Adventure

Another excellent adventure in the Pendragon series! This time, we're in the past - 1937 to be exact - and we battle with our inner demons on the right course to take. What will be the biggest impact on the planet? Saving the Hildenburg... or letting it crash?[return][return]The series continues to entertain as Saint Dane's machinations get more and more evil in his quest to take over Halla. The more I read, the more addicted I am to this series and can not recommend it enough! ( )

“You want to know why we're the ones responsible?" Gunny asked.

I looked up into a pair of wise eyes that had seen far more than mine.

"Because there's nobody else," he said.

Well, now we know why 'our' Earth is called Second Earth. Turns out there is also a First Earth, which seems to be quite literally the past: specifically in the 1930s. Since we've been told a number of times that a traveler (somehow) always arrives when they need to, I'm not sure why these would be separate worlds at all, but so it goes.

The story itself is fairly interesting. It's much more grounded than what we saw on on Denduron or Coral, leaning on what that reader actually knows / has read previously about the 30s, including gangs and corruption throughout cities and the upcoming threat of World War II. I really like the ending, where (mostly avoiding spoilers) you end up with a somewhat standard time travel trouble of having to chose between the evil you know happened and possibly upsetting everything.

Characterwise, I like the new traveler from First Earthy: Gunny. It's interesting to see a different, much older viewpoint on the whole thing, that still hasn't spent as much time around anything other than his own world. Spader returns from Cloral. Throughout most of the story, I like what I liked last time around: he's fun loving and competent. Towards the end though, we really get a taste of what I was worried about last time around: he's passionate to a fault, willing to sacrifice quite a lot to do what he believes needs to be done--even when people he should trust tell him otherwise.

So it goes.

I don't like this as much as the previous stories. It's a combination of time travel just not feeling like it makes sense / something that's needed in a universe like this the aforementioned issues with Spader. Looks like he'll be taking the next book off though, so onward we go! It's still a fun enough read. ( )

I think what I love most about this series is the different worlds. Every book, there's a completely new setting to lose yourself in, complete with a new cast of characters. But of course, sometimes the best ones from previous novels come along for the ride.

Bobby Pendragon now finds himself in a very familiar territory indeed; First Earth, his home planet in the 1930's. And he quickly discovers that the "tipping point" here has everything to do with time. Somewhere, someone, helped along by none other than Saint Dane, is going to set something in motion that may become the catalyst for an event that will change history: World War II. And in order to save First Earth, Bobby will have to unravel the web of the past, the present, and the future, as well as make one of the most difficult choices ever.

Accompanied by the complex, vengeful, charismatic Vo Spader from the previous novel, with the addition of First Earth's mellow and wise Traveler Gunny, Bobby has reached a personal tipping point of his own; the time when he will truly come to understand what it means to be a Traveler.

I loved that this book took place in our own past, with all the time-appropriate references. I honestly used Google a couple times just to see if some of the characters Bobby met in the past were based on real people! Reading Bobby's incredulous, wondering account of experiencing all the time-travel was very realistic and consistant with his unique narrative voice. And as usual, the cliffhanger leaves you just like Bobby's ever-loyal friends Mark and Courtney; waiting for his next journal and his next adventure in a new territory.

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stuck....stuck putting this one aside for a while to get unstuck