Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Pendragon: Book Nine Raven Rise

Title: Raven Rise, book 9
Author: DJ MacHale
Publication: May 2008
Amazon Link

My copy: Hardback bought thru Amazon
My opinion: 4/5

Product Details:
  • Hardcover: 560 pages
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (May 20, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1416914188
  • ISBN-13: 978-1416914181
Product Description:
This is where it begins. The showdown for Halla. At stake is nothing less than all that ever was and all that will be.

There's only one thing missing--Bobby Pendragon.

While Bobby remains trapped on Ibara, the battle moves to his home territory: Second Earth. Mark Dimond and Courtney Chetwynde are left on their own to defend Second Earth agsinst the forces of Saint Dane. They must face off against a charismatic cult leader who has risen to power by revealing a shattering truth to the people of Earth: They are not alone.

The Convergence has broken down the walls. The territories are on a collision course. The final phase of Saint Dane's quest to rule Halla is under way.

And Bobby Pendragon is nowhere to be found.



My Review: I love this series of books by DJ MacHale. Read this one in 7 hours straight - couldn't put it down. Each book in this series contains a fantastic adventure as well as the thoughts and contemplations of the book's main hero Bobby Pendragon. I've been eagerly awaiting this particular adventure because the cliff-hanger in the last book was a real hum-dinger and I really wanted to know what happened next. This style of book is often referred to as a boy's adventure book as if girls could only be interested in American Girls or Anne of Green Gables. I've always greatly enjoyed an adventure story, and I, and many other girls, do not mind that the main character is a boy. As is evidenced by Harry Potter, that doesn't matter to most girls. In fact, I often enjoy discovering a boy's point of view about things and how he thinks about the world at large and what is happening to him in the stories. This series though does have a strong girl character named Courtney who also has quite a few adventures of her own. The overall philosophical theme is free will vs. control - democracy vs. communism. In fact, I haven't read a better overall explanation of this theme since Terry Goodkind's The Naked Empire. That book though of course is bettter suited towards adult tastes, while this one is perfect for the teenage mind. I believe though that this series of books is not strictly for teenagers, it is for anyone who loves a good fantasy adventure story.
My only problem with these books is that he will often switch from Mark and Courtney's adventures to Bobby's adventures for a few chapters. So what often happens is that I skip ahead, read most of Bobby's adventures, then skip back and read Mark and Courtney's. The chapters are just too edge of the seat exciting to actually wait to find out what happens. Sorry DJ.

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