From his first step on Quillan Bobby was scared. After being chased by mechanical spiders, then being chased by mechanical men Bobby didn't like the territory expessially when he had to compete in games and the prise is to survive. Pendragon needs to find out what Saint Daine is up to. Will Bobby save the territory or will it come crashing down? Find out by reading the book. ( )

The Quillan Games stood out to me from the very beginning because of the odd sense of familiarity the territory had for me. On Quillan, a corporation has taken over, controlling the entire population by being the only place to work or to buy food. People are unhappy, hungry, cramped, and desperate. They can increase their station in life by a small amount or a large amount through gambling on games. Some of these games they must compete in themselves; others are staged games broadcast over televisions.

Sounds very Vegas, right? Unfortunately, it's not. People don't have money to gamble with so they fall back on things like slave labor, their children, or their lives. It is a horrifying society in a way that is oddly more real to me than the other territories we have seen. Technically, it's the same old story of Pendragon: two cultures exist, one of which is somehow 'superior' to the other and enslaves the rival culture. Badness ensues. The oppressed culture gets pissed. But this time the superior culture is one I can see in my own life. I would see the letters B L O K to refer to the mega-company, but my mind would say "Walmart".

This was probably my favorite in the Pendragon series; although I did finally figure out why I'm not as in love with these books as I should be - the repetition. The reader is bombarded with the same messages over and over again from Bobby - I shouldn't be here. I want to go home. I'm not worthy. I am worthy. blah blah blah. It's not just once a book that we here these things; it's more like once a chapter. I think if you cut out all of the unnecessary repetitions of Bobby's feelings, these books would probably be half as long as they are. But I'm willing to deal with this annoyance for the good points of the story. ( )

Just when you think you've won... it's all taken away from you! In this longest of the books so far, Bobby's skills and agility are stretched as he must constantly battle to stay alive against unstoppable Dados! There's another secret brewing there and it starts to bleed through when Saint Dane's plans for Mark are slowly revealed!

What is the "convergence" and when's it coming? Hints are slowly scattered! :)

After 7 books, the similarities between the territories are starting to creep through. The different roles on each territory and the impending revolts are starting to look alike. There are enough subtle differences to not bother me too much (as long as I don't think about it) and would not necessarily make a difference to the core audience.

The situations are still clever with enough of a twist to keep it fresh but at this point it's becoming clearer whenever SD takes on an undercover identity. Then again, those identities are really just shells meant to distract the heroes and not the readers, so it's no big deal :)

It's all coming to a head and Quillan will never be the same! ( )

Bobby Pendragon is no ordinary teen. Since his literary debut in The Merchant of Death, young Bobby has ceased to be solely a figment of DJ MacHale’s imagination but an inter-dimensional hero, an American teen from Stony Brook Connecticut who carries the fates of the entire universe on his adolescent shoulders. In MacHale’s masterpiece, the young Stony Brook Point Guard is roped on an out-of-this world adventure with his Uncle Press who turns out to be a Traveler, an individual who is able to travel to different Territories: a sort of inter-dimensional/time-traveling/space-man who works with his fellow Travelers to preserve balance in the Territories in order to preserve balance in Halla, the connector of all the Territories. Halla, protected by Travelers is in the sights of one Saint Dane, a Traveler whose main goal is to instill chaos and havoc in the once peaceable Territories. It is in this plight that Bobby finds himself pitted relying on instinct good friends and all too familiar sense of adolescence.
In line with the other books of this series of journeys out of this world, and dimension, The Quillan Games by DJ MacHale provides readers with a twisting, unrelentless attack on the reader. The Travels and adventures of Bobby Pendragon, Second Earth’s Traveler, come to a pseudo climax in this novel in which MacHale lays the framework for the future of Bobby’s exploits and his mission as a Traveler.
The Quillan Games also provides new prospective on the problems that we face here, even on little old Second Earth. The novel centers on a city that is colossal in its magnitude; where human life is governed not by democracy but a single corporation. BLOK, the de-facto leader of the territory Quillan rules with an iron fist, literally. Using sophisticated Robots as peacekeepers and police officers, the monopolistic corporation insures both the further consumption of their product as well as the continuation of undisputed hegemony. BLOK is claimed, by MacHale, to have started out as a small supermarket where the business radically reduced the costs of its commodities in order to allure- in reality, to coerce- prospective clientele into buying the astronomically low priced goods; while at the same time, bleeding out competition that had no hope of operating at sustained losses. Although the trusts and monopolies of the early 20th Century, i.e. Standard Oil, are long gone along with their outright, unchallengeable command policies, the possibility of resurgence of BIG Business is a looming one, a worry that MacHale invites us to ponder.
Although The Quillan Games is one of the better books in the Pendragon Series, it would be advisable and beneficial to prospective readers to begin their Travels with Bobby and company with the first of the series: The Merchant of Death.
All great journeys start with a single step, missing the first jump into Halla would be a mistake that would surely distort the bold, new vision of the world MacHale imparts on to his numerous, categorically fervent disciples.
The Quillan Games is a fantastic read and recommended for all those already familiar with Bobby Pendragon: Hero, Traveler, and Normal Teenager ( )

Another installment of the Bobby Pendragon books where he must brave the world of Quillan and continue on a quest to save Halla.