Adventure

This is the beginning of the end.

So believes Bobby Pendragon as he enters the unbelievable, twisted, amazing territory of Quillan. On Quillan, the people play games where the stakes could mean life and death; betting in order to continue their very existance. Mindless robotic dolls called dados keep order. A sadistic and creepy pair named Veego and LaBerge pit Challengers against each other...and Bobby has stumbled into the middle of their deadly games. Meanwhile, tragedy strikes on Second Earth as Mark and Courtney struggle to understand the immensity of their best friend's duty and the depths of Saint Dane's evil. The demon Traveler's plots are spiraling outward to become ever more complex and astoundingly clever.

Really, this series is one of the most imaginative I've ever read in terms of sheer originality for every volume. And the style is awesome. You can see how far Bobby has come from the first book, and yet he still has deeply realistic vulnerabilities and thoughts in different situations. And although you keep on thinking that you really should've gotten Saint Dane's measure by the 7th book, each diabolical twist of his was still a surprise to me. And now, unbelievably, the action and intrigue seem to be about to be taken up another notch for the 8th book!

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Even though I started this series over 10 years ago, getting back into the world was quite easy. I'm also impressed with the inventiveness of MacHale's world. ( )

I like that this series has backed away from happy go lucky feelings. This one feels a little like 'The Hunger Games' with a Pendragon twist to it. I can't wait to continue on with the final three books in the series. ( )

The Quillan Games is considerably faster than the previous volume in the series, but still sloppy. There's sloppy proofreading for homophones, sloppy plotting, and dull writing. Again MacHale has been given too many pages and not enough editing. I'm very sorry to report that the next book in the series, The Pilgrims of Rayne, has 576 pages. I didn't enjoy or believe in the premises of this installment, or the protagonists' seeming inability to retain important information about how Saint Dane operates. Still, the action moves forward reasonably well and MacHale has done a good job of integrating material from previous books that appeared unremarkable at the time but now forms the basis for some plot points. I applaud this, and the reveals about the nature of the Travelers, and hope that the three remaining books continue this trend. ( )