VOYA (December 1, 2002)
Fourteen-year-old Bobby Pendragon has a perfect life. He lives in a beautiful house, his parents are cool, and his dog is terrific. He has dozens of friends, excels in school, and stars on his school's basketball team. To add icing to the cake, he has just kissed the hottest girl in the entire eighth grade. Bobby's ideal world is about to be shattered, though, when mysterious Uncle Press comes begging him for help. Bobby finds himself whisked off through a wormhole to the world of Denduron, where a major civil war is about to erupt. There he discovers that he is a Traveler, a being who can move with ease between alternate earths. Has his whole former life been a lie? How can he save anyone else when he can barely save himself? There is little original plot in this first volume of a projected quartet and no genuine literary merit. Nevertheless, MacHale, creator of Nickelodeon's Are You Afraid of the Dark? television series, certainly knows what young readers want: breathless pace, nonstop action, snappy dialogue, and a touch of romance. He delivers these qualities and more, wrapped around a wish-fulfillment hero that boys will want to emulate and girls will want to date. MacHale is currently pitching this book to Hollywood executives, and the novel reads like a movie. Even without the television connection, this book will be easy to sell to middle school readers, especially those hard-to-please boys who claim to hate reading. They will love Bobby Pendragon.-Arlene ( )

When Bobby Pendragon grabbed his bag to head off for the county semifinal basketball game, he was a normal boy. Then two things happened: a kiss and a trip to another world, Denduron. He quickly finds out that the universe is not what he has known. There are multiple territories coexisting in separate space-time, connected by mysterious portals called flumes. And Bobby is one of the select few capable of traveling between these worlds. All Bobby really wants is to go home. But first, he has to save the world.

When I first picked up the book, almost a year ago, I only got as far as the second page. Today though I finished the book in an afternoon. And enjoyed it. Perhaps I was just in the right mood for an easy read, but I think it was more than that. The story is relatively familiar, but the details kept my interest, and I'm already planning on reading the rest of the books in the series. I might even start the second book tonight. ( )

Great book for those who enjoy action and fiction (mainly attracts young teenagers). A story of a teenage boy named Bobby who sets out to prevent Saint Dane from "turning" all worlds into chaos and ruling Halla. Bobby must travel through time and space in a wormhole-like cave. The series, to me, seems to start off great then gets slightly boring then back on track. ( )

This book is obviously written for early teens, but I enjoyed it. It is the story of a teen who finds himself transported to another world to "save" it. Other reviews will give you more of the plot. I haven't raced out to find the second in the series, but if I come across it, I will definitely pick it up. ( )

In conjunction with Barnes and Noble, the publisher was giving away copies of this book in PDF format as a promotion for the upcoming publication of the 10th and final book in the series. I happily downloaded it, but wasn't looking forward to reading it on my computer. After all, I bought electronic book readers -- both a Kindle and a Sony 505 -- specifically because they were so much easier to read on. But there I was, in the front seat of my car in the middle of rural ('way rural) Nevada and I needed another book to read. I decided to check out the Sony's support for PDF files and even though there were several things I could complain about, it worked well enough that I was able to read and enjoy the book. And, as the publisher probably hoped, it caught me up in the story enough that I want to get the rest of the series to see what happens next.I was positively thrilled when I discovered a week later that the publisher was also giving away free copies through Amazon.com's Kindle store. So now, if I want to re-read the book, or just to have as a companion for the others I will probably purchase for the Kindle, I have a version that is properly formatted for the Kindle. ( )