Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Pendragon

Despite my old age of twenty-two, I’m still a huge fan of teenage and young adult fiction, especially from the fantasy genre. Like most other young adults in Singapore, I’m a huge fan of the Harry Potter series (although Twilight not so much). With that said, though, there’s another seriously under-marketed young adult series that holds a place in my heart.

The Pendragon series, written by D. J. MacHale, is a ten parter urban fantasy series that is easily my favourite book series of all time.

Set against the backdrop of ten different worlds (or “territories”, as it is known in the books), one of which is earth as we know it, Pendragon tells the story of Bobby Pendragon, a normal American teen who’s visited by his eccentric uncle, Press. Press tells Bobby the truth about his real identity - he’s actually a “traveller”, a group of individuals (one per territory) chosen to guide their home territory and keep it from the evil machinations of Saint Dane, an enigmatic spirit who seeks to destroy all ten territories, known collectively as “Halla”. In fact, he’s the lead traveller, tasked to take charge of the protection process.

Each book in the series takes place primarily on one of the territories, with Bobby travelling to and fro territories via an extradimensional transport tunnel known as a flume. Every book takes the form of journals written by Bobby to his acolytes (his earth-bound helpers) and best friends Mark and Courtney and details his adventures in each territory, meeting with the other travellers and the ways he foils Saint Dane’s plans, gradually leading up to a climatic finish in the last two books.

What makes the series so great is the sheer amount of planning that has obviously gone into the books, with intricate plot twists and well-thought out sequences. All ten books were obviously planned together as several books foreshadow later books while the latter often refer back to hints dropped in earlier books.

While some of the earlier books could be read on their own, it is advisable to go through the books in sequential order to get the full development of the considerable storyline.

Despite the heft of the books (each entry in the series is easily close to 600 pages), I have never had to struggle to finish any of them. MacHale’s writing is concise, exciting and the dialogue is believable and at times snazzy. While some plot developments are pretty predictable, the overall story is engaging and gripping and everytime I get a new book, I’ve had to devour as much of it in one shot as possible and I carried it with me everywhere I went.

So, if you’re still mourning the ending of the Harry Potter or are recovering from the saccharine cheese of the Twilight or are just looking for a good read, why not give this series a try? The final installment, Soldiers of Halla, has just been released so you won’t even have to wait for the entire series to come out (as I had to, excruciatingly). I guarantee you’ll love it.