Roderick Gordon

This series is turning into one drawn out infomercial. Every time it should end the writers come back with “but wait, there's more”. Are they under some sort of contractual obligation to produce 6, or heavens forbid, even more books out of this one story, so that they have to keep dropping old plot points and introducing new ones?

The real shame is that the writers write well and could have woven many more stories out of all the plot details they put into just this one. If you've gotten show more this far then it's too late to save yourself, you'll buy the next (and next and next?) to see how the story ends, just like a smoker who can't quit even as he dies of cancer. show less

3,5 stars

A book that I read as a teenager, which I had to buy again to re-read, since I loaned it to my girlfriend, several days before breaking up over text and losing several of my possessions permanently. I recall that it was better at the time I had read it, than when I re-read it, but it was still interesting to see what I may have missed as a child (little).
In short, it is about a boy going underground to find his missing father, who had disappeared after finding an odd, permanently show more glowing globe and was trying to find out where it came from.

I’d recommend reading this if you’re a bit younger, maybe a teen, as I was and have a passing interest in underground digs, odd subterranean architecture and its even odder inhabitants. show less

I listened to this book on CD, and while it is probably a great read for fans of the series, I was lost until well into the second disk--despite the preface with the synopsis of the series up to this point. The characters, however, are engaging, and once I got to know the characters, I found myself drawn into the story. I wasn't so captivated as to be prompted to read the five earlier books, but once oriented, I was able to enjoy the novel for what it was.

This wasn't my favorite book. I should probably stop there. But I won't. I didn't stop reading when I had the chance (and I had my fair share of chances) and I won't stop now. This book is turning into my mini-Everest.

I have one shelf here labeled abandoned books. There's only one book on it. This should have been the second. The thing is, though this might be the perfect book for the right audience, I'm not that audience nor are many of the readers I know. This book was dark. Very dark for show more the market it's from. Some people will like that. Not me though. I feel like this is one of those books where the protaganists being children is what decided its market, not the work itself. The torture always seemed a bit much, too graphic, too severe. The settings were always dark, dingy, and desperate. The outcomes of every scene were in some way downers. Not a lot of fun. Mostly depressing. I'm glad it's over. show less