Written by Falconempress. Posted on Apr 6, 11:53 PM.

Review - Deeper (Tunnels, Book 2)

The Harry Potter series is over. Sure, Rowling did tease her fans with talk about a possibility that she may one day revisit his fascinating world within our world, but this has so far proven to be just that—talk. And even though the series remains hugely popular and successful to this day, the conclusion of the world-famous septet left a void in the literary world, or, to call a horse by its name, it left an opening on the market of young adult fantasy novels. Because since long before Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows came out, the publishing companies were very well aware what the series ending means-an opportunity. They suddenly got a chance to bring forth their own hidden aces and overtake this open space to milk as much money as possible, now that there will be scores of book-hungry Harry Potter fans wanting more and willing to spend money on it.

One of these titles, marketed as “the successor of Harry Potter” is the Tunnels series written by a duo of authors—Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams. According to the information on the back flap of the book, the two met during college in London. Soon after they parted ways, Gordon became an investment banker and Williams an artist. They met again after Gordon was fired from his work and started writing what was to become the first installment in the Tunnels series, called simply Tunnels.

This is where is gets interesting. The first book was originally called The Highfield Mole and the authors self-published it in March 2005. The whole thing was apparently a success because the book was soon picked up by a real publisher.

Sounds familiar?

The original, self-published version of The Highfield Mole, accompanied by illustrations of several characters

I learned all this after I purchased the first book, but still before I actually read it and an alarm went off in my head. However, I am not the one to judge a book by its cover. But I continued my research and learned that the publisher who decided to print Tunnels was Barry Cunningham from Chicken House, who is also credited with discovering J. K. Rowling and the notoriously known Harry Potter series. The Highfield Mole eventually saw the light of day in July 2007 as Tunnels. Since this review is about Deeper, the second installment of the (so far) trilogy, I will only say that even though the book starts off pretty generic and, I must admit, a little bit boring, it soon turns into something completely different, which will draw the reader in. The whole premise behind Tunnels is that there is a whole other world beneath this one we do not see and this world is very, very dangerous. Before you start screaming “That is so Harry Potter! Plagiarists!” let me add—this other world is literally beneath ours. And no, it is not like D’ni.

If you haven’t read Tunnels, be warned of some major spoilers ahead.

Our main hero, Will Burrows, lives with his odd family. His dad likes to dig holes in the ground and so does Will, but one day his father does not come back from the dig. Will and his friend Chester try to find him, but instead they discover the Colony, a living, breathing world hidden in the very depths of Earth. They very soon learn this is a hostile world, ruled over by the Styx, a class of elites who are pretty much tyrants. Turns out Will was born in the Colony, and he was only adopted by the people he considered to be his family after his mother was forced to abandon him on the surface while she was fleeing the Styx. This comes as a great shock to Will. He learns that his father (his adoptive father) was sent into the the exile in the Depths and that his friend, Chester, who accompanied him on his search, is held captive by the Styx. He tries to save his friend, gets into trouble with the tyrannical aristocratic rulers, people die, and a chase between Will, his biological brother Cal and the Styx ensues. In the end they learn that Chester is to be exiled to Depths as well, so Will and Cal get onto the train going even deeper underground to save Chester and Will’s adoptive scientist father because Depths are apparently trouble.

I was really surprised at how much I liked this book. Though it did have its problems, all – in – all, it was a decent read, I had fun, I enjoyed it, and it presented the reader with some interesting twists, especially in the end. So I expected the second installment with much anticipation.

Deeper continues where Tunnels left off—we meet Will, Cal and Chester on the train rushing to the Depths. We are also introduced to a new character—Will and Cal’s biological mother Sara. During the final chase in Tunnels the boys’ uncle and her brother, Tam, was killed. The Styx track Sara down, tell her it was her son Will who killed Tam and convince her to find him for them. The Styx, of course also have their own agenda but more on that later.

So is Deeper a good book? Yes and no.

Since I was a kid, I have been a huge fan of Jules Verne and his unbelievable adventures. Journey to the Center of the Earth up to this day remains one of my favorite books, even though at the time I knew that the center of the world is actually an inferno of molten and perpetually burning matter. But taking into consideration the time period it was written in, I had this kind affection for it one would have for their three-legged dog when the creature is mild-mannered, sweet and a lot of fun, despite its impairment. Deeper does feel a lot like Journey to the Center of the Earth; it presents us with some stretches of reality; during their travels through the depths, the boys encounter prehistoric creatures and plants and they go through the most surreal adventures, all while being chased after the Styx all the time. It was captivating, one never knew what is lurking behind the next corner and there was definitely no time to be bored. It is original and fresh, as original and fresh as a YA novel can be.

Compared to Tunnels, Deeper is a whole new book, it is so very different from its predecessor, and this refreshing element is always good to see in a series, because it brings opportunities to explore the story in new directions. Deeper definitely accomplishes that. The settings are new, we have now left the civilised world of Colony for the barren and empty Depths, where one is never safe. Seriously, anything can kill you down there—the animals, the surroundings (some parts are highly radioactive) and the other renegades who will help you just as well as stab you in the back. I finished the book with a feeling that I didn’t waste my money or time. I could not put it down until it was over.

BUT

This should not have been a YA book. The one thing that infuriates me to no end about a book is wasted potential (yes, I am looking at you too, Inheritance). This should have been a book for more mature audiences where the authors could have afforded to expand upon some things which are just brushed by, because they are too difficult for a younger reader to understand or are plain inappropriate. Here are some of the motifs the series deals with: biological warfare, religious fanaticism, class differences, slavery, experiments on humans…need I go on?

There is this race of people who used to be slaves, but now are officially something like business partners, since they are masterful miners and the Styx need them for that. However, they still treat them like the lowest form of dirt—literally (they call them “coprolites” or whatever you call fossilized piece of shit in scientific language), kill them left and right as they please, and refuse to acknowledge they are human just like them, albeit somewhat different. In fact, they used to keep them in some sort of breeding pens where the Styx had them procreate. The centuries of oppression had left these ancient people mellow, submissive and they just don’t care anymore.

At one point, Cal and some other people run into a Styx research facility where captured outlaws are kept so that the Styx can test their new virus on them before they unleash it unto the surface world to take it over (OF COURSE! (sorry, Nostalgia Critic)). Because the surface dwellers are not worthy of the land, as it is written in the Book of Catastrophes, which is some sort of a Bible the Colony follows. Religion is another way in which the Styx hold control over the Colonists – they are the only ones who can become priests and preach from The Book of Catastrophes, their Word of God, to the masses.

Well, one would think, but it is still centered around the “coming of age” theme like most YA novels, so it is for children, right? WRONG. Though “coming of age” is a strong part of the series and is greatly expanded upon, it is not done in a way one would expect from a YA book. The boys need to learn to fend for themselves in the desolate land, but both Will and Cal kill a man during the course of the story (they each get their own, they do not both kill the same guy), and Chester comes awfully close to beating a man to death with his bare hands. I must admit, I found this to be one of the best parts of the book, how the boys react and deal with such thing, making the characters interesting and believable, unlike some other series trying to accomplish the same, but fall flat and the whole sequence feels forced. What adds to the situation is that the man Will is supposed to kill is a friend of his, somebody who saved his life, in a way. The man is being tortured and it is impossible to save him. The best thing Will can do to repay his kindness is put him out of his misery. Can he do it? Can he pull the trigger and have somebody’s blood on his hands, even though he is still a child? This is how moral dilemma is written. (still looking at you, Inheritance) Even though this provides us with some great character development, although it is not explored as much as it deserves because of the target demographic (grrrrr!), is this what you would like your children to read if you were a parent?

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to say any of these themes should be left out of the book, but let me get to my point. Since this is a book intended for ages 11-15 it is written as a book for ages 11-15. The style and the content could not be in greater contrast. What the book says is dark, gritty, bloody and merciless in its treatment of the characters, but it reads like a bedtime story. It has a potential to be phenomenal, if only it had been written for older audience. Everything is fine the way it is, don’t change the characters or the plot, just change the style, authors! It’s like the book cannot decide what it is. I call this confusion Harry Potter Disease. Because although Harry Potter originally started as a series for children, the last few installments, most notably Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, were nothing like the first books. Those, despite the suspense, were written with the young reader not only in mind, but also in style and content. The aforementioned concluding titles fall into a whole another category, they are way too grim and way too gory. And I am no purist, if this comes from a twisted person like me, it has to mean something.

It may sound like nitpicking, but this single aspect bugged me so much, I almost gave Deeper half the rating I did because of this. But books are not to be judged by what they could have been, but by what they are. It’s still a great pity, though.

My next problem with the book are the writers. I didn’t notice it in book one, but in Deeper, there is an obvious difference in quality of writing of the two authors. Which is never a good thing. Maybe it was because of the translation (I got Czech version), I don’t know, but from the first few sentences I could immediately tell that the following passage was written by somebody else, somebody who did not posses as much talent and skill as the other author. This was especially apparent in the parts where we get to follow Sarah, Will and Cal’s biological mother; some of the lines were just infuriatingly clumsy and really badly written, which made the character look like she suffered from a split personality disorder. Either that or she had a rather bad case of PMS. Same goes for the short moments where we get to follow Will’s adoptive mother, Mrs. Burrows, and the ultimate pain is delivered when the two have a face-off. Much of their dialogue sounds thrown in, forced and very random. I guess Deeper needed a bit more editing before it hit the shelves and one of the duo some writing classes.

But yes, it was fun, and, as I already said, I enjoyed it immensely. And it was obviously very thoroughly researched (although I am pretty sure that “nirvana” is a state of mind and not a place, though again, that could be just the translation which I noticed was awkward in a few places), which many fantasy authors tend to overlook as not very important (yup, still glaring your way, Inheritance). The third, and the last, book of the Tunnels series, titled Free Fall, is coming out sometime in May and I know I will be looking for it on the shelves the moment they release it, to find out how the whole thing ends and to experience more of the ride.

So are Tunnels the new Harry Potter ? It is hard to tell. Harry Potter books had their flaws, just as Tunnels have theirs, but no writer is perfect. Deeper was a pretty decent book, though it didn’t blow my mind like The Sorcerer’s Stone, for example, which I think can mostly be credited to its own uncertainty as of what the hell it is supposed to be. But it is still miles away from being given to the falcons to do what they will with it.

My final verdict:

7/10

Thank you for reading,

Falconempress

Sources:

Tunnels on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnels_(novel)
Gordon, Roderick and Williams, Brian: Deeper (Czech edition), Fragment Publishing House, 2008

Tagged as Deeper, Falconempress, Review, Tunnels.

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