by Suzanne Collins
I have a confession to make. I...I don't feel like I could live with myself if I wasn't completely honest with my loyal inkbound fans about this. It's just...I don't really...don't really know how to...I don't want you to be disappointed in me...
yeah. I guess I'll just say it.
Um, I like Gregor the Overlander...better than the Hunger Games.
I know. That's it. You can all hate me now.
Or you can let me enlighten you. And if you do, while you too may be alternately shunned and attacked by angry, pitchfork-wielding, cosplaying Katniss fans--you will partake of a joy which they can never know.
Gregor the Overlander. A humble little book series, never achieved the Harry-Potter-and-Twilight-level popular-obsession status that the Hunger Games now enjoys. A mere 229 fanart hits on Deviantart, as opposed to the Hunger Games' 75,438. More of a children's than a teen's series, really.
I don't care. It's even better.
Written prior to the Hunger Games and directed at a younger, apparently less bloodthirsty audience, Gregor the Overlander tells of an eleven-year-old boy who falls through a grate in a routine trip to the laundry room and ends up in a place altogether different from New York City. In the Underland, which is peopled by strange humans and hosts of giant rats, bats, cockroaches, and the like, laundry is the least of Gregor and his toddler sister Boots' worries. After a near-disastrous attempt to return to the surface, Gregor learns that to some of the Underlanders, his appearance wasn't entirely unexpected. Directed by a bizarre prophecy, Gregor and the haughty queen Luxa assemble a fantastic alliance of creatures to carry out a search for something Gregor feared lost forever; a quest that may save the Underland from destruction.
In the course of five books and many adventures, Gregor and his family find their destiny inseparably entwined with that of the Underland as Gregor leads the war that will decide the fate of them all.
I have a confession to make. I...I don't feel like I could live with myself if I wasn't completely honest with my loyal inkbound fans about this. It's just...I don't really...don't really know how to...I don't want you to be disappointed in me...
yeah. I guess I'll just say it.
Um, I like Gregor the Overlander...better than the Hunger Games.
I know. That's it. You can all hate me now.
Or you can let me enlighten you. And if you do, while you too may be alternately shunned and attacked by angry, pitchfork-wielding, cosplaying Katniss fans--you will partake of a joy which they can never know.
Gregor the Overlander. A humble little book series, never achieved the Harry-Potter-and-Twilight-level popular-obsession status that the Hunger Games now enjoys. A mere 229 fanart hits on Deviantart, as opposed to the Hunger Games' 75,438. More of a children's than a teen's series, really.
I don't care. It's even better.
Written prior to the Hunger Games and directed at a younger, apparently less bloodthirsty audience, Gregor the Overlander tells of an eleven-year-old boy who falls through a grate in a routine trip to the laundry room and ends up in a place altogether different from New York City. In the Underland, which is peopled by strange humans and hosts of giant rats, bats, cockroaches, and the like, laundry is the least of Gregor and his toddler sister Boots' worries. After a near-disastrous attempt to return to the surface, Gregor learns that to some of the Underlanders, his appearance wasn't entirely unexpected. Directed by a bizarre prophecy, Gregor and the haughty queen Luxa assemble a fantastic alliance of creatures to carry out a search for something Gregor feared lost forever; a quest that may save the Underland from destruction.
In the course of five books and many adventures, Gregor and his family find their destiny inseparably entwined with that of the Underland as Gregor leads the war that will decide the fate of them all.
I think we all ought to pause here and acknowledge that Suzanne Collins has a flair for the epic. The dramatic. Those bits so perfectly timed, so unexpected, so thrilling in their execution that make us want to jump up and shout. "Yes! YES! You wrote that EXACTLY RIGHT! Haha! In your face!"
Now, most of us don't succumb to these urges, (though I won't deny an occasional fist pump or two) but we've all felt them. Collins is the master of writing these moments. She is also the master of complex, unexpected plotlines, new elements, double crosses. And she neglected none of these in writing Gregor the Overlander.
Plus, she didn't make the protagonist a bitter, depressed, mentally disturbed killer. (At least, not usually).
Don't get me wrong, I love Katniss, her neverending poor attitude, and her jolly District 12 friends. But Gregor seems more real to me. With all the doubts and worries and insights of an eleven-year-old thrown way out of his depth. And Boots. And Luxa and Ares. All so well developed.
Yes, I'm sorry loyal blog buddies, there will be no disenchanted ranting about this series. But I will leave you with one final smart-alecky remark:
I was a Collins fan before it was cool.
For: older kids on up
Content rating: 4.5/5 There is much war and violence. Not graphic.
My enjoyment: Gosh I love this series. 5/5
Now, most of us don't succumb to these urges, (though I won't deny an occasional fist pump or two) but we've all felt them. Collins is the master of writing these moments. She is also the master of complex, unexpected plotlines, new elements, double crosses. And she neglected none of these in writing Gregor the Overlander.
Plus, she didn't make the protagonist a bitter, depressed, mentally disturbed killer. (At least, not usually).
Don't get me wrong, I love Katniss, her neverending poor attitude, and her jolly District 12 friends. But Gregor seems more real to me. With all the doubts and worries and insights of an eleven-year-old thrown way out of his depth. And Boots. And Luxa and Ares. All so well developed.
Yes, I'm sorry loyal blog buddies, there will be no disenchanted ranting about this series. But I will leave you with one final smart-alecky remark:
I was a Collins fan before it was cool.
For: older kids on up
Content rating: 4.5/5 There is much war and violence. Not graphic.
My enjoyment: Gosh I love this series. 5/5
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