Raven Rise
Authors: D.J. MacHale
PENDRAGON
JOURNAL OF AN ADVENTURE THROUGH TIME AND SPACE
Book Nine:
JOURNAL OF AN ADVENTURE THROUGH TIME AND SPACE
Book One:
The Merchant of Death
Book Two:
The Lost City of Faar
Book Three:
The Never War
Book Four:
The Reality Bug
Book Five:
Black Water
Book Six:
The Rivers of Zadaa
Book Seven:
The Quillan Games
Book Eight:
The Pilgrims of Rayne
Book Nine:
Raven Rise
Book Ten:
To Be Announced
SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2008 by D. J. MacHale
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
S
IMON
& S
CHUSTER
B
OOKS FOR
Y
OUNG
R
EADERS
is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
MacHale, D. J.
Raven rise / D. J. MacHale.â1st ed.
p. cm.â(Pendragon; bk. 9)
“Journal of an adventure through time and space.”
Summary: While Pendragon is trapped on Ibara, Alder returns to Denduron and reluctantly goes into battle again, and other Travelers face obstacles of various sorts, Saint Dane gains the power he seeks on Second Earth and makes his push toward destroying and rebuilding Halla.
ISBN-13: 978-1-4169-7495-6
ISBN-10: 1-4169-7495-4
[1. Adventure and adventurersâFiction. 2. Space and timeâFiction. 3. DiariesâFiction. 4. Fantasy.] I. Title.
PZ7.M177535Rav 2008
[Fic]âdc22
2007046886
Visit us on the World Wide Web:
http://www.SimonSays.com
For Gene & Theresa Gregory
The penultimate Pendragon.
Has a nice ring to it, no? In case you don't know what penultimate means, find a dictionary and look it up. Right now. Go. I'm serious. The book will still be here when you get back. Promise.
For those of you who already know what it means, bravo!
For those of you who actually ran off and looked it up, well done.
For those of you slackers who didn't know and didn't look it up either (cough
lazy
cough) I'll just tell you.
Penultimate: Second to last in a series or sequence.
Yup. This is it. The second to last chapter in the story of Bobby Pendragon and the Travelers. It's hard to believe. When I began writing
The Merchant of Death
so long ago, reaching the end of the story seemed like a distant, unattainable goal. Now we are on the verge of bringing it all to a close. I can actually see light at the end of the tunnel. Of course the tunnel happens to be a flume and the light is a force that was sent from the far reaches of Halla to come grab hold and launch us on the next-to-final leg of our journey.
So we may be close, but we're not done just yet.
You may think that getting a Pendragon book on the shelf is all about me. It isn't. Not even close. As always, I'd like to write a few words of thanks to those who have helped give life to the Pendragon saga. Many have been there from the very beginning. Some are new to the adventure. All have been instrumental in bringing this story to you.
All my friends at Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing have continued to be great supporters. My sincere gratitude goes out to Rick Richter, Rubin Pfeffer, Justin Chanda, Ellen Krieger, Paul Crichton, and so many more wonderful, talented people in marketing, promotion, and sales. I thank you all.
There's a new editor in town. Liesa Abrams. She has taken hold of the Pendragon reins with such joy and enthusiasm that I'm confident the story will be in very good hands until the last chapter of the final book is written. Thank you, Liesa.
A special note of thanks goes to Matt Schwartz, who is principally responsible for dusting off the cobwebs and spiffing up the Pendragon website. Great job, Matt.
We have a new cover designer and artist. They are Lucy Cummins and Dawn Austin. When I first saw their vision for
Raven Rise
, my jaw dropped.
In a good way.
I think it perfectly captures the next step in the evolution of Bobby's story and character. Very cool, guys.
Heidi Hellmich, ace copyeditor, has once again done a masterful job of correcting my improper English. Heidi has used her laserlike green pencil on every word of every book from the very beginning. If she gets hit by a bus before #10 is complete, we'll all be in trouble. Thanks so much, Heidi. Please be sure to always look both ways before crossing the street.
My good friend Richard Curtis has, as always, provided the kind of wisdom and sage guidance that allows me to muddle through the task of disassembling the universe without having to concern myself too much with real life. Thank you, Richard.
Peter Nelson has always been a great friend. He and Mark Wetzstein defy logic by being terrific lawyers while simultaneously being great guys. Incredible. I guess anything is possible in Halla.
Thank you again to Danny Baror, who continues to work to spread the Pendragon saga throughout the world. Also to Eileen Hutton, the talented Bill Dufris, and all the folks at Brilliance Audio who produce the awesome Pendragon audio books. And I owe a debt of gratitude to all the foreign language publishers of the Pendragon journals. I love seeing all the different versions of the books on my bookshelf. Of course I can't read a single one of them, but the covers sure do look great!
One of my favorite experiences when writing a Pendragon book is handing over the pages I'd written that day to my wife, Evangeline. She's the first critic to get a crack at the story and her insight is invaluable. She points out things that don't make sense or that feel wrong or are just plain bad. The first thing I do the next day is fine-tune the previous day's writing based on her thoughts. It's a great system. Though I have to admit my favorite comment I get from her is when she finishes the pages, drops them, looks at me, and says: “I want more.” That's when I know I did something right. Thanks, babe.
I still haven't introduced my daughter, Keaton, to Bobby Pendragon. After all, she's only four and a half. She's way more interested in princesses and magic. Every night she asks me to make up a story for her, starring her. Usually it's about a princess. Or magic. Duh. But a while back she said: “Daddy, tell me a scary story.” I raised an eyebrow in surprise and said, “Really? You sure?” She nodded. “Okay.” I shrugged and proceeded to make up a story that I think freaked her out so much that she's going to need serious therapy some time down the road. Oops. The story wasn't even that intense but for a minute I was afraid I had warped her for life. That is until shortly after when she started telling me her own stories that had to do with monsters and running around in dark caves and yellow snakes that disguise themselves as spaghetti. That's my girl. Just like her old man. I'll be writing scary stories for her for a long time to comeâ¦and enjoying hers. What a team!
I'm deeply grateful to all the booksellers, librarians, teachers, and parents who have recommended my books. There are a lot of great books to choose from and I'm honored that so many have chosen mine as one that is worthy of bringing to their young readers. Thanks!
Of course Pendragon wouldn't be Pendragon without you, my friends. To those of you who have been there since the beginning, a special thanks for sticking around to see how it will all come out. To everyone who has written to me, thanks for your thoughts, comments, and questions. It's a great feeling to know that my story has such an impact on you. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Or maybe I can. I appreciate it. A lot. There.
I think that about covers it, right? No? Oh, right. This is supposed to be about
Raven Rise
, isn't it? Almost forgot. Now where were we? Oh yeahâ¦
Convergence.
You could look that one up in the dictionary too but I'll do it myself and save you the trouble. (Cough
still lazy
cough)
Convergence: a coming together from different directions, especially a uniting or merging of groups or tendencies that were originally opposed or very different.
When we were last with Bobby, he made an incredible sacrifice that he thought would end the war with Saint Dane for good. He destroyed the entrance to the flume on Ibara, trapping himself and the demon on that territory. Though he knew the bold move meant he would never see his friends or his home again, he felt it was necessary because he was putting an end to Saint Dane's evil quest. There was only one problem.
The Convergence had already begun.
The war wasn't over. The story didn't end there. Not for Bobby. Not for Saint Dane.
And not for us.
Did you seriously think it would be any other way?
Like I said, we're not done yet.
This is the penultimate Pendragon.
Hobey ho, let's go.
âD. J. MacHale