Pendragon, Book 2: The Lost City of Faar

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Shoshana, December 21, 2007 (view all comments by Shoshana)
The Lost City of Faar picks up with Bobby's second adventure thwarting the evil Saint Dane, whose goal is to destroy all worlds and all times. This time he journeys to the water world Chloral, where he teams up with a local named Spader and his Uncle Press. Together, they must identify the turning point Saint Dane will attempt to exploit and counter his attempt to throw this world into chaos.

The series' basic tasks, character roles, and terrain are similar to Diane Duane's Young Wizard series. A major difference is the presence of Courtney and Mark, witnesses who are generally removed from the action and only read about it post hoc in Bobby's journal. In The Merchant of Death, they were called upon to perform some important functions for Bobby. In the present volume, they must thwart their classmate Mitchell. Their role in the story is interesting but as-yet underused. I will hope for more involvement from them in the future.

This series has enough to offer that I've decided to keep going, but I have some misgivings about doing so. My concerns are about certain kinds of poor writing, not word choice or overuse of exposition, for example, but lack of internal consistency about the rules of the universe the author has constructed. I can live with the fact that MacHale is no stylist and that the only voice truly characterized is Bobby's. I can live with the idiocy of Mark and Courtney being frightened that Mitchell will betray them to the police and that the police would actually believe him. I can even live with the ferociously clunky ending of this volume, which has its own disturbing problems related to unreliable exposition (not unreliable narration, but actually telling the reader that events happen and then undoing them in a poorly rendered reveal). Rather, I'm talking about instances where an author undoes physics, not in a way that is consistent with the world s/he has constructed, but for authorial convenience or due to oversight. The Lost City of Faar offers several choice examples of both of these inconsistencies. If you're a person who didn't care that Niven's Ringworld rotated backward in the first edition, or about the order in which the spirits of dead people erupted from Voldemort's wand, you won't see what I'm talking about as a problem. If you have to call your friends when Homer Simpson's shirt is ripped in one shot and then suddenly not ripped in the next, heed my words: In order to enjoy the Pendragon series, you must suspend your annoyance. MacHale comes dangerously close to Funke's cavalier attitude in Inkheart and Inkspell, which can be paraphrased (to avoid spoilers) as "Gee! I don't know why that happened when it's never happened like that before and that's not how it's supposed to happen in the rules of this universe, but oh, well!" Travelers can use hypnotic powers of persuasion--except when they can't. Travelers can recognize Saint Dane in disguise--except when they can't. I will spare you my diatribe about "children's literature" that seems to be based on the assumption that children are idiots and that good crafting is not just as important as it is in adult fiction. I'm sure you can imagine how it goes.

Since I've read the third in the series and am partway through the fourth as I write this review, I can offer the observation that MacHale's writing gets better as the series progrssses, suggesting that he is aware of and attending to these concerns.

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bowenboy9212, March 20, 2007 (view all comments by bowenboy9212)
This a sweet book. It is full of adventure and unexpected twists. Pendragon Rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Product Details

ISBN:

9780743437325

Author:

Machale, D J

Publisher:

Aladdin Paperbacks

Author:

MacHale, D. J.

Author:

Lee, Victor

Location:

New York, N.Y

Subject:

Action & Adventure

Subject:

Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic

Subject:

Mysteries, Espionage, & Detective Stories

Subject:

Children's 9-12 - Fiction - Science Fiction

Subject:

Adventure and adventurers

Subject:

Children's 9-12 - Fiction - Mysteries / Detective

Subject:

Fantasy

Subject:

Animals - Apes & Monkeys

Subject:

Fantasy fiction

Subject:

Imaginary places

Subject:

Uncles

Subject:

Animals / Apes & Monkeys

Subject:

Action & Adventure - General

Subject:

Fantasy & Magic

Subject:

Children s-Science Fiction and Fantasy

Copyright:

2003

Edition Description:

B102

Series:

Pendragon Quartet

Series Volume:

02

Publication Date:

January 2003

Binding:

TRADE PAPER

Grade Level:

Children/juvenile

Language:

English

Pages:

400

Dimensions:

7.62 x 5.12 in 9.59 oz

Age Level:

10-14