The Rivers of Zadaa - Pendragon Book 6 (Book 24 of 100)

In the latest Bobby Pendragon adventure, I read Bobby and his cohorts must confront the evil St. Dane who is trying to get the symbiotic tribes of Zadaa to go to war with each other after centuries of peace. The Rokator are a peaceful, scientific, light skinned people who live underground. The Batu are a dark skinned people who live about ground and defend both tribes from nomadic bands of cannibals. That's a lovely thought for a children's book! But, I digress. The Batu supply the food and the Rokator control the water. On a desert territory like Zadaa, neither can survive without the other. But, as is all too common in actual modern society, people don't want to share. This book has a very moral lesson. Do you want to starve to death and dehydrate or do you want to get along? Logical people would pick the third option. However, in life all too often people don't especially those in power.

The further I get into Pendragon, the more I think that J.D. McHale is trying to make himself the modern day C.S. Lewis wrapping simple tales of morality into a fun adventure story in the hopes of influencing future generations. There are definitely worse things one could be doing especially because the man can really write. So many people who try to write moral stories just lack the actual story telling ability. J.D. McHale has it in the right order in my opinion. The story first. The moral second. It's kind of a side dish that the reader doesn't even realize he or she is ingesting.

Mark and Courtney (Bobby's friends on second Earth) also have there share of adventures in this book. At the end of the last book, you may remember me commenting how sorry I was that Courtney had become such a damsel in distress all of a sudden. Still, I suppose given the fact that her best friend/boyfriend is off saving the world from dangers any 15 year old girl would go a little nuts. In this book, Courtney has a nervous breakdown of sorts. Luckily, with a little self-help and other help, she finds her way back to normality again. Unfortunately, said normality comes at a price. I'm not going to tell you because that would spoil the plot. Suffice it to say, I was right about the intentions of one Andy Mitchell. You'll have to read the book to see what I mean.

This book will keep you guessing until the very last page or track depending on what format you get it in. I'd rate it a 9 out of 10.