First edition cover
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Author | D. J. MacHale |
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Cover artist | Victor Lee |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Series | Pendragon |
Genre | Fantasy novel |
Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
Publication date
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June 28, 2005 |
Media type | Print (Hardback) |
Pages | 405 pp (first edition, hardback) |
ISBN | (first edition, hardback) |
OCLC | 57393076 |
LC Class | PZ7.M177535 Ri 2005 |
Preceded by | Black Water |
Followed by | The Quillan Games |
The Rivers of Zadaa is the sixth novel in the Pendragon series by D. J. MacHale.
This story takes place mainly on a territory called Zadaa. There will be two main tribes here: The Rokador and the Batu. The Rokador live in tunnels underground and are fair-skinned, while the Batu are dark-skinned and live in a sunbathed city called Xhaxhu in the desert. For years, the Rokador have relied on the Batu to protect them from other savage tribes on Zadaa, and the Batu have relied on the Rokador to provide them with water. But the Rokador seem to be holding back the water, causing all the Batu to starve.
As in the other Pendragon books, this book covers Bobby's adventures and those of Mark and Courtney, his friends on Second Earth. Bobby's adventures are chronicled as an epistolary novel and those of his friends in the third-person narrative.
The story starts after Bobby Pendragon has spoken with Loor, who explains to him, the lead Traveler and main character, the situation on Zadaa, introduces Bobby to her sister and her acolyte Saangi and her friends, Bokka and Teek. Soon afterwards, Saint Dane, who is disguised as a Batu warrior, beats Bobby up with a wooden staff. Bobby is almost killed but is rescued by Pelle a Zinj, the kind prince, and recovers quickly in a Batu hospital. After Bobby has recovered, he decides to start training to be a warrior. Alder, the Traveler from Denduron, joins Loor and Saangi to help train him. For 3 weeks, Bobby works hard in a deserted training camp. Finally, at the end of the 3 weeks, they all celebrate his successful training but are interrupted by an attack by a group of Rokador, who shoots Bokka with several arrows and flees. As Bokka dies, he gives Bobby and Loor a map to the underground city Kidik, and tell them that Saint Dane is there.
Loor and Bobby decide to attend the Batu Festival of Azhra first, because Pelle a Zinj has invited them personally. At the festival, Pelle a Zinj is killed by a Rokador. After this, it rains, but still there is no ready supply water for the Batu. This convinces the Batu that the Rokador are indeed holding back the water and they start making preparations for war. Meanwhile, Bobby and Loor begin their journey to the city of Kidik. There, they find an underground ocean of fresh water. They take a boat across this, arriving on an island where Saint Dane finds them and puts them in a prison-like room. Bobby and Loor later escape and learn that after an epidemic virus had killed most of the Rokador, Saint Dane was able to convince the survivors to attack the Batu. The plan was to hold back the water, making the Batu starve; when the Batu attacked, the Rokador would flood the entire village, drowning all.