PENDRAGON: THE MERCHANT OF DEATH

The reader outshines the writer in this first in a young adult adventure series. Fourteen-year-old Bobby Pendragon's first kiss with Courtney Chetwynde is interrupted when Bobby's eccentric uncle arrives on a motorcycle urging Bobby to accompany him on a mission through a wormhole to the planet Denduron. Narrator William Dufris helps make this shallow character almost likable with his lively and youthful style. But the merely average story gets mired down by Bobby's constant whining and by the use of clichéd preteen slang. Dufris puts an energetic, believable essence into his reading that will make this an enjoyable, but forgettable, story. S.E.S. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 05/ JAN 06]