Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
(Book #1 of the Underland Chronicles series)
Rating: 🍁🍁🍁🍁
What a fantastic adventure! Gregor the Overlander was so much fun - I wish I'd read it when I was a kid and could have fully appreciated it. Which isn't to say that it couldn't be appreciated as an adult, but there were a couple of things that were minorly irritating to me now purely as a result of my being a grown-up (ostensibly). Things like definitions of words that I don't need to have defined for me, though I probably would have needed it when I was 12, and some rather obvious predictability that, again, probably wouldn't have been so predictable when I was a kid.
All of that aside, there was a great deal to enjoy about this book, including (but not limited to):
1) Boots, the adorable, loving and accepting 2-year old. As the mother of a similarly fearless three-year old, I can say with confidence that Ms. Collins hit the nail on the head with Boots. :)
2) The completely distinct, comprehensive AND comprehensible world of the Underland. I loved all the different inhabitants, as well as their relations and back stories. The answer to where they got their food, and how human beings could adapt to life without a sun, and many other puzzles were sufficiently explained without feeling forced.
3) I kinda want a bat now.
4) Can I just say that Gregor is a pretty awesome kid? I mean, he's still a kid, not a grown up in a kid's body like in many other kids' books, but one who has had to accept the responsibility of caring for his family in his dad's absence and therefore seems to have a good head on his shoulders. Yes, he's a bit messed up (who wouldn't be?), but he's carrying on, using his head, and doing the best he can.
A quick comment on the audiobook narration: it was very well done, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good, relatively quick listen.
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