where coming his way. Bobby's uncle jumped in and tooked the blow. The character that has opinions would have to be Bobby. He has second thoughts; he keeps having second thoughts of his the one person that can stop Saint Dane. Bobby Pendragon has second thoughts and he wonders if he can do this.
The pieces of that where more interesting was the floating ship. Everyone on board that ship was dead poisoned with a mutated crop. I hated how one of the characters acted, Spader tried to take justice into his own hands almost killing himself and Bobby. I also like his uncle Press while they where in the ship he picked up clues so fast that nobody saw him. But what’s it is all about is teamwork. They found the lost city of Faar and saved Cloral.
The four words I would describe this book would be dramatic, with every page you read and flip you uncover more of the plot. Second word would have to be is treachery, there are many friends made throughout this book but there is also not many trust. The third word is unfulfilling bobby feels like he never is going to see his parents or his uncle again. The final word is stern, I has many reason why Bobby always seemed serious in in his mind he cared about others and that’s what this book ids about loyalty and trust.
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Feb 22, 2009 Kayla rated it 4 of 5 stars

Well, I didn't realize it when I first started reading this series, but D.J. MacHale is the same guy who co-wrote the TV series Flight 29 Down.

As you can probably tell, I am only puting the first book of all of my series down. I am not saying the first is the best, but I am saying if you are reading the series, this is the one to start with.

The book was great, I mean you get so hooked on it, on the series. I mena this boy, Bobby Pendragon, gets whisked off on an adventure that he is reluctant to...more

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Mar 13, 2013 Jake rated it 1 of 5 stars

A friend suggested I read this, so I did. He clarified that this Pendragon series was close to his heart during his early teens, but he thought I might like it now. As an adult.

It was definitely a young adult novel. I can't appraise it from a young adult perspective though, so as an actual adult(?) it was a series of monumental eye rolls. Every nuance was spelled out for the reader in the same sentence in which it appeared. I assume that's a common occurrence for young adult novels, because they...more A friend suggested I read this, so I did. He clarified that this Pendragon series was close to his heart during his early teens, but he thought I might like it now. As an adult.

It was definitely a young adult novel. I can't appraise it from a young adult perspective though, so as an actual adult(?) it was a series of monumental eye rolls. Every nuance was spelled out for the reader in the same sentence in which it appeared. I assume that's a common occurrence for young adult novels, because they can't figure things out on their own(?), but for an advanced(?) reader, it was blatant and garish. The author left nothing for the reader to ponder on his own, which tells me he distrusts me personally. I can't be trusted to think for a second about why Saint Dane said "This isn't the last battle" or something before sending Bobby to his 'death?' Come on, MacHale.

Every once in a while, seized by enraged curiosity, I would stop reading to look the author's name, J. D. MacHale, on the front of the book, and wonder. How could an adult(?) possibly write a book like this? I don't know if I think he's very talented or stunted as an author; he could be talented enough to know how to write in a style that is vastly different from his default, mature voice – I don't know how similar his voice is to those of other young adult authors – or, he could be stunted in that this is just the way he writes, which would make him a great author for young adult series.

I hardly believe the latter, and it's an offensive thought, but I'm the one writing the review, so can it.

Most character interactions were overwhelmingly trite, polarized, one-dimensional, and awkward, summing up the adolescent experience. There were too many group hugs, awkwardly described from Bobby Pendragon's perspective. You'd think his parents would think of a more impressive name than 'Bobby' to compliment Pendragon, this being a young adult novel in which everything else is harshly formulaic, by the way. There were too many uncomfortable instances of Bobby defending his right to cry and feel emotions. I suppose the most bothering aspect of that was the annoyingly didactic tone. Being a shell of a human being, I can't imagine some poor, confused kid gathering reassurance from Bobby's awkward emotive messages to his friends back on Second Earth. Since I'm mean, I'd call Bobby some politically incorrect word that would earn me stern glances from hyper-liberals or whoever still gets offended at those things. Were I still an adolescent. Which I'm totally not.

Oh yeah, and the story begins with Bobby – who is a fourteen year old boy – being led off by his mysterious Uncle Press to an abandoned subway station in the bad part of town. When asked where they were going, Bobby only received cryptic replies such as, "I need your help with something." The hilariously imprudent decisions and word choice made me think I was soon going to join Bobby's parents and the local police force in an investigation for the missing boy suspected of being murder/raped, last seen riding away on the back of his uncle's motorcycle.(less)

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Mar 02, 2013 J rated it 1 of 5 stars

awful! it was way too long for such a dull book. the writing is so freaking annoying! two biggest problems: 1. oh, i'm going to string this out and set this up for three pages, even though you know by the second sentence what i'm talking about, because not naming it builds the suspense better. please. on several occasions he withheld information that was so obvious to me way before he said it outright. and really, no way would he talk to his friends like that, tiptoeing around everything you thi...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Jr Bacdayan rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was really disappointed by this book. It started very promising and yet it didn't live up to my expectations. I guess, after a long time of searching for a good sci-fi novel, I thought this could live up to something like Ender's Game. I mean it had the tools. It had flumes and territories and intergalactic travelers and alien races. But, it didn't seem like Star Wars or didn't even slightly resemble the excitement of The Princess of Mars. The writing was so-so, the plot was quite fresh and go...more

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Dec 18, 2012 Anthony added it

Pendragon

By: Anthony Cornelius

A book is a journey; cliche, yes, but absolutely true. Books are so captivating even if the words on the page may not play a tune, per se, that fits to your liking. I find myself almost always diving head first into book be it good or bad. For Pendragon, it was an in between for me. A story line fit for a thrilling novel, but just fixating on all the wrong things, drawing out a childish tone.

Bobby Pendragon was your average run-of-the-mill kid who had perfect family...more Pendragon

By: Anthony Cornelius

A book is a journey; cliche, yes, but absolutely true. Books are so captivating even if the words on the page may not play a tune, per se, that fits to your liking. I find myself almost always diving head first into book be it good or bad. For Pendragon, it was an in between for me. A story line fit for a thrilling novel, but just fixating on all the wrong things, drawing out a childish tone.

Bobby Pendragon was your average run-of-the-mill kid who had perfect family and friends, and had a booming life for a fourteen year old. Everything in his life was just going oh so right. In fact, he was just kissing his dream girl, Courtney Chetwynde. He was living the big life in Stony Brook. At least, he was until his mysterious Uncle Press who appear every blue walked through the door midway through Bobby’s make out session. But it gets even crazier. After a his first motorcycle trip through the rough part of the city, on a dark and well avoided road, they stop to visit a closed down subway station that had been shut down for years and was boarded up. Bobby, in a state of fear and confusion, is now running down the railroad tracks of the subway, with weird looking men and vicious looking dogs, all to find a door. On this door was engraved a star, just like the one his uncle told him to open. After getting in the room and fighting off the weird dogs, he states the one word his uncle said to say. “Denduron.” And everything stops.

D.J. MacHale had an amazing idea for a story and was beyond creative. However, how he displayed this work was, to say the least, par. Yes, he had many cliffhangers, and he made you always wanting more, but merely for the story rather than the writing. Writers like J.R.R. Tolkien have this sense of nostalgia in their writing that just give you goose bumps. This effect was not shown in the writing of Pendragon. As well, it is a series and has the possibility of getting better, but as for D.J. MacHale’s penmanship, I have no interest in it. All in all, a good story, but could be better.(less)

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Nov 20, 2012 Sharon rated it 3 of 5 stars

So, I'm rereading this series because it's been a really long time and I have no clear opinion of whether I liked it or not and why. I remember liking Saint Dane as a badguy, because of his personality and abilities (that, while used for evil, were brilliantly played). I like that he can appear any way he wishes--it just makes it that much harder to find him.

I did not like the first book the first time through, but I liked it a lot more this time. Bobby is a good, realistic main character. He ca...more

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Nov 15, 2012 Leo rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

I just now finished D.J. MacHale's The Merchant of Death (Pendragon #1).(view spoiler)

...more

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Oct 23, 2012 Jordan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-1-12

Bobby Pendragon is just your average basketball star, until the day that he dissappeard. Bobby is whisked away by his Uncle Press right before the big game. Uncle Press, a usually happy and fun uncle, gets serious and tells Bobby to get on his bike with him and drive into the city. There, they go into an abandoned subway station and are attacked by a tall shape-shifter named Saint Dane. Bobby flees and finds a door. Beyond the door, he is sent to a mid-evil world where he is forced to live. Thin...more

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Oct 23, 2012 Kara rated it 3 of 5 stars

The pendragon series seems to be one of the series every boy reads, like Magic Tree House. So, I gave The Merchant of Death a try. I have to admit, I was having a very difficult time seeing the allure. It was most difficult for me to get past the style:journal entries for a couple of chapters, which means monologue. The chapters that had Courtney and Mark I really enjoyed. The writing style in this book is very simplistic. The writer uses cliches and the smallest words possible to describe somet...more

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Oct 03, 2012 Noah rated it 4 of 5 stars

In the world of Bobby Pendragon, there lies only listlessness and the carefree life of a normal popular teenage boy. This normality is broken when one day his Uncle Press enters house and subsequently asks Bobby to go with him on a journey that transcends space and time, in order to save a world Bobby has never even heard of before. Will this challenge prove to be his downfall, failure coming at the price of death, or will he surmount his immaturity and fight the foe that lingers underneath a fa...more

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Sep 23, 2012 Eric rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

For starters, I'd like to say that this book was recommended to me by a friend who doesn't like to read at all. He said he read this book for a book report and ended up buying the rest of the series because he loved them so much. I figured I'd give it a try.

I liked the journal setup of the story, although I doubt a 14-year-old boy could actually write super detailed journals like the ones in the book. I know I can't, and I'm 18. For the most part, I liked the plot. It was gripping enough to make...more

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Aug 19, 2012 David rated it 3 of 5 stars

Strange plot device is this book's biggest problem

First, in the interest of full disclosure, I am not a tween and the only reason I read this book is that it was free on the Kindle. Further, even though YA fiction is not something I typically read, I did very much enjoy the Potter books, the Narnia books, the Iron Cauldron books, etc. as an adult. In other words, I am able to appreciate a well-crafted novel targeted at a younger audience, but Death Merchant is a puff piece no matter who is readi...more Strange plot device is this book's biggest problem

First, in the interest of full disclosure, I am not a tween and the only reason I read this book is that it was free on the Kindle. Further, even though YA fiction is not something I typically read, I did very much enjoy the Potter books, the Narnia books, the Iron Cauldron books, etc. as an adult. In other words, I am able to appreciate a well-crafted novel targeted at a younger audience, but Death Merchant is a puff piece no matter who is reading it. On the other hand, I have little doubt that most 11 to 14 year-olds (boys and girls) will enjoy the universe and characters Mr. MacHale has created, thus the 3-star rating.

Parents can take heart in strong male and female characters, none-too-subtle themes of doing what is right instead of what is easy and that your child is reading a 300+ page novel that occasionally slips in a vocabulary word. Kids will appreciate the framework Mr. MacHale has created allows for an unlimited number of adventures for Bobby and his cohorts. Sure, these adventures will be completely predictable, but so were The Three Investigators (The Secret of Terror Castle), and I loved those books.

** POSSIBLE SPOILER **

My inability to empathize with the fourteen year-old 1st person voice of the novel was not my biggest hangup with the book. Rather, MacHale employs a strange [to me] plot device in which the story is told along two timelines. Roughly a third of the chapters are in our here and now in which the protagonist's friends Mark and Courtney read about the adventure being had by our youthful hero, Bobby. The other two-thirds of the book are essentially Bobby's diary entries that have been sent to Mark and Courtney through a wormhole, and these two frames of reference alternate in a roughly Bobby's Diary...Bobby's Diary...Mark+Courtney discussing the diary fashion. While interesting at first, I quickly came to realize that because all of Bobby's narrative is told after-the-fact in journal entries, the reader need never worry about Bobby. Since he was able to write about this or that and send it to "Second Earth" for his friends to read, he obviously got out of whatever predicament he might have been in. So, all suspense removed from the plot, things got boring really quick. But I'm not 13.(less)

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Aug 12, 2012 Cortlyn Matney rated it 5 of 5 stars

I picked up this book because my relatives send me gift cards to bookstores for Christmas and birthdays. And graduation. I also grabbed the second book of the series, and I went home to read. I do this a lot where I just go shopping for books and then get multiple books in a series without really thinking about it. It's a real problem that leads to me spending hundreds in a bookstore. I had not knowingly encountered the author before this point, but later I'd figure out he was actually involved...more

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Jul 09, 2012 Kat Hooper rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobook

Originally posted at FanLit.

Bobby Pendragon is a normal middle-school kid and life is good. He’s the most valuable player on the basketball team and he’s just found out that Courtney, the girl he’s had a crush on for years, has a crush on him, too! Life could not be better... until Uncle Press arrives while Bobby is kissing Courtney and drags Bobby away to a medieval world where some oppressed people need Bobby’s help. For Bobby has special powers and: A Destiny! When Bobby disappears, Courtney...more Originally posted at FanLit.

Bobby Pendragon is a normal middle-school kid and life is good. He’s the most valuable player on the basketball team and he’s just found out that Courtney, the girl he’s had a crush on for years, has a crush on him, too! Life could not be better... until Uncle Press arrives while Bobby is kissing Courtney and drags Bobby away to a medieval world where some oppressed people need Bobby’s help. For Bobby has special powers and: A Destiny! When Bobby disappears, Courtney and Mark, Bobby’s best friend, get worried and start investigating. They can’t find Bobby, but they do receive a letter from him which details all that’s happening to Bobby in Denduron.

The Merchant of Death is the first novel in D.J. MacHale’s young adult PENDRAGON series. It’s fast-paced and exciting, it has a likable teenage boy for a hero, there are monsters and explosions, and there’s even a little bit of cussing and kissing. Perfect for a 14 year old boy.

You can’t help but like Bobby. He’s the athletic good-looking kid who everyone likes. He loves his family and his dog, and he’s noble enough to have an unpopular geek for a best friend. Mark is also a great character, and we get to see him mature a little over the course of the novel. Likewise, beautiful and popular Courtney is smart and competent. The three kids make great protagonists, though they’re a little shallow at this point in the PENDRAGON series. I hope that will get better.

The plot of The Merchant of Death, even though it’s exciting, isn’t anything new. It also won’t hold up to the scrutiny of adults and teens who don’t want to work too hard to maintain their suspension of disbelief. The villains are preposterous caricatures, Bobby and his friends accept bizarre occurrences too readily, Bobby solves problems too quickly and easily, everything he needs is conveniently at hand, and even his special powers are amazingly opportune. Furthermore, it’s hard to believe that Bobby’s uncle has never mentioned Bobby’s special skills or connection to other worlds before he whisks Bobby off to save the day, and it’s also hard to believe that Mark and Courtney don’t solicit help from adults. I’m also not sure why MacHale chose to have Bobby narrate most of the plot in the form of letters to Mark and Courtney — I had a hard time believing that Bobby is sitting down recording his adventure in this way, especially since he’s far more verbose than any teenage boy I’ve ever encountered.

But I’m not a 14 year old boy and I expect that many teenagers will be completely entertained by The Merchant of Death. It’s well-written and fun, and a promising start to a long series. One of my boys read and enjoyed PENDRAGON a few years ago (I remember fetching all the books for him at the library), so I can confidently recommend the series to teenagers.

I listened to William Dufris narrate Brilliance Audio’s version. He’s really good! (less)

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Jun 11, 2012 Danielle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: good-read, read-again-and-again-and-again, character-development, action, adventure, plot

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Before I get into it, I must first give a warm and exciting round of applause to the author, D.J. MacHale.

The main reason for this wonderful welcome, was that his protagonist changed, really changed throughout the book, and set the reader up wonderfully for the rest of the series.

Bobby Pendragon is a normal boy who gets whisked away on some fantastic adventure without any real consent or any idea of what he's doing, and before he knows it, he's on his own. The boy is a self centered brat who can...more

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Jun 04, 2012 Aditya Sood added it

The book “Pendragon: The Merchant of Death”, by Suzanne Collins, is very interesting. It is set in the regular world, in present times close to New York City. The book is about “Travelers”, who are people that can cross through space and time to different “territories”, which is basically an alternate reality.
Bobby Pendragon was having a great life, and everything seemed to be going so well. He was a popular kid at school with a wonderful best friend and a great place on the high school basketba...more
The book “Pendragon: The Merchant of Death”, by Suzanne Collins, is very interesting. It is set in the regular world, in present times close to New York City. The book is about “Travelers”, who are people that can cross through space and time to different “territories”, which is basically an alternate reality.
Bobby Pendragon was having a great life, and everything seemed to be going so well. He was a popular kid at school with a wonderful best friend and a great place on the high school basketball team. That is, before he'd been interrupted by his Uncle Press. When Uncle Press told Bobby that he needed to accompany him somewhere, he didn't really question it, and it wasn't until he found himself in an abandoned subway tunnel, running away from a crazed cop with a gun, and some yellow eyed dogs called "quigs", that it occurred to him that maybe old Uncle Press was getting him into something both big and downright dangerous. Now he found himself transported to a world called “Denduron”, where an impending civil war will determine the fate of the universe itself.
He gets thrown into this situation in a very short amount of time, and his world is turned upside down. He has to now make the decision of whether to stay and fight for the peaceful and helpless villagers and save his uncle press from barbarians, or to give up and dash back to earth as soon as possible. He has conflicting emotions about this issue but the scale is always tipped in favor of going home. One day, it all changes, when a fellow traveler, whom he has barely known for 2 days, dies protecting him. That opens up his eyes and he decides to help his Uncle Press, and also the village people.
The author has been writing T.V. shows, and came up with this idea of “Halla”, which is the universe, and thought that it was too long to make a T.V. show from it, or even a movie. He also wanted to write about time travel and world hopping. He was perplexed, and after thinking for a while, came up with the idea to make it into a book series. He thought about the plot and outlined them all out. He knew exactly where it was going to star and exactly where it would end.
The book has a good amount of twists and turns, and will keep you guessing what will happen next. This kind of genre attracts me and this book lacked none of it. It was fast paced, clever, and the ending was very well written but it did leave space for a sequel. After doing some research, I found out that it had not only 1 more book, but 10 in the whole series! I am anticipating the second book from the library, as I have put it out on hold, and I recommend this to any fan of “The hunger games”, because they are similar in aspects of new world, new terms, new objects, and fascinating plots.
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May 17, 2012 lizzie mcmizzie rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Kids, Tennagers, Young adults, anyone with a sense of adventure and creativity

Shelves: young-adult-candy

The entire Pendragon series are marvelously well-crafted, rough-riding adventures. MacHale certainly knows how to spin a yarn rife with hilarity and suspense, but what is most impressive and enduring about the series are the fantastic and fantastically detailed worlds he creates. The characters are complex, develop in natural but unexpected ways, and ultimately are totally believable. The stories are clever, the worlds of his mind transposed into the Territories sing of the worlds past and to co...more

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Apr 30, 2012 Erika (Rickie) Savage rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Erika by: Ruthy

Shelves: march

The Merchant of Death is about a boy named Bobby Pendragon who finds out he is a Traveler from Second Earth. His uncle Press is also the Traveler from Second Earth, but there can only be one Traveler from each territory. Bobby must "accept the role of lead Traveler", and fight a Traveler named Saint Dane , who is trying to ruin Halla. (Halla is, every time and every place that ever
existed)
A problem Bobby must face is that it will be hard to find Saint Dane. He can take on the image of anyone e...more The Merchant of Death is about a boy named Bobby Pendragon who finds out he is a Traveler from Second Earth. His uncle Press is also the Traveler from Second Earth, but there can only be one Traveler from each territory. Bobby must "accept the role of lead Traveler", and fight a Traveler named Saint Dane , who is trying to ruin Halla. (Halla is, every time and every place that ever
existed)
A problem Bobby must face is that it will be hard to find Saint Dane. He can take on the image of anyone else , but his ice blue eyes always deceive him. When Bobby was on second Earth Saint Dane took the form of a cop. Bobby must also face the "quiggs" that are at the entrance of every plum (plum is a entrance to another territory).Quiggs are Saint Dane's guards for the territories. On Second Earth the quiggs took a form of dogs and on Denduron they took the form of wild dogs. Bobby must enter threw a door that is marked with a star, that is guarded by quiggs, yell the name of the territory into the flume , get inside the flume, and that's how the Travelers travel form territory to territory.

Bobby writes stories of his travels and sends them threw his ring to his best friend Mark. But what Bobby doesn't know is that Mark has shared them Courtney , Bobby's girlfriend. Soon people start to notice that the Pendragon's have just disappeared. There is no trace of a living soul named Pendragon. A bully from Mark, Courtney's and Bobby's high school also notice hat the Pendragons have gone so he bullies Mark into telling him, Mark didn't tell. But at that very moment his ring started to glow and hums. A story was coming from Denduron from Bobby. Bobby soon has to travel to a different territory, once his work at Denduron is done. Hobey - Ho, Bobby will travel to the territory Cloral which is a territory that is fully covered in water.

I finished this book because I love the Pendragon series, I have the first two books. But the one thing I don't like about these books is that after reading about half the books, they all start to sound the same. This time Pendragon is just going to a different territory, the territories are just different name and different setting than the last territory and Bobby is trying to kill the same guy.

I recommend this book to Stephen because I think he likes the whole different worlds kind of thing and wanting to save the world.
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Feb 29, 2012 Elie rated it 3 of 5 stars

I started this series before all its books were released and this could be my mistake.

When I first read this book, I got captivated by the universe, unsettled by it I admit, but it was in a good way. I was always wondering what would come next, what could come next in this - no these worlds at the same time both different and close from ours.

Bobby Pendragon is a good main character, one with a behaviour you want to encourage though, at the beginning, he lacks a bit of maturity. You follow him, e...more

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Is this a good start to a 10 book series	13	80	Apr 28, 2013 03:22pm
Character change in "Merchant of death '	2	8	Apr 03, 2013 08:18pm
Pendragon	6	33	Oct 28, 2011 04:01pm
The Merchant Of Death	3	18	Jun 08, 2011 05:16pm
Good series, next books better	4	32	Jul 04, 2008 11:29am
sounds interesting...	5	16	Jul 04, 2008 11:28am

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About D.J. MacHale

D.J. MacHale is a writer, director, executive producer and creator of several popular television series and movies.

He was raised in Greenwich, CT and graduated from Greenwich High School. While in school, he had several jobs including collecting eggs at a poultry farm, engraving sports trophies and washing dishes in a steakhouse...in between playing football and running track. D.J. then attended N...more D.J. MacHale is a writer, director, executive producer and creator of several popular television series and movies.

He was raised in Greenwich, CT and graduated from Greenwich High School. While in school, he had several jobs including collecting eggs at a poultry farm, engraving sports trophies and washing dishes in a steakhouse...in between playing football and running track. D.J. then attended New York University where he received a BFA in film production.

His filmmaking career began in New York where he worked as a freelance writer/director, making corporate videos and television commercials. He also taught photography and film production.

D.J. broke into the entertainment business by writing several ABC Afterschool Specials. After moving to Los Angeles, he made the fulltime switch from informational films, to entertainment. As co-creator of the popular Nickelodeon series: Are You Afraid of the Dark?, he produced all 91 episodes over 8 years. He wrote and directed many of the episodes including the CableAce nominated The Tale of Cutter's Treasure starring Charles S. Dutton. He was nominated for a Gemini award for directing The Tale of the Dangerous Soup starring Neve Campbell.

D.J. also wrote and directed the movie Tower of Terror for ABC's Wonderful World of Disney which starred Kirsten Dunst and Steve Guttenberg. The Showtime series Chris Cross was co-created, written and produced by D.J. It received the CableAce award for Best Youth Series.

D.J. co-created and produced the Discovery Kids series Flight 29 Down for which he writes all the episodes and directs several. His work on Flight 29 Down has earned him both Writers Guild of America and Directors Guild of America award nominations.

Other notable writing credits include the classic ABC Afterschool Special titled Seasonal Differences; the pilot for the long-running PBS/CBS series Ghostwriter; and the HBO series Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective for which he received a CableAce nomination for writing.

In print, D.J. has co-written the book The Tale of the Nightly Neighbors, based on his own teleplay and penned the poetic adaptation of the classic Norwegian folk tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon.

The book series: Pendragon - Journal of an Adventure through Time and Space marks D.J.'s first turn as a novelist. He plans for this series of Young Adult adventures to span a total of 10 books.

D.J. lives in Southern California with his wife Evangeline and daughter Keaton. They are avid backpackers, scuba divers and skiers. Rounding out the household are a Golden Retriever, Maggie; and a Kitten, Kaboodle. (less)

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Quotes from The Merchant of Death

“When ever you look back and say "if" you know you're in trouble. There is no such thing as "if". The only thing that matters is what really happened.” — 79 people liked it

“Not just chubby fat, I'm talkin' gordo” — 30 people liked it

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The Merchant of Death (Pendragon #1)

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