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4.32 AVERAGE
4.32 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A good YA caper - lives up to my memory from childhood. I think I first read the book in middle school, but there is a lot for adults here. The world-building is fresh and imaginative - if creepy. It leans into classic YA factionalism tropes, but it has some very subtle and unexpected themes of real-world economic inequality and political instability that develop slowly over the whole series.
I really struggled to finish this book.
I found the entire plot very basic and was deeply unsatisfied with the ending. Perhaps the excitement did not live up to the expectations set for the audience.
I found the entire plot very basic and was deeply unsatisfied with the ending. Perhaps the excitement did not live up to the expectations set for the audience.
Cried for 15 minutes. Fuck you Suzanne (I love you and I’m so lucky to be alive in a time where I can read your books)
adventurous
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ripped my heart out
adventurous
emotional
funny
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ummm wtf ares dies, at least ripread lived
This is the culmination of everything that has been building in the Underland since Gregor first fell down from his laundry room. Sandwich’s prophecies had been demanding ever more of him, of his traveling companions, his family and friends, and tying their ropes ever tighter around all of the Underland’s inhabitants, from the smallest pup to the largest warrior. With Luxa’s declaration of war on the rats following the genocide they discovered in the last book, the pace never lets up in the Code of Claw.
In the midst of this war, Gregor finds himself alternately trapped and torn apart as he’s buffeted around by the machinations of others as much as by his own choices. It has been a while since he seemed to have any say in the path his life would take, being marked as the Warrior in Sandwich’s prophecies, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t question the prophecies and the role they demand of him more and more. A startling revelation also prompts him to reconsider all he thought he knew about how the humans came to inhabit the Underland and Regalia, something that will shake him to the very core. On top of all that, his family members are becoming even more entangled in the whole affair, as pawns and other chess pieces to fulfill the latest and most doom-filled prophecy yet (thankfully we are not made to wait long to see this prophecy which has been teased to us and Gregor in the last book, and one element of it was exactly what I expected, which was satisfying).
I flew through this book, and it really fleshed out all I was hoping this series would come to be – I got it on recommendation in how shares similarities with Animorphs and its themes of war, morality, child soldiers, prejudice, and more. It’s a solid second place to Animorphs, as it does not shy much away from the darkness and light which play out in a war on both sides of the lines, and while it does soften them just a bit, it makes sure to keep it honest and real, to provide a sort of map, guidelines, from which young readers can learn and start to formulate their own ideas of difficult topics.
There were also some very clear lines I saw which connect the Underland Chronicles to Ms. Collins’ later The Hunger Games series. I could see very easily how Underland evolved into Hunger Games, especially in the character/actions of Solovet (spoiler for the end of Hunger Games:) and the “after” the war (spoiler for both Underland and Hunger Games endings:. While the Crenshaw ending is understandable – the kid is only like 8, not Gregor’s 12 years old – it chafed me. Gregor’s “ending” has some chafing possibility, but Collins deftly leaves it just open enough that we know the door to the Underland is not – and never will be - truly closed. And I, for one, cannot imagine Gregor never going back. Not just because of Luxa, or Ripred, or Howard, or Hazard, or any of the other many close friends he made down there, but also because he has been utterly changed by his time in the Underland. He’s a boy between two worlds now, and he may be well-equipped to transition to peace given the reflections he shares with us throughout the length of the novel, but I’m not sure he can transition to a life of hiding what he has witnessed, experienced, and executed in the Underland. I’m certain he would go back, and probably make a life for himself down there. I really appreciated just how much more agency Gregor took on even has people conspired to keep taking it away from him, and how he really analyzes events, past and present and future, and is really more than ever standing his ground for what he believes is right. The second quote under the cut in “Favorite Quotes” below was especially poignant in how Gregor has matured and grown over this series, and packs a punch in a simple package.
So for all that, this is 5 stars rounded up from 4.5 (the half is knocked off for the details in the above spoiler cut), and ultimately a very fulfilling and satisfying ending to a series which kept upping its game, throwing curveballs at Gregor and us, and throwing those darts ever closer to that bull’s eye circle of addressing very serious and dark, dangerous events from the eyes of a child who is thrust in way over his head and must learn to swim if he is to survive, and to fight if he is to have a chance at keeping anyone he cares about safe.
Favorite quotes:
It’s that time of the series where all the quotes are under a spoiler cut :)
To make matters worse, the moles hadn’t attacked Gregor at first. They had given him a chance to at least say where he stood. And he had stood with the humans. It was a terrible feeling, to be on the wrong side of what was right. – page 215
He thought back to the diggers and how Sandwich had poisoned them and stolen their land. That wasn’t fair. Even in war there should be lines you didn’t cross. – page 234
“I was thinking of what was right,” said Ares. “Do you know, when a prophecy does not fulfill itself in a coherent manner, we always say it was not yet its time. And we blame ourselves for not realizing it.”
“I’m beginning to think the main thing we ought to be blaming ourselves for is letting Sandwich boss us around instead of doing what we think is right,” said Gregor. “Using him as an excuse to kill one another. At the end of the day, we’re the ones holding the swords.”
“There must be better words to follow,” agreed Ares.
“Sure there are. You and me, we could make up better words in our sleep,” said Gregor. – page 340-341
How much energy [people around the world] put into harming one another. How little into saving. Would it ever change? What would it take to change? He thought of Luxa’s hand pressed into Ripred’s paw. That’s what it would take. People rejecting war. Not one or two, but all of them. Saying it was an unacceptable way to solve their differences. By the look of things, the human race had a lot of evolving to do before that happened. Maybe it was impossible. But maybe it wasn’t. Like Vikus said, nothing would happen unless you hoped it could. If you had hope, maybe you could find the way to make things change. Because if you thought about it, there were so many reasons to try. – page 411
In the midst of this war, Gregor finds himself alternately trapped and torn apart as he’s buffeted around by the machinations of others as much as by his own choices. It has been a while since he seemed to have any say in the path his life would take, being marked as the Warrior in Sandwich’s prophecies, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t question the prophecies and the role they demand of him more and more. A startling revelation also prompts him to reconsider all he thought he knew about how the humans came to inhabit the Underland and Regalia, something that will shake him to the very core. On top of all that, his family members are becoming even more entangled in the whole affair, as pawns and other chess pieces to fulfill the latest and most doom-filled prophecy yet (thankfully we are not made to wait long to see this prophecy which has been teased to us and Gregor in the last book, and one element of it was exactly what I expected, which was satisfying).
I flew through this book, and it really fleshed out all I was hoping this series would come to be – I got it on recommendation in how shares similarities with Animorphs and its themes of war, morality, child soldiers, prejudice, and more. It’s a solid second place to Animorphs, as it does not shy much away from the darkness and light which play out in a war on both sides of the lines, and while it does soften them just a bit, it makes sure to keep it honest and real, to provide a sort of map, guidelines, from which young readers can learn and start to formulate their own ideas of difficult topics.
There were also some very clear lines I saw which connect the Underland Chronicles to Ms. Collins’ later The Hunger Games series. I could see very easily how Underland evolved into Hunger Games, especially in the character/actions of Solovet (spoiler for the end of Hunger Games:
Spoiler
Solovet is very much the precursor to the lady who took control from the “destroyed” district and ordered Katniss’ little sister’s death to keep Katniss under her thumbSpoiler
Underland actually pulls fewer punches, as both Twitchtip and Ares die (the former off-scene, the latter during a heart-wrenching final battle), and we are led to believe Ripred dies as well. I actually was banking on that the meaning of the prophecy would once again be twisted and Ripred would be named “warrior” by Gregor and subsequently die instead of Gregor – that is, if Gregor didn’t have a metaphorical death of his own – because no way would Collins actually kill Gregor, her main character! She went the metaphorical route after all, and if we sweep under the rug how very unlikely it is that Gregor could snap Sandwich’s sword across his knee, it stands. Secondly, Hunger Games suffered from managing a “happily ever after” with some shadows after Katniss’s initial depression, but that’s all the events of the Hunger Games ended up being: shadows, not scars. With Gregor, though, beyond his actual physical scars which will forever mark him and separate him from the Overlanders, he carries scars on his heart and in his mind from what he did, the consequences of his actions, and what he became while in the Underland. There’s still a bit of a happily-ever-after, but it is much more subdued – his parents remind him that now he has parental supervision again and needs to keep them informed, but I at least got the feeling that he wasn’t truly done with the Underland despite how hard Collins tries to make it seem he will be. Where Gregor is left at the end reminds me a bit of the end of Crenshaw,Spoiler
where the main character, a child, is on the cusp of making a decision of his own to change the course of his own life, but then ultimately bows down to the decisions of his parents insteadSo for all that, this is 5 stars rounded up from 4.5 (the half is knocked off for the details in the above spoiler cut), and ultimately a very fulfilling and satisfying ending to a series which kept upping its game, throwing curveballs at Gregor and us, and throwing those darts ever closer to that bull’s eye circle of addressing very serious and dark, dangerous events from the eyes of a child who is thrust in way over his head and must learn to swim if he is to survive, and to fight if he is to have a chance at keeping anyone he cares about safe.
Favorite quotes:
It’s that time of the series where all the quotes are under a spoiler cut :)
Spoiler
And he knew he couldn’t do that [break down and beg the guards to let him out]. Let Solovet win. He had to leave this cell as uninfluenced by her as he had entered it, or he would just become her pawn in this whole awful war. And he would really, truly rather be dead than do that. If he gave that woman control over him, there would be nothing left inside of him. – page 100To make matters worse, the moles hadn’t attacked Gregor at first. They had given him a chance to at least say where he stood. And he had stood with the humans. It was a terrible feeling, to be on the wrong side of what was right. – page 215
He thought back to the diggers and how Sandwich had poisoned them and stolen their land. That wasn’t fair. Even in war there should be lines you didn’t cross. – page 234
“I was thinking of what was right,” said Ares. “Do you know, when a prophecy does not fulfill itself in a coherent manner, we always say it was not yet its time. And we blame ourselves for not realizing it.”
“I’m beginning to think the main thing we ought to be blaming ourselves for is letting Sandwich boss us around instead of doing what we think is right,” said Gregor. “Using him as an excuse to kill one another. At the end of the day, we’re the ones holding the swords.”
“There must be better words to follow,” agreed Ares.
“Sure there are. You and me, we could make up better words in our sleep,” said Gregor. – page 340-341
How much energy [people around the world] put into harming one another. How little into saving. Would it ever change? What would it take to change? He thought of Luxa’s hand pressed into Ripred’s paw. That’s what it would take. People rejecting war. Not one or two, but all of them. Saying it was an unacceptable way to solve their differences. By the look of things, the human race had a lot of evolving to do before that happened. Maybe it was impossible. But maybe it wasn’t. Like Vikus said, nothing would happen unless you hoped it could. If you had hope, maybe you could find the way to make things change. Because if you thought about it, there were so many reasons to try. – page 411
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No