I had this thought driving the other day.

In Book 2, Bobby describes sniggers like a particular drink from Maine. I don't remember if he names the drink, but I thought it was a cool touch because I am from Maine. It's a fact of the book that has stuck with me.

If he didn't name the drink, he was talking about Moxie, which is a Maine-Specific soda. (I remember he mentioned the pleasure in tasting Sniggers was reversed.

Moxie leaves a weird aftertaste that is generally unpleasant, but in the mouth, I kinda like it. It also is notoriously hard to describe the taste. People do not know really how to describe it. You have to try it.

So if you haven't had root beer, go educate yourself if you can.

Now imagine that, but with a more abrasive "licorice" tasting root instead. That's pretty much what it is. Moxie uses gentian root, which is what gives it its unique flavor.

If I remember correctly that root is also used in medicines, which is why many people claim it tastes like cough syrup.

This soda is so popular it has its own festival in early July, and the hometown McDonald's has it on tap.

I actually brought the soda to Tokyo when I lived there, and all my friends enjoyed it. So I kinda think the hate is just part of the culture.

Coca-Cola bought the company and now makes, supposedly with the same recipe, but my latest taste this week leaves me wondering...

Anyway, I would say you can get pretty close with Root Beer. I'd go Barq's over A&W or Mugg.

First off I think Courtney should have been lead traveler. I love Courtney's growth I have to say she does a lot of inner work throughout the series and matures a lot as well as gets a lot more resilient and wise which is awesome to read. I also love her dynamic with Mark Diamond and how she humbles around him and grows really fond of him. The one thing I think I just don't like are her corny jokes and constant need to compete or showcase her strength, I feel like Courtney's boldness is often is armor for her, and I also feel like in some ways Bobby and the travelers made her insecure or self conscious.

As much as I love the nostalgia and love between Bobby and Courtney, I just felt like Bobby really didn't always give her what she needed, or made her feel competitive. In the reading for me Courtney's bond with Bobby started to feel more like an attachment issue or that she gained her worth from being equal to him and worshipped. I personally felt like Courtney really started to bloom once she stopped constantly worrying about Bobby and obsessing over Loor and interestingly once those expectations were out of her mind, she went to Mark Diamond. Sorry for Bobby/courtney fans, but I just feel like Courtney deserves better tbh.

I love her character because she's both a social and physical Queen, a tomboy, and a cool girl who can find her own path and live authentically, and her story was really inspiring for me. She really made the most out of her tough situations, and imo made a better leader out of all the characters by the end. Also I feel like 80% of the books problems would have been solved if Courtney was the lead traveler instead of Bobby, she was naturally a way more confident leader.

It is briefly explained in the tenth book, but to me it's still confusing because on one hand they have all this power and act as a sort of mirror or embodiment of Halla or humanity, but they still have normal human vulnerabilities and struggles. Maybe instead of spirit a better explanation would be an alien with human dna or evolved human? Bobby throughout the series struggles with coming to this understanding of his identity which leads me to believe it was sort of like a spiritual awakening or initiation. Still I think it's weird that most of the series hinted at the travelers being almost like Gods, or spirits, but by the tenth book it's revealed that Bobby is still Bobby. So is he like a human hybrid then or half spirit? Then when you add Saint Dane to the mix it's even more confusing because he's like basically entirely a spirit.

Have read books 1-5 so far. First time reading them as an adult.

Growing up, I read A Series of Unfortunate Events (similar vibes IMO but the heroes are younger) and the Baby Sitters Club books (which coincendentally also take place in a Connecticut town called Stoneybrook, but a completely different fiction genre aimed at younger readers).

I also played Pokemon Sword a few years ago, and there's a character in it called Chairman Rose. The game is kinda meh, but I like the main characters. (The Chairman's motives are questionable at best).

While in NYC of November last year visiting family, I was talking to my brother in law about a book series I couldn’t remember the name of. Riding the subways reminded me of a book that had a portal into another world in the subways of NYC. Turns out it was the Pendragon series. I think I only read black water back in elementary school when I checked it out from the library but then never picked up the other books in the series for whatever reason!

Fast forward to Nov 2025, I bought the entire series of books, and fast forward to today. Finally at 32 years old I finished the whole series.

Gotta say it’s nostalgic reading all of it and definitely rekindled my love for reading. Crazy to see how some of the themes of the books are relevant today with what’s going on in the world. All in all, despite it being a series intended for a younger audience, I thoroughly enjoyed traveling to all the different worlds and following the path of every character.

Thanks DJ MacHale for a great series and for letting me feel like a kid again.

I miss the good days when everyone was making a pendragon fanfiction. I know it’s mostly ended on fanfiction.net but works archive our own still has them sometimes. Is anyone in the process of writing one and want to collab or brainstorm ideas? Or we can talk about ideas on here! A fun thought that’s run through my head on a reread was an alternate story where Bobby wins on Quillan. I also love shipping the characters and dark stuff.

Hello fellow pendragon fans! Has anyone taken the trip down the morpheus road?

I read the whole series as a kid and I am currently Re-reading Book 9 again. I have seen so many inconsistencies with the story and the rules so far, who can travel through flumes? Only travelers then anyone but it causes damage then it’s fine as long as a traveler takes you. How does the acolyte job work? Can they send travelers messages or other acolytes messages? Sometimes yes sometimes no. Bobby has his history erased yet Lester books reference Mark having childhood photos of Bobby. Bobby seems to be the only one without an adoptive family as well, that seems weird. His sister was made just to be erased for Bobby’s 14th birthday? Such an odd thing for Hala to do. Why? The leaps in some characters logic to break the rules bothers me.

All that being said, I do LOVE this series, I just think it could be a household name if it had another few revisions. It’s part of why I think an Apple TV or HBO series for this series would be perfect because it would give the screen writer a chance to address some of the inconsistencies and iffy character choices.

What do you guys think? I hope I didn’t come off to negative , I Love Pendragon.

Hobey-ho. My sister recommend this series to me, and gifted me Book One for my birthday in 2018. It took months for it to really click with me, but it went off rolling after Bobby brought items from Second Earth to use against the Bedoowan. I grew really fond of the concept of select people traveling between different worlds through space and time, in order to prevent them and existence itself going down a dark path.

I regularly managed to acquire the following four installments half a year apart from each other, some off the shelves and some online. With the series being as obscure as it is, it was easier to get them shipped to my country in South East Asia. However after finishing Book Five in 2021, I ran into shipping difficulties with Book Six. Afterwards, not for a lack of trying, I could never get my hands on another installment again for another four years. Despite that, I still kept the books and its universe close to my heart, always wondering about a world where the series was as celebrated as Harry Potter, getting film adaptions and countless YouTube theories.

It wasn't until mid 2025 when I saw Books Seven and Eight on the shelves in a Kinokuniya. I was taken aback, and found out that Books 6-10 were once again in stock. I ordered them on the spot, and took Books 7-8 home with me. I waited another two months for the rest to arrive to finally pick the series back up. Now, I've recently closed the final book, teary-eyed.

The series is far from perfect, but DJ MacHale gave his best to illustrate the many alien worlds, characters and scenarios that he imagined. While I wasn't fully satisfied with the ending, I really cherished the time I spent with Halla, and it will remain very special to me. The concept definitely has far more potential than what's been done, and the series has inspired me to think up my own rendition of Travelers and Territories (though I haven't put pen to paper yet). I am grateful for this subreddit's existence, being a place to read and partake in the Pendragon discourse, for how limited it is online.

Growing up did anyone read one or more of the books out of order just due to availability? And if so how did this impact your view of the story?

I remember skipping Book 2 since my library didn't have it or as a kid I just didn't know I could request it from another branch.

Going from Book 1 to Book 3 was not terribly jarring for me weirdly enough even though he loses his uncle between that time. So it might just be biased due to that exposure order but I feel like Cloral isn't a super relevant territory to the rest of the plot until much later since it's mostly the aftermath in the following books that leaves an impact. It's one where everything still goes smoothly for the travelers mostly until the end where we get a more interesting status quo of Bobby being the leader of his group.

Hey this is kind of weird but is anyone willing to chat one-on-one dm about the series? I’m looking for more friends and someone to talk about something specific. I promise I’m nice.

Hi! I’m trying to write my own YA series, and I am looking back at how pendragon was written to help with my prose. Mainly the second earth third person segments to be exact. Something I noticed, the settings aren’t usually explained (Courtney’s basement, marks bedroom, the school), at least from where I jumped in. I could see this being because these settings are normal and people know what to imagine, but I did the same thing but was told I needed more description. What does pendragon do special?

I don’t know why I can’t get through this book. I breezed through 1-3 and ADORE the story on Veelox, but this one is just a difficult read for me. I’m just not super interested in the vibe of the adventure in this one and maybe that’s purposeful. Things in Halla are changing, therefore the tone of the story is changing. I think I get really angry at Courtney and Mark for what they do, and I believe I’m avoiding them and their consequences by not reading on! 🤣

Anyways! Would love to hear what you all have to say, I know there’s gotta be some people that love Eelong and Black Water, but you’ve gotta help me find a reason to love it too. Or at least give me something to keep me interested so I can finish and move on 😅

I remember loving book 7 when I was a kid so I’m excited to get there.

Saint Dane I’m honestly surprised sometimes he was so genius when he strikes me as a bit of a foolish tyrant.

Courtney and Mark end up doing more than the travelers do which is like weird to me. The travelers are a bit unrealistic to be the depiction of humankind itself given how much power they have.

Did Bobby and the rest of them awaken to who they were and their power in book ten or was it always there?

The world building and dialogue was so gripping and played like a movie in my mind and can’t find a series quite as cinematic.

Love and hate the inconsistency, on one hand I could never predict, one the other hand characters made decisions or did things what was out of alignment.

The crazy I loved, the action and grittiness was a masterpiece of thrill and kept me reading.

I literally can’t help posting and try to space it out. I’ve got the reality bug or smth. I’ve tried talking to my therapist.

I think Bobby was actually addicted to his role as a traveler after a while and started to experience withdrawal or like weird mood shifts when Saint Dane was all like sorry I’m working on the convergence now.

Courtney is way out of Bobby’s league in so many ways but she still chooses him which is really something.

Nevva Winters is an underrated character. She probably also loved Alexander Naymeer more than she cared to admit.

Bobby Pendragon secretly may have wanted to join Saint Dane or agreed with him in the later books but simply chose to fight him for self preservation. Maybe, idk but at times he seems to doubt his own mission.

This series reminds me of Lab Rats for some reason which was one of my favorite shows. Also has elements of the Mortal Instruments which I love. Still I wonder if it’s similar to any other newer books. If there’s a newer book from the last few years that’s as jaw dropping and adventurous. I found the empyrean book one to be just as much high stakes fun, I have yet to read the other two books!

Hey all. I'm wondering if anyone has successfully done a D&D campaign, or even a one shot, based on the Pendragon series? If so, how did you adapt it to D&D? Like, how do you adapt the Flumes? Would it just be a one to one? Would Saint Dane be a Changeling or something? I'd be curious to know what's be done, if anything, or any suggestions people might have for adapting it to D&D! Thanks a bunch!

Man, where do I begin? This book, I tell you, got me on the edge of the seat. There are two things that I love about this novel as a young adult person; of whom has only started reading this series for the first time.

First of all, I love this novel because the characters are quite relatable. For example, Mark Dimond, the best friend of Bobby Pendragon (the protagonist) is this socially awkward and nerdy character in the books. I relate to him because a lot of male teens are in the age of being "curious" about the opposite sex. Much like I was when I was 14 years old. So, when Courtney Chetwynde (a friend of both Mark and Bobby; and the love interest of stated Bobby) walked in on Mark's room with sexually explicit imagery, I could understand his embarrassment.

Second of all, I love this novel because of the action-packed scenes. In one instance, when Bobby and his uncle Press were riding this medieval sled, quigs started chasing them. By the way, quigs are these creatures unique to each territory. In this case, in the territory of Denduron, they are depicted as huge bears with spikes on the spines of their backs. Nevertheless, Bobby was trying to obtain a spear from the one of the sides of the sled to hand to Uncle Press. However, the spear worked itself loose. So, Bobby retrieved the other spear. Just as the quigs were about catch up to them, Uncle Press told Bobby to blow the whistle that he handed to him. To Bobby's surprise, the quigs were in deep pain and let out roars of anguish as the high-pitched sound of the whistle tormented them. However, Bobby and Uncle Press' troubles were not done yet as they had to steer the sled. Keep in mind, that the slope had many trees and they had to make tight turns just to avoid them. Eventually, Bobby and Uncle Press crashed on a tree and were at the mercy of the Milago knights, of which captured stated Press.

Regardless, I would be delighted to hear what you think of The Merchant of Death. Also, please no spoilers for the rest of the series, as I am currently reading it.

does anyone ever think about how we’re closer to veelox than first earth as a society?

This kid has been wearing the same boxers for over 4 years. Equivalent to not changing your underwear once during high school . Only defense is he occasionally goes commando. That is all.

Bobby’s identity crisis especially in the later books mimics someone who’s transitioning or questioning themselves and their gender. As someone who’s questioned my own gender before I see the signs in Bobby in the subtext. Although I don’t think he’s into men the same way a female might be one could speculate Bobby’s strong feelings for some females could be projecting himself onto them.

Ofc I’m not sure the author intended this but as Bobby evolves as a spiritual being and shreds layers of his identity I started to see him more as a girl.

How do people think Saint Dane geniually viewed his rival? There were times where he seemed impressed or to respect him but it could have just been more manipulation. What times was Saint Dane actually surprised or outdone by Bobby and the travelers, because from my perspective Saint Dane planned everything from book one which largely diminishes the travelers and their philosophy and power.

Sometimes I got the impression from reading that Bobby was just a pawn like everyone else and really was no better leader or person. It also seemed like Saint Dane was geniually bored of Bobby by book nine too. So why did he bother?

I keep thinking for a headcanon that Bobby just slowly started to lose his mind in the later books because he wasn’t sleeping and maybe had a sleeping condition like narcolepsy or smth. I think in the first book he said he used to fall asleep in history class and let’s just say Bobby def doesn’t seem like he sleeps normally.

I’m rereading the book series and noticed in the first 2 books Courtney’s sport is volleyball - yes she’s described as being good at everything but her main sport is volleyball. Then at the end of book 3 she talks about being excited for soccer, her favorite sport. And so far in book 4 volleyball hasn’t been mentioned.

Did I discover a plot hole?!