A review by justluck
The Merchant of Death by D.J. MacHale
4.0
I adored these books as a kid, so wanted to give them a try again as an adult. I absolutely love the universe built for the Pendragon series, it’s so unique and makes me wish I was a Traveler to be able to explore different worlds. The telling of the story through Bobby’s journals is interesting too, though it does create some convoluted plot telling at times. The writing also isn’t A+, but for a young adult novel I can’t complain! I want a movie of this book series SO BAD, I think it could be phenomenal to follow Bobby’s travels through the worlds of Halla.
I do have one big complaint - the fat jokes. I know this was written decades ago when that type of humor was everywhere, but wow were some of the jokes absolutely distasteful and offensive. It didn’t ruin the book for me, but definitely lowered my respect for the writer. Sure, I could see a 14 year old athletic boy having a disdain for overweight people, but the level of disgust about the one obese character was just too much and unnecessary. This knocked my rating from 5 stars to 4 on its own.
I do have one big complaint - the fat jokes. I know this was written decades ago when that type of humor was everywhere, but wow were some of the jokes absolutely distasteful and offensive. It didn’t ruin the book for me, but definitely lowered my respect for the writer. Sure, I could see a 14 year old athletic boy having a disdain for overweight people, but the level of disgust about the one obese character was just too much and unnecessary. This knocked my rating from 5 stars to 4 on its own.