Deeper by Roderick Gordon, Brian Williams

From Barnes & Noble

In Tunnels, this series' first installment, youthful archaeologist Will Burrows went in search of his missing father and stumbled upon a huge, sinister subterranean world. In this stand-alone follow-up, the quick-witted Burrows pieces together more about the festering underground Colony and the ultimate goal of the insidious Styx: extinction for all the Topsoilers! A high-stakes fantasy adventure; a promising choice for reluctant male readers.

Children's Literature

Some sequels are slow-paced clunkers that serve more as a bridge between books one and three than as a work of quality literature. Deeper, sequel to New York Times Bestseller Tunnels, is not that kind of sequel. Instead it serves to enrich the world created by the first book with more complex plots, more sinister violence, more frightening fun and deeper connections between characters. The introduction of two new characters further expands the subterranean world. The enhanced character and plot development, combined with a darker and slightly more violent story, make Deeper a fast-paced and compelling read. It is a rare book that can create an entirely new fantastic, harsh, creative yet believable world for readers to visit. This book is not only sure to be a hit with existing fans of the series; it will also attract new readers to this dark and twisty world. Highly recommended for purchase by school and public libraries. Order multiple copies—this book will be popular! Reviewer: Meagan Albright

VOYA

This sequel to Tunnels (Chicken House/ Scholastic, 2008/VOYA October 2008) begins with Will's biological mother, an escaped Colonist, evading the merciless Styx above ground, while Will, Chester, and Will's brother Cal are on the Miners' Train, headed into the Deeps, a place of dread for the people of the underground Colony. Chester, Will's friend from Topside, was tortured and then banished to the Deeps. Will, accompanied by Cal, has gone to save him and to look for Will's adoptive father, an archaeologist who is happily exploring the Deeps. He does not know that his daughter Rebecca is a changeling, a member of the Styx assigned to watch Will while he was growing up. Rebecca also leads the search for Will's mother, who after twelve years of freedom, is finally captured and, mislead to believe that Will is evil, that he (instead of the Styx) killed her brother, has kidnapped Cal, and must be destroyed. Soon Will's mother also is in the Deeps, armed and dangerous and after her son. Fortunately Will and company have met Drake, a Topsider brought below by the Styx for his engineering skills, who escaped and now battles against them, and Elliott, a teenage girl trained to be as deadly as he is, especially with explosives. Their mission is to survive and to stop the biological plague the Styx plan to spread topside. The cliffhanger ending leaves readers anxiously awaiting book three, Freefall. This page-turner has lots of action and deeds of derring-do for fans of dark, dystopian fantasies. Reviewer: Bonnie Kunzel

School Library Journal

Gr 5-9

This volume begins exactly where Tunnels (Scholastic, 2008) ended-with Will, Chester, and Cal on a train taking them away from the Colony to the deeper underground wilds. The authors waste no time with backstory and leap straight into the plot; they maintain a frenetic pace throughout via short chapters and nonstop action. The Styx, who tortured children in the last book, prove to be even more malevolent in this one. After teaming up with two renegades in the Deep, Will discovers that the Styx are planning to kill all of the humans living Topsoil so that the Colony can reclaim the Earth. Determined to stop them and to find his father, who is wandering lost in this underground world, Will is constantly running for his life, enduring hardships or caught in skirmishes with the militant Styx. There are dark moments in this book-references to torture, drug use, and intense violence-and several important characters die, but the pace is so rushed that readers have no time to dwell. Purchase where Tunnels is popular or where there is a need for action/adventure for readers who aren't afraid of the dark.-Caroline Tesauro, Radford Public Library, VA

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