Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Pendragon - The Merchant of Death by D. J. MacHale

I have had this book on my To Read list for a long time - since I saw a student who otherwise read very little carrying it around OPEN to the page he was currently on. And now I can say that I see why it attracted him and I can also see a bit better what the differences between top quality books and lesser books are.

First of all, this is not a top quality book. There is too much "oh my gosh, isn't this amazing!" kind of writing. But it does have what middle schoolers like - a lot of action with characters that are calculated to have middle school appeal. If they are female, they are attractive and reasonably smart. But they are lacking something that lets the boys shine through. If they are male, they fit some stereotype, so that in depth characterization isn't necessary - geek, sports-dude, all knowing mentor who never seems to be able be there when the protagonist really needs him thus forcing the character to struggle to victory, powerful evil villain who nevertheless makes a critical mistake that the main character is able to exploit. No, it is not writing - or plotting, for that matter - at its best, but it is an interesting read and it doesn't take deep insight into people or society to understand. It is just a swashbuckling story, with movie-like main events and movie-like appeal.

I am getting closer to understand what it is that makes a book good. Though I still don't always agree with people who are more well versed in this than I am.

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