Tunnels
by Roderick Gordon, Brian Williams
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 429)
Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
people who like dirt and avoid showers
Meh. This wasn't my kind of book at all. I was one of the multitudes who got sucked into the "next Harry Potter" hype and the one thing I've learned from the experience is that there isn't going to be a next Harry Potter, so I should just get over it.
Now, to the book. It's the story of Will Burrows, a Londoner whose great passion is conducting archaeological digs with his dad. When his dad goes missing, Will enlists the help of his friend Chester. Together they stumble on an e...more
Now, to the book. It's the story of Will Burrows, a Londoner whose great passion is conducting archaeological digs with his dad. When his dad goes missing, Will enlists the help of his friend Chester. Together they stumble on an e...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
those looking to be disappointed
I picked it up because it reminded me of another book I love ('The City of Ember'- worth a look) and because as a child I was always digging around in the cellars/ foundations/ chimneys of my mum and dad's house and the houses of friends and the blurb and initial chapters certainly called that to mind. However, I've found the characters difficult to relate to and I tend to pity them all for being generally worthless individuals- apart from Chester who I just feel sorry for.
The book also fee...more
The book also fee...more
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Read in May, 2008
I was pretty disappointed in this book. I thought the beginning was pretty slow, and it was hard to get interested in the story's overall premise. I did think that the middle of the book got significantly better. I became interested in the world that was discovered. There were many fascinating aspects that I looked forward to learning more about. However, as I continued to read, I kept wondering how the authors were going to explain everything sufficiently with the few pages that were left in th...more
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Read in February, 2008
the premise of the book is interesting, even as some plot twists are highly unbelievable. but, the writing is atrocious. although, i did acclimate to it as the book wore on. there are too many literary clichés. the adjectives, similes, and metaphors are florid. the humor is forced.
but, beyond that, i have two major gripes (neither of which reveal any plot details). one is the parody of a queer character, mr. clarke junior. he wears puce and lemon blazers. "...he was a great fav...more
but, beyond that, i have two major gripes (neither of which reveal any plot details). one is the parody of a queer character, mr. clarke junior. he wears puce and lemon blazers. "...he was a great fav...more
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Will Burrows loves a good adventure. His father was trained as an archaeologist but works in a second rate local museum. In their off hours, Will and his Dad do amateur digs in hopes of finding something really exciting, something really noteworthy. They’ve had a few interesting discoveries but nothing seems to pan out.
Bend on trying to find something really interesting, Will enlists the help of his buddy Chester. Every day after school the two work on an area that seems to have some pote...more
Bend on trying to find something really interesting, Will enlists the help of his buddy Chester. Every day after school the two work on an area that seems to have some pote...more
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Read in March, 2008
Will Burrows aka Seth Jerome, lives 'topsoil' with his family, Dr. and Mrs. Burrows and his sister, Rebecca. His father, Dr. Burrows, has an obsession to excavate and dig beneath the soil to find tunnels or cities lost long ago. He stumbles upon an important find. He hints to Will that he has found something big and tells him not to breathe a word of it to anyone. IN a few days, Dr. Burrows goes missing, and so Will along with his friend, Chester decide to investigate this mysterious tunnel. The...more
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Read in April, 2008
Will’s one connection with his absent-minded father is their shared love of digging; Will has learned how to excavate and has provided much of the grunt work for some minor finds. His mother is in a TV haze, and his sister, an oddly anal-retentive girl, keeps the household running. When his father disappears, Will is certain that it has to do with some secret project, and soon he and his friend Chester have followed Mr. Burrows into a lost underground world. Here, the story turns quite dark...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
absolutely no one!
I had heard the hype and the buzz around this book and was really excited about it. Sure there is plenty of potential here, the underground colony is a great setting for an adventure and there are some very creative details and ideas here. Unfortunately you keep waiting for this book to go somewhere, to do something, but it doesn't. They don't even make it into the underground colony until over 170 pages into the book. Even then it still just continues to grind its wheels. This book is just dark...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
absolutely no one!
I had heard the hype and the buzz around this book and was really excited about it. Sure there is plenty of potential here, the underground colony is a great setting for an adventure and there are some very creative details and ideas here. Unfortunately you keep waiting for this book to go somewhere, to do something, but it doesn't. They don't even make it into the underground colony until over 170 pages into the book. Even then it still just continues to grind its wheels. This book is just dark...more
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Read in May, 2008
I'll be honest...I threw it aside before I was even halfway in. Supposedly it's a very popular book, but the appeal eludes me. Maybe I've been ruined by Lara Croft and Indiana Jones and now I expect my archaeology to be served with a side of nazi chase scenes, human sacrifices, or booby-trapped idols. If any of that factors into Tunnels it must be pretty late into the game. It takes sooo long to get going, and the main character and his father seem very bland to me, and not particularly a...more
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Read in December, 2007
A new novel for young readers that is more sci-fi thriller than fantasy, as I was lead to believe. It's said by the publisher of Scholastic Books that he believes this to be the new Harry Potter. It's not quite in that league and certainly not the same genre. It's the story of a young outsider who, with his buddy, begins exploring an underground shaft, first for the adventure and then to find his missing father. The novel gets really exciting about half way through when the boys discover and...more
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Read in March, 2008
I read this because I heard it reviewed as the next Harry Potter. It's about a boy in England who does not discover he is actually a wizard, but discovers that he came from a gigantic colony of people who secretly live underground. The momentum was good, but the story was dark, and at times, scary. What I didn't like is that there was no real hero. The story was evil versus people with out any really great qualities. There was none of the happy and lighthearted wit and happenings that made me lo...more
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Read in May, 2008
I don't remember who recommended this book to me, but I didn't really like it. It took sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo long for the author to say anything. The action took so long to develop and when there finally was action, there was too much dialogue and unnecessary description that it took the reader out of the action. I was just groping my through it the whole time waiting for things to happen. I think the book had potential, but the writing was so bad I just went crazy. It's like it...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in March, 2008
Was it as good as the hype. I would say yes. The problem is that people keep trying to compare it harry potter. The only thing they have in common is they were discovered by the same person. But honestly it is like trying to compare baseball and football. The book is great, very intense and left me excited for the next one. The book itself seems to be building the groundword for the series. So it itself is not amazing but I think the series has a lot of potential. And I am looking forwar...more
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Read in March, 2008
Though the story idea and setting are fascinating, the actual writing does not carry its weight, especially in the first half. The story often drags with all of the description and unrelated imagery. Plus, at times, there is an adverb every other sentence. Aside from the language, the two authors often switch out of the main character's perspective to someone else's, causing a lot of confusion. From the editor of J.K. Rowling, this book was toted as the "next Harry Potter". Unfortunate...more
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Read in March, 2008
i heard a story on NPR about this book and how folks are wondering whether it can be the next Harry Potter. probably no quicker way to prevent that from happening than to put that kind of pressure on it. i think it's darker than the early harry potter, not enough balance of seeming normalcy with the fantastic. but i definitely wanted to know more about the underground world, though i'm not sure now that i am done if i am curious enough to read the sequel. well, i probably will...and it does s...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommended to Jennifer by:
Stella Shaferrecommends it for: 8-14 year olds looking for Harry
If you can persevere through a slow beginning, Tunnels yields a story motherlode that will leave persistent readers waiting for the next book.
CIP: When Will Burrows and his friend Chester embark on a quest to find Will's archaeologist father, who has inexplicably disappeared, they are led to a labyrinthine world underneath London, full of sinister inhabitants with evil intentions toward "Topsoilers" like Will and his father.
"Intriguing plot" School Library Journal ...more
CIP: When Will Burrows and his friend Chester embark on a quest to find Will's archaeologist father, who has inexplicably disappeared, they are led to a labyrinthine world underneath London, full of sinister inhabitants with evil intentions toward "Topsoilers" like Will and his father.
"Intriguing plot" School Library Journal ...more
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Read in January, 2008
This one seemed a bit over the top to me at first but once I was in I was pretty well hooked. Very creepy and a good read. Very entertaining and written well. It is a bit annoying that it is a first book and as such leaves you with a cliffhanger ending. It is already being made into a "Major Motion Picture". gah. Frankly though, it will probably make a good one in the right hands. One caveat, if you are claustrophobic, this book is so well described that you might be a little anxious i...more
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Read in June, 2008
Very good "fantasy" book. Not traditional fantasy, though -- more like a modern fantasy, with underground societies and very thoughtful, science-based depictions of what life below the surface could be like.
Some of the scenes are pretty scary, particularly anything involving utter darkness or suffocation or entombment. The only complaint I have is that we obviously have to wait for them to finish the next book -- pretty open cliffhanging for an ending.
Great for younger and ol...more
Some of the scenes are pretty scary, particularly anything involving utter darkness or suffocation or entombment. The only complaint I have is that we obviously have to wait for them to finish the next book -- pretty open cliffhanging for an ending.
Great for younger and ol...more
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Read in February, 2008
When Will Burrows and his friend Chester embark on a quest to find Will's archaeologist father, who has inexplicably disappeared, they are led to a labyrinthine world underneath London, full of sinister inhabitants with evil intentions toward "Topsoilers" like Will and his father.
It's a good action adventure fantasy. Another import from England. The sequel is due in 2009. Because most things happen underground, it reminds me of Gregor and the City of Ember. I think the writing coul...more
It's a good action adventure fantasy. Another import from England. The sequel is due in 2009. Because most things happen underground, it reminds me of Gregor and the City of Ember. I think the writing coul...more
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