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The Merchant of Death (Pendragon, #1)

D.J. MacHale

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What Members Thought

May 17, 2010 Jess rated it it was ok

Shelves: juv, fantasy, bookgroup-kids, adventure

The kids' bookgroup that I run at the library chose this book for May, and it was suggested by a bright, articulate girl so let's just say that expected better things from it. Would I have finished the first chapter otherwise? Probably not. Would I finished the book if it weren't for bookgroup? Definitely not.

I think this falls into the category of big, fat fantasy series where the appeal is largely based on plot - nothing too nuanced, but action packed and with easy to read stock characters. Yo The kids' bookgroup that I run at the library chose this book for May, and it was suggested by a bright, articulate girl so let's just say that expected better things from it. Would I have finished the first chapter otherwise? Probably not. Would I finished the book if it weren't for bookgroup? Definitely not.

I think this falls into the category of big, fat fantasy series where the appeal is largely based on plot - nothing too nuanced, but action packed and with easy to read stock characters. You don't have to think much while you read it, because everything is laid out for you - lots of telling and no showing. Key pieces of information are repeated frequently, just in case you missed them in the previous paragraph.

For example: "It was Uncle Press! He walked out of the tunnel with his long leather coat flapping against his legs. I could have hugged him. In fact, I did. I ran over to him like a little kid. If this were a movie, I'd have been running in slow motion. I threw my arms around him with the feeling of pure joy and gratitude that I wasn't alone anymore, and that my favorite guy in the world wasn't shot dead by that Saint Dane guy. He was safe."

Lots of short, simple sentences with plenty of repetition of the main idea: Bobby is glad that his uncle is safe. This makes it easy to read, sure, but it's awfully clunky and doesn't give kids any credit for being able to pick up on Bobby's relief themselves. What makes this even more incredible is that we're supposed to believe that these are Bobby's handwritten journals, sent magically back to his friends at home. Sure.

Another painful aspect of the fantasy world is the way it doesn't seem to be thoroughly thought-out. For instance, this "territory" has three suns in "opposite corners of the sky." These suns all rise and set at the same time. They all reach high noon at the same time. There is no explanation for how this is physically possible. Do they revolve around the planet, instead of the planet moving around the suns? Who knows! Also, travel through time and space is conveniently dealt with using the explanation that Travelers arrive whenever they need to arrive. However, this doesn't stop Uncle Press from whisking Bobby away from his normal life at a moment's notice. If they arrive when they're meant to arrive, couldn't they take their time?

You might be asking, why did I give this book a whole two stars. Good question. The plot actually holds together for the most part. It's simplistic, the characters are pretty flat, and something is lacking in the style, but it actually manages to keep up the pace and reach a conclusion. And the bookgroup kids liked it, although they're always pretty generous with their ratings (although I was very proud of the kid who, after our discussion where I brought up the suns thing, said he took a point off because of issues like that). ...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Karina rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult

Not a bad start. I'll check out the next books, and hope that they improve. I rather liked the way the story was told, through journal entries. It was suspenseful, the way Bobby would drop some tantalizing tidbits at the beginning of the entry ("I messed up big time; I made things worse than if I did nothing" blah blah), and then go back and start the tale from where he left off. I remember thinking of Kushiel's Chosen where the narrative wasn't handled this well -- and I was left wondering why Not a bad start. I'll check out the next books, and hope that they improve. I rather liked the way the story was told, through journal entries. It was suspenseful, the way Bobby would drop some tantalizing tidbits at the beginning of the entry ("I messed up big time; I made things worse than if I did nothing" blah blah), and then go back and start the tale from where he left off. I remember thinking of Kushiel's Chosen where the narrative wasn't handled this well -- and I was left wondering why the protagonist decided to put it all on paper, and all of her "close saves" didn't have quite the same suspense, because I knew there were still lots of pages to go in the book, so she couldn't die yet. This book handled it really well, I think.

I don't know what to think of the villain in the book. I hope we get to see more of what he is about. Right now we only get it through the perspective of Bobby, and so there really isn't much to this more or less one-dimensional character. I must say however that I was disappointed by one of the plot points (view spoiler)

Burning question: How does Saint Dane know so much about Bobby, even the names of his friends - Courtney and Mark? Why is he taking such an (apparently) special interest in Bobby? It's like he can see the future and trying to take preemptive strikes at him, to frighten him off. ...more

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Aug 31, 2013 Bryan457 rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, juv-ya, transported-to-alternate-universe

Whiney protagonist; by the end I was actively rooting for him to get killed, maimed, drowned, buried, blown up, anything. I also developed a bad case of Tourette Syndrome; luckily temporary.
Artificial suspense; which translated into a serious inability to get to the point and get on with the story.
Moralizing and pontificating by the protagonist.
Artificially withholding information from the protagonist so he will make bad choices.
Huge plot holes; (view spoiler) ...more

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Jul 12, 2012 Malina rated it liked it

Shelves: sci-fi

It was okay. I didn't love it or hate it by the end. I am only mildly interested in reading another in the series because I am fairly certain I already know the formula for the rest of the books. Themes are a bit too adult for my 9 yr old IMHO and I'm telling him he is too young for this book. ...more

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