#124 in Middle grade
The Merchant of Death
- 384
- Pages
- about 7 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“The Merchant of Death” opens the “Pendragon” series with a tense, mysterious adventure for younger readers. MacHale sends Bobby Pendragon to another world, Denduron, and some readers credit him with a fresh spin on the old idea of crossing into a strange land. Others find the teenage slang already dated, and some object to what they see as contempt for fat people.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Merchant of Death is the first book in the Pendragon series by D. J. MacHale. It follows the adventures of Bobby Pendragon as he travels to Denduron.
Reading order · Pendragon: Journal of an Adventure through Time and Space
Full order & progress →- The Merchant of DeathThis book
7.77.7 / 10 - The Lost City of Faar
7.97.9 / 10 - The Never War
7.97.9 / 10 - The Reality Bug
8.08.0 / 10 - Black Water
7.97.9 / 10 - The Rivers of Zadaa
8.08.0 / 10 - The Quillan Games
8.08.0 / 10 - The Pilgrims of Rayne
7.97.9 / 10 - Raven Rise
8.08.0 / 10 - The Soldiers of Halla
8.08.0 / 10 - Pendragon: Before the War
–Not ranked yet
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.7 across 182 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 55% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Middle grade average of 8.0. That is how 7.7 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.9 | 15 | 8% |
| Hardcover | 7.7 | 167 | 92% |
Frequently asked
What age is The Merchant of Death for?
The Merchant of Death sits on the Middle grade shelf in the sources we use, which by convention means roughly ages 8–12. This is a guide from the book’s category, not a publisher’s age rating. It has 384 pages — shorter than 65% of the ranked books in Middle grade.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Middle grade — with scores between 7.1 and 8.0, closest to this book.
