Well Hit Me with a Pitch Cleaver! Topsoilers are the New Muggles!

I don't usually review books in this little corner of the Web, because most of the stuff I read is academic in nature. But this little ski trip has given me a chance to catch up on some fun reading. So, I decided to check out the book everyone seems to be hoping will fill the reading void left by the graduation of Harry Potter. Enter Tunnels. It's good. It might even be the next Harry Potter. But it's also flawed (not that Ms. Rowling's works weren't).

Tunnels, like Harry Potter, is designed for the "independent reader." I've recently learned that's ages 9-12. Hard to believe I haven't been an independent reader for 30-plus years. But I digress.

Will Burrows, like his father, digs dirt. The archeological force is strong in these two. When Will's father disappears, Will discovers a new world built in tunnels deep under London. Things turn very dark very quickly. The underground world, The Colony, is interesting and imaginative. Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams have created a fascinating world deep below the surface. And they do a superb job of capturing the wonder of this new world through Will's eyes. The plot takes some great turns. Some you see coming a mile away and others are almost gaspworthy.

But, alas, the character development is shallow. We feel a tenth for Will, Cal, Chester and Rebecca (read the book to understand who they are) than we felt for Neville Longbottom at the end of Sorcerer's Stone. Mr. Burrows gets a small section on one chapter after he disappears, and I think that's mostly to let us know he's still alive, thus justifying the story. It feels unbalanced. Will is separated from his mates at various points, but we still get glimpses of what's going on for them. So, this isn't a story told only from Will's point of view. Yet, we feel little for them.

The Styx, they're the bad guys," are one-dimensional from start to finish. Opportunities to at least give some color (pun intended--they're all pallid because they live underground, get it?) to the evil ones (take a lesson from JK, gentlemen) are squandered.

I think the story also feels unbalanced because it ends so abruptly. There is little resolution, and the set-up for book 2, Deeper, could be so much more compelling. This all happens in the last 20 pages or so.

But I'll be back for book two! The story is creative and engaging, if not magical. It has much to offer, and it's still a page turner.

Note: The publishing timeline impresses me as unfortunate. Deeper will be published in England in May, but it won't reach the U.S. until next January. If Scholastic is trying to build a level of buzz to match the Potter series, then putting eight months between publication there and here makes no sense. And hasn't anyone ever heard of amazon.uk?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows before anyone had a chance to tell me what happened. In the end, I'm not sure that mattered because everything has been leading up to where it takes us. In other words, there's nothing in the story that is shocking or unexpected.

All roads lead to Hogwarts and a final showdown between Harry and Voldemort. They have since Sorcerer's Stone. But the journey is intense and violent with many casualties along the way and a wee bit of humor. Rowling rightly focuses on Harry, Ron and Hermione, while other characters are crucial but peripheral.

The connections to other epics--for a moment I thought I was reading Lord of the Rings, no wait, this is King Arthur, no wait, use the force Harry--gives one a chuckle, but shows the cracks in the Potter universe, too. They do make for some exciting action scenes. And the action is almost nonstop.

The final showdown works as a fitting and solid conclusion to the epic. I'm not so sure the epilogue does, however. Set 19 years hence, we get fragments from the lives of certain characters. But I was struck more by what was missing. The Dursley's, for example, have been an annoying but constant presence throughout all seven books (at least the beginning of the books). They deserve some sort of resolution to their relationship with Harry.

The character with the most satisfying treatment in Deathly Hallows is actually Neville Longbottom. Although still not commanding a lot of text, he continues to come into his own, and Rowling handles his arc with great finesse.

I am sad that it's over. Glad of the resolution. Content.