Caution: spoilers ahead.
I imagine that many adult readers of the Underland Chronicles are like me, and came across these books after reading the Hunger Games trilogy and looking for more works by Suzanne Collins. I admit, I started to read Gregor the Overlander and was a little skeptical: short, simple sentences targeted for a little bit younger reading audience, talking animals, somewhat formulaic quests based on prophecies seemingly taken for granted. I enjoyed the first few books, but for me it was toward the end of the third book where I felt like Collins really hit her stride and told a tale in the second half of the series that I would say can stand toe-to-toe with the more heralded Hunger Games trilogy. In some ways, the unadorned sentences and the younger protagonists magnify the horror and tragedy of the tale; to be honest, this series packs one emotional gut-punch after another, even for an adult reader like myself ... I would think that for many children it could be a little too intense.
As an adult reader, however, I was impressed by the storytelling, the characters, and the ability to create a world at once magical and yet also brutal, grim, and frighteningly like our own. So many moments in this series stand out, but for me the last two books were truly mesmerizing. I think about the juxtaposition in the 4th book between the birthday party, which is one of the few (and last) moments of childish fun and innocence in the series, to be replaced shortly by the terror, helplessness, and true moral anguish represented by the genocide of the mice at the hands of the rats (in many ways, that had to be one of the darkest and most hopeless points in the series). I think about the moment when Gregor lies dying in a lightless cave alone but for the mutilated corpses of his friend and of his mortal enemy ... and his thoughts are consumed by the belief that this end is most fitting, that death is preferable to life for a damaged warrior, lost between worlds. At the same time, this is a series full of hope, even in its darkest moments.
The genius of the Underland Chronicles (similar to the Hunger Games trilogy which would follow them) is two-fold: first, Collins weaves a tale of unrelenting action and adventure and yet does not allow the reader to simply enjoy and revel in the action simply for the sake of action--there are no winners or losers in Collins' wars ... only victims. This leads to the second key point: unlike many other tales, where wounds miraculously heal and traumas are forgotten, in Collins' world wounds cut deep, scars remain, and the depth of the physical violence is topped only by the mental and emotional trauma. The Underland Chronicles are about war, and the hope against hope that people will reject war even though the more natural inclination is to embrace it. In Collins' capable hands, Gregor is a delightful, nuanced, and complex protagonist: a reluctant warrior who sees himself in his enemies, is quick to see the virtues in others and the flaws in himself, and grasps the true horror of his task--and yet continues on, even if it destroys him.
Any critiques I have of the series are relatively mild. Perhaps my most nagging thought is that I wish Collins had spent more time on Gregor's decision to leave the Underland ... that he leaves is not surprising, but that he leaves it seemingly forever is somewhat more so. Gregor cannot forsake the Overland without abandoning his family, and as he himself notes, the existence of a warrior in a time of peace makes that peace all the more tenuous. At the same time, if he leaves the Underland, he also leaves behind a woman who loves him (it's hard to call Luxa a "girl" anymore; I still find the words, "Look at my city, Gregor. Look at my home" to be among the most haunting in the series), and a friend in Ripred who understands his fears and his dreams more than anyone else possibly could in either world. Obviously, the emotional impact of the ending diminishes greatly if Gregor leaves the Underland with "ok, see you all next Saturday!" as his parting words ... at the same time, it seems like he still has the potential to do good in the Underland--and the Underland has the potential to ease some of Gregor's deeper emotional scars. Yet Collins, who chooses her words extremely carefully, adds no qualifier to the last words of the penultimate chapter: "parting them forever".
Less major concerns: I was glad that skepticism toward the prophecies finally emerged toward the end of the series, but it could've been interesting if this tension between fate and free will had emerged a bit earlier in the series. Also, given the constant state of warfare, it was surprising that the humans never seemed to develop projectile weapons given the aerial superiority provided by bats ... put another way, the rats would have no answer for Katniss on a bat!
In the end, however, what an incredible series. To me, although written in a way that a younger audience can understand, this is an extremely "adult" tale in its themes and message. Like Gregor, the reader must leave the Underland ... but to paraphrase Gregor, we will never get rid of it, no matter how hard we try.
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Oops! Put together wrong.
I ordered this set of books to read but had to finish another series first. So, I just started to read and really liked the story so far. BUT, when I got to chapter 21 the pages are in the wrong order, with every other page being from earlier in the book and I cannot continue the story! It is missing pages 186, 187, 190, 191, 194, 195, 198,199. Just at the exciting part! The book was just put together wrong. Chapter 24 seems to be back to normal, but now I need to find another copy so I can read this part of the story. I hope everyone else’s books are assembled correctly, it’s a very good story so far!
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- Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2014
