Sounds like it's worth trying. It would be refreshing to read a fun book with a serious villain.

From what I see on Wikipedia, it looks like this is a completed series now with 10 books total. This is most excellent. Here's to hoping that it ends better then HP did.

 

Sorry for the double post, but it's been several days at least.

Just wanted to ask if these get better with later ones. I picked up the first two to read since my last post, and only got through the first and half of the second.

They aren't awful, they just aren't that great either. I will admit to two things though, one is that Saint Dane is a pretty decent penultimate bad guy, and the second is that I'd have probably loved these books when I was 12 or so.

I wasn't a huge fan of the "story told by journal entry" aspect of it. I actually enjoyed the Mark and Courtney parts more than the parts with Pendragon because of it. It was good in Dracula (I seem to recall it being used there, Bram Stoker's edition if there are more) but here I just couldn't get into it. It made the action seem incredibly lame, and I'd rather read about how Bobby feels scared but decides to do something anyway rather than read his journal entry to his two friends where he talks about what a wuss he is.

I didn't like Pendragon at all for that matter. It's understandable that he wants to bitch and whine all the time about what happened, but then when he goes back home he (1) just up and heads out again with his fake uncle without getting any fucking answers (I tend to think he could have tried harder, Uncle Press obviously wanted Bobby with him bad enough to either give in and answer to get him to come, or else provide a reason why he wouldn't answer) and (2) After he's CHOSEN to go with Press, he spends the parts of the second book I read whining again, only at this point he has little right to do it.

I'd recommend these books to some slightly younger readers, since like I said it's not that they are bad, it's more that I can't get into them. I would, however, give them another chance if someone here lets me know that they get better.

Either way, thanks for the recommendation.

 

You calling me a child!?

Eh, they adult up as you get further along in the books. I mean, he is getting progressively older as he goes along, that and in the first few books, with the journal style story writing, he's showing how old he is. I mean, you can't have a 12 year old talking like they're 40- Atleast not at first anyways.

 

It is true I didn't read the entire thread, but I wanted to avoid spoilers for the series and I wasn't sure if they would all be in spoiler tags or not.

I'll try continuing reading when I have a chance. You're probably right about one thing -- it's a state of mind thing. I need to be in the mood to read books that can be, at points, juvenile. I get in that mood normally after reading something heavy (like after I read War and Peace I didn't want to read anything but those Warriors books about cats for a while), so I'll pick them up next time that happens and I'm willing to bet I'll be able to get into them.

Cheers