Pendragon: The Merchant of Death by D.J MacHale

MacHale, D.J(2002). Pendrahon: the merchant of death. New York: Alladin Publishing. 

Summary

The story takes place in the Denduron territory which, other than having three moons, is exactly like Earth. This book is the first in the series and has two different subplots, one is Bobby's adventures in Denduron and the other is on Second Earth where Bobby's friends, Mark and Courtney, live and they communicate with each other through Bobby's journals. 

The story begins when Bobby Pendragon is taken by his uncle Press to an abandoned subway station where he discovers that he, like his uncle, is a traveler with the ability to travel through space and time. At the station, Bobby is taken to a world called Denduron where evil Saint Dane is starting a war between the ruling Bedoowan and the enslaved Milago miners. As soon as they arrive, Bobby is captured and scheduled to be executed. 

Review

Soooooooo, great! This book is easy to read, very fast paced, and readers will fall in love with Bobby and the other strong characters introduced in this book. Fans of Harry Potter and Charlie Bone will love this series and will finish wanting more. 

Genre

Fantasy

Readers Age/Interest Level

10-13 years/Tween

Similar Books

Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Coifer

Harry Potter series- J.K Rowling

Charlie Bone series by Jenny Nimmo
Characters

Robert "Bobby" Pendragon - The main character of the story, a 14-year-old boy from Second Earth. He doesn't want to be part of his destiny as traveler but he has to accept it for all the territories. Especially Second Earth. Bobby always seems to mess things up but he is brave and has smart thinking. Bobby is very brave throughout the whole book.

Saint Dane - The villain of the story, an evil Traveler capable of shape-shifting. His goal is to bring chaos to Halla and re-build it for himself. Halla is everything that separates good from evil. It is very common of Saint Dane to make himself in a important position so he can create war and chaos on the inside feeding information and causing wars in all the territories.

Press Tilton - Bobby's uncle. A very experienced Traveler, who helps Bobby learn as he becomes one. He is one of the older generation of Travelers, so he is able to answer most of Bobby's questions. Later, he told Bobby that he was not his real, blood-related uncle. All the Milago look up to him and he will always fight for the good of things.

Mark Dimond - Bobby's best friend from Second Earth; described as a science nerd, long black hair that "always looks as if it should be washed", and extremely intelligent. He is the one Bobby sends all his records to while he is in other territories. He teams up with Courtney to help their friend.

Courtney Chetwynde - Another of Bobby's friends from Earth and his love life; described as doing pretty well academically with the exception of math, and is amazing at sports. She is Bobby's friend, girlfriend, and wife. She teams up with Mark Dimond.

Loor - The traveler from Zadaa. She is described as an extremely attractive warrior. Loor travels to Denduron with her adoptive mother to help stop Saint Dane. She shuns Bobby because of her mothers death, but later makes up with him. She is very mean to Bobby but when he does a heroic act at the end, Bobby is forgiven

Readers Annotation

Not a great family reunion.....

The Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero- Rick Riordan

Riordan, R. (2010). The lost hero. California: Disney-Hyperion.
Summary
New demi-gods at Camp Half-Blood, Jason, Piper, and Leo are just coming to understand their knew powers and abilities. Just as in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, there is a great back story and present upheaval of the Gods. Realizing that their parents are in their Roman personae rather than Greek throws them for a loop as they must rescue Hera, Queen of the Gods, or Porphyrion, who is a giant king created to destroy Zeus, will rise and kill all those who stand in his way.
The three take their adventure throughout the United States as they battle monsters and evil Gods, and grow and deal with their own inner battles of tween angst. Oh yeah, Percy Jackson is also missing and it is up to the three to find the lost hero.
Review
This is a great twist on the popular Percy Jackson books. Fans will love the fact that they stay true to the original story and characters, and readers still get brief glimpses of familiar characters Percy, Annabeth and Grover. I love the twist of Roman vs. Greek gods since this is always a confusing thing for some kids to understand and that the adventures took place in familiar places. Readers are thrown head first into new battles, new relationships, and new challenges and Riordan has done it again with giving readers a new series to fall in love with.
Genre
Fantasy Fiction
Reading Level/Interest Level
9-12 years old/Tweens
Similar Books
Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan
The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan
The Cronus Chronicles by Anne Ursu
Characters
Jason Grace: Jason, age 15, is a son of Jupiter (the Roman form of Zeus). Jason is the younger brother of Thalia Grace, who is the daughter of Zeus (the Greek form of Jupiter).  He was raised in a different camp who believe in the Roman aspect of the gods. Jason arrives at camp with no memory of his past, his family or his friends. Jason finds out that Hera has erased his memory in order to exchange the best heroes of both camps (the other hero being Percy Jackson) and make them fight together against the Giant's invasion of Olympus.
Leo Valdez- Leo is age 15, and is a son of Hephaestus. Leo is able to conjur and withstand fire, a rare ability gifted by Hephaestus that his siblings suggest may herald catastrophe. He is tormented by the death of his mother and believes his fire conjuring power caused her death. He had a nanny called Tia Callida (who was actually Hera in disguise) who would place him in danger and retell him that his future would determine the outcome of Olympus.
Piper McLean- Age 15, A daughter of Aphrodite. She has the ability to "charmspeak", or talk anything, or anyone, into doing whatever she wants except for other Charmspeakers. Her father is a famous movie star and is kidnapped by the Giants (the monsters). She is in love with Jason Grace and is upset to find all her memories of him were fake.
Readers Annotation
Sometime silence is golden, but not this time.

Jack Blank and the Imagine Nation by Matt Myklusch

Myklusch, M. (2011). Jack blank and the imagine nation. New York: Aladdin. 

Plot

Jack's life is as blank as an unwritten book. He is an orphan living at St. Barnaby's Home for the Hopeless, Abandoned, Forgotten, and Lost and he has no memory of his past or how he ended up there. Just when he has lost all of finding who he is, he ends up destroying a giant mechanical monster and is then taken by the mysterious Jazon Knight to a floating island called, Imagine Nation, which is his where he is from. Imagine Nation is a place where ninjas, familiar superheros, and aliens coexist in a world that is under threat of zombie mutants and robot viruses. Jack must step out of his normal life and enter the life that includes hidden powers and moral obligations.

Review

I am starting to venture outside my fiction box and read books that I used to judge by their genre labels. Jack Blank is a mix between Percy Jackson, Harry Potter and all of the ordinary boys turned superhero. Like Harry Potter, Jack too has had an unhappy childhood and now is forced into a world where he must take on challenges for the greater good. Fans of superheros and science fiction will clamor for these books and the future series to come. 

Genre

Science Fiction

Reading Level/Interest Level

5th-8th grade/Tween

Similar Books

Harry Potter series- J.K Rowling

Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians- Brandon Sanderson

The Lost Hero- Rick Riordian

Readers Annotation

Just like Harry Potter, Jack Blank is trying to figure out where he came from. He is mistreated where he lives, always wrong when he thinks he is right, and hasn't got a friend in the world. Everything changes when his life and future is turned upside down by zombie monsters, alien invasions, and hidden superpowers. In order to find out who he truly is, he must survive first.