Book Review: Gregor and the Code of the Claw

Title: Gregor and the Code of the Claw (Book 5 of The Underland Chronicles)

Author: Suzanne Collins

Genre: Middle Grade Reader, Fantasy, Adventure

Summary

The war has been declared,

Your ally is ensnared.

It is now or it is never.

Break the code or die forever.

Nobody wants Gregor to see the Prophecy of Time. But now he has no choice. War has broken out between the humans and the rats, and the prophecy may be the human's only chance of surviving. But something dark lurks between these words.

Time is running out,

Running out,

Running out.

"If you were to return home after you read the prophecy, I would not hold it against you."

How could she say that to Gregor? How could she not know that Underland has become Gregor's home, that he would do anything to save it. Nothing could make him leave it, not now, not when they need the warrior the most.

And then Gregor reads the line, and time comes to a stop.

Review

(I'll try not to spoil anything, if you promise not to be a good guesser.)

The whole book is nothing but war. If you like constant battles and killing, you may enjoy it.

Personally, I don't care for it. Instead of adventure, we get numbing amounts of violence, a high body count, and practically a guarantee that we will lose several beloved characters. (Pray that your favorite doesn't get the boot.) Also, there's a lot of waiting between the battles. Sometimes the characters are ordered to wait; sometimes they're healing from injuries.

The only real relief is the surprise appearance of a character who's been lingering in the background for a while now, severely underutilized. Finally this character has a role to play in the plot. Yay! This character also develops a relationship with Ripred, the wily rat warrior who fights for the humans, which ends up being very sweet. We also finally get some information on Ripred's past.

One thing that bothered me was the weary conclusion of the theme of war and peace. To expand, in Book 3, Hamnet introduced a philosophy that you didn't have to kill—you could try other things first. This is echoed in a key moment, during a fight in Book 4. In Book 5, Gregor has a moment where he goes too far. So with all of this, I kept hoping that he’d find a way to end it that didn’t involve violence.

But that didn’t happen. He goes off to kill the bad guy. The end.

And while there is peace after the war, it's that kind of exhausted peace that comes when everyone has died—and even then, the moment is very nearly ruined with vengeance and bickering.

As in all of The Underland Chronicles, you can expect page-turning suspense, action a-plenty, lovable characters, intense violence, and death. Probably best suited for older elementary and up.

Book Review: Gregor and the Marks of Secret

Title: Gregor and the Marks of Secret (Book 4 of The Underland Chronicles)

Author: Suzanne Collins

Genre: Middle Grade Reader, Fantasy, Adventure

Summary

Bat, bat,

Come under my hat,

I will give you a slice of bacon,

And when I bake, I will give you a cake,

If I am not mistaken.

For once, there's no prophecy. Instead, Gregor (twelve now) comes to Underland to beat the New York heat, hang out with his friends, sing silly songs, dance, and attend royal birthday parties. It turns out that without all those nasty wars threatening to break out, Underland is a pretty cool place.

Now the guests are at the door

Greet them as we have before.

Some will slice and some will pour.

Father, mother, sister brother,

Off they go, I do not know

If we will see another.

Unfortunately, the good times don't last. When friends send an urgent plea for help, Gregor finds himself on yet another quest. The mice are disappearing, and the only clue they’ve left behind is an ominous mark scratched on the floor. As Gregor and his friends follow the trail, they come across a dark and horrifying secret that will change the fate of Underland forever.

Review

First, you need to know that this is essentially Part 1 of a two-parter. A lot of this book is set-up for Book 5, and the ending is less than conclusive. If that sort of thing bothers you, I really recommend making sure you have Book 5 ready.

The beginning of the book is a bit slow, as there's no crisis and no clear prophecy to ratchet up the tension. But as soon as the quest starts, we find ourselves with plenty of action and danger... and, for the first time, a bit of romance... to keep the story moving. And then we find out about the mice and things go very dark, very quickly.

A little thing that bugged me was that there were a few too many natural disasters in the book. It seemed like every time the pace threatened to slow, some raging element was thrown in the hero's direction: fire, water, wind, earth—take your pick. It was starting to strain at my suspension of disbelief.

The rats were back to being evil here—evil with a vengeance—and that sort of makes me sad. But really the problem is one particular rat. Now, in Book 2, Gregor made a decision that was morally correct, in my opinion, but the consequences seem to be horrific. Would he have been better off making the other decision? The book doesn’t really dwell on it much, but I feel like it should have.

As in all of The Underland Chronicles, you can expect page-turning suspense, action a-plenty, lovable characters, intense violence, and death. Probably best suited for older elementary and up.

Book Review: Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods

Title: Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods (Book 3 of The Underland Chronicles)

Author: Suzanne Collins

Genre: Middle Grade Reader, Fantasy, Adventure

Summary

Warmblood now a bloodborne death

Will rob your body of its breath,

Mark your skin, and seal your fate,

The Underland becomes a plate.

When a plague wracks all warm-blooded creatures of the Underland, rat and human alike, Gregor is summoned. He's ready to leap into action. His mother is another story. Twice her son has disappeared to the Underland, and she's not going to let it happen again. Unfortunately, fate has a way of intervening.

Turn and turn and turn again,

You see the what but not the when.

Remedy and wrong entwine,

And so they form a single vine.

This prophecy will take Gregor and his companion to the Vineyard of Eyes, the only place where the plant that may hold the cure grows. It seems like a straight-forward quest. But Gregor has been through enough of these prophecies to know that there's always a catch. Something is off, and if he doesn't figure it out, the plague just may do away with everyone he loves.

Review

This one could be called "Sympathy for the Rats," because man, do you start to feel sorry for them. First, we learn that they're starving because the humans have taken over their food supplies. Then we learn that the plague is carried by the fleas, and the humans have flea powder, but refuse to share it with the rats, even though the plague affects them all and they should be on the same side. All the books thus far have introduced a sympathetic rat character, and this book is no different, having Lapblood and Mange. When you learn why they're on the quest, it's enough to break your heart.

One disappointing thing is Gregor's mother. She could have been such a cool character. I mean, single handedly feeding her family, having to deal with the disappearance of her son and daughter—twice. When I learned she'd be traveling to Underland (by reading the back of the book), I was excited to think of her going with Gregor on adventures, adding a new dynamic, maybe easing some of the pressure off the poor boy. Unfortunately, nothing of that sort happens. She acts like a typical mom, humiliating Gregor and exhibiting little personality, and then gets conveniently pushed aside for the sake of the plot.

But there were other interesting new characters, most notably Hamnet, the uncle of Luxa who willingly banished himself from the capital. He, aside from Gregor, seems to be one of the few people who don't innately hate rats and tries to live in peace. Hamnet offers a glimpse of a different way of running the kingdom.

Oh, and if you were wondering about the fate of the important characters left hanging in the balance in Book 2, well, let's just say that you have to get halfway through the book to find out.

As in all of The Underland Chronicles, you can expect page-turning suspense, action a-plenty, lovable characters, intense violence, and death. Probably best suited for older elementary and up.

Book Review: Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane

Title: Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane (Book 2 of The Underland Chronicles)

Author: Suzanne Collins

Genre: Middle Grade Reader, Fantasy, Adventure

Summary

Hear it scratching down below,

Rat of long-forgotten snow,

Evil cloaked in coat of white

Will the Warrior drain your light?

The Prophecy of Bane foretold the coming of a monstrous white rat, which only the Overland Warrior can defeat. Gregor is shocked that the Underlanders expect him to slay the beast. Unfortunately, that's not the worst part of the prophecy.

Die the baby, die his heart,

Die his most essential part.

Die the peace that rules the hour.

Gnawers have their key to power.

The rats think that by killing Gregor's two-year old sister Boots, they'll be able to stop the warrior and emerge victorious. No way is Gregor letting anyone hurt his baby sister, so it's off on another quest to find and kill this white rat. But underneath all the fancy words of the prophecy, Gregor is just a kid. Can he really defeat this monster?

Review

First, a word of warning. Although the ending of Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane can't technically be called a cliff-hanger, the fates of key characters are left in limbo. If you're the kind of person who can't stand not knowing what happened to your characters, might I humbly suggest making sure you keep a copy of the third book, Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods, handy.

It was good to be back in Underland, and there were interesting new characters to meet. One of my favorites included Twitchtip, a rat driven out for possessing a keen sense of smell with the ability to see the future. I also really liked that Suzanne Collins developed Nerissa, Luxa's cousin with the ability to see the future. (Guess I must like prophets.)

I think that, out of all the prophecies, this one had my favorite twist. It was such a simple thing, and it immediately changed the whole course of the story. I'm normally pretty good at figuring out twists, but this caught me by surprise.

As in all of The Underland Chronicles, you can expect page-turning suspense, action a-plenty, lovable characters, intense violence, and death. Probably best suited for older elementary and up.

Book Review: Gregor the Overlander

Title: Gregor the Overlander (Book 1 of The Underland Chronicles)

Author: Suzanne Collins

Genre: Middle Grade Reader, Fantasy, Adventure

Summary

Beware, Underlanders, time hangs by a thread.

The hunters are hunted, white water runs red.

The Gnawers will strike to extinguish the rest.

The hope of the hopeless resides in a quest.

Tumbling down the laundry grate after his sister Boots, Gregor finds himself in Underland, at the mercy of both the humans who rule it and the mysterious Prophecy of the Gray.

An Overland Warrior, a son of a sun,

May bring us back light, he may bring us back none,

But gather your neighbors and follow his call

Or rats will most surely devour us all.

Gregor can't believe they think he's the Overland Warrior, and he has no desire to lead anyone on a quest. All he wants to do is get home before his mother discovers that he and his sister are missing. Then he learns that the rats hold something very precious to him, something he will risk anything to get...

Review

When you enter a new fantasy land, whether by falling down a rabbit hole or opening a wardrobe, there's usually a feeling of beauty, of wonder. Here, there are over-sized versions of creatures you didn't like when they were small and weird, arrogant humans who act like jerks to our hero.

And yet we grow to love them.

It's really amazing how attached I grew to these characters, to the point that, after I finished reading the first book, I wanted to read the second, just to be with them again. Gregor seems to bring out the best in them, as he overlooks prejudice and hurt feelings, and is able to sympathize with even the most unlikable character. (Except for the spiders. They were boring.)

Aside from Gregor, my favorite character is probably Ripred, the lone rat who volunteers to help them on their quest. Nobody trusts him, but I liked him a lot. He was wily and insulting and the best fighter of the lot, and you could tell he had stories that brought him to this point. 

Gregor's baby sister Boots gets dragged around a lot, and I was worried she'd be, well, a drag, because what do you do with a two-year-old? But it turns out she was essential to the plot.

Reading this book, you can expect page-turning suspense, action a-plenty, lovable characters, intense violence, and death. Probably best suited for older elementary and up.