Freefall (Tunnels)

Product Features

• ISBN13: 9780545138772
• Condition: New
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From the Editors

DEEPER sent Will and Chester into FREEFALL-- tumbling through the subterranean Pore with the evil Rebecca twins in hot pursuit, both toting phials of the lethal Dominion virus. When, where, will they ever land?! Just when the drop seems infinite, the boys hit bottom, and find themselves in a realm of near-zero gravity atop a giant spongy fungus stuffed with artifacts from some lost golden age. But they are not alone. And above ground, black-clad Styx are sprouting like poison mushrooms, dead-set on spreading their plague! <p>
Product Description

Customer Response

Courtesy of Teens Read Too
After digging through the subterranean world of modern-day London in search of his father, Will Burrows ended up on the run from the diabolical Styx army with his best friend, Chester, and his newly discovered brother, Cal. After an encounter with the Rebecca twins and Styx army, the group of friends fell down a deep hole known as the Pore.

The FREEFALL takes them further into the earth, but they're not alone in the depths of the Pore. Having been mortally wounded, Will's biological mother used her last moments to knock the Rebecca twins into the Pore as well, and with them, the vials of the deadly Dominion virus.

Will and his group of friends must find a way to keep the Rebecca twins from escaping the Pore with the virus. They meet new friends and explore new places that bring them closer to understanding the inner workings of the earth. But will they be able to stop the Styx plot, escape the Deeps, and return to their lives in the world above?

The books in the TUNNELS series are long, and with the shifting points of view, sometimes can frustrate me when I have to leave a character in the middle of a dangerous situation to delve into another character's mind and situation, only to leave them and go to yet another. Though it may frustrate me at times, it doesn't keep me from reading and wanting more.

FREEFALL is a glorious continuation of the story that began in TUNNELS and continued in DEEPER. The new explorations and discoveries in FREEFALL kept me floating along with Will and his friends in near zero gravity. With each page turn, my fascination with this subterranean world created by Gordon and Williams increased. I can't wait to get CLOSER to the truth in the next book. Hopefully, CLOSER will also bring further understanding of the world and characters in this series.

Reviewed by: Joan Stradling

Passionate story of inner and outer worlds
Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams' FREEFALL provides a sequel to DEEPER and is recommended for any collection that saw excitement over the popular story. Here Will and Chester hit bottom in their freefall through subterranean realms and find themselves in a world of near-zero gravity and carnivorous creatures. Additional dangers keep the two running in this passionate story of inner and outer worlds.

It's the perfect adventure in which to completely bury oneself
Fourteen-year-old Will Burrows and his best friend, Chester, have unknowingly stumbled into an adventure of a lifetime. It all starts when Will's father, an archaeologist, disappears. While looking for him, Will and Chester discover a hidden tunnel behind a bookcase in the basement. Positive that this is where Dr. Burrows has gone missing, they delve into the tunnel to search for him, unaware of the adventure --- and horrors --- they are about to experience. They discover an underground city called the Colony, ruled by a harsh and unrelenting people called the Styx, and that Will himself is from the Colony. His birth mom, Sarah, took him and escaped to the surface when he was a baby; the Burrows are actually his foster family. Plus, after years apart and not even knowing he existed, Will is reunited with his younger brother, Cal.

And then they learn of yet another shocker: his adopted sister, Rebecca, is actually a pair of Styx twins who has been spying on him all these years. Will and Chester don't mix well in the Colony and thus are banished to the Deeps along with Cal. There, they encounter a band of Renegades bound together to fight against the evil Styx. Two of the Renegades --- Drake, the war veteran, and Elliott, his young female protégé --- take Will, Cal and Chester under their wing, teaching them how to find food and fight the Styx. But then Will, Cal, Chester, Elliott, and their huge cat, Bartleby, find themselves tethered together, standing on the edge of the Pore, a massive crater that extends down into the center of the earth. Cal is mercilessly gunned down, falling over the edge of the Pore and dragging his friends with him. Rumor has it that in all of Styx history, only one person has ever managed to escape the depths of the Pore. History may have to change.

So after falling thousands of miles down into the dark depths of the earth, Will and his friends finally come to rest on some huge fungus outcroppings sticking out into the Pore. Elliott has a broken arm and can't seem to regain consciousness; otherwise the group survives the fall unscathed. Except for Cal, who is, of course, already dead. Will says his goodbyes to Cal and then pushes him back out into the Pore to fall even farther, sort of like a burial at sea. Afterwards, Will and Chester do a bit of exploring and are amazed to find even more caverns and tunnels running out from the fungus nets that caught them on their fall. With no other options, they set off down the tunnel.

Being so deep within the earth has lessened the pull of gravity, and they find they can leap great distances, which entertains them for a bit. It also helps in carrying the unconscious Elliott, making her almost weightless. But it doesn't take long for them to find more trouble --- trouble in the form of ten-foot-across flesh-eating spiders. They manage to fight off the spiders for a few minutes, but there are too many. Luckily, another refugee in the depths, a woman named Martha, comes along just in time. Martha has been surviving for quite a while in the depths and knows just how to fight off the huge spiders --- and how to prepare them for dinner. So she takes them to her home, and they are very grateful for the help, especially with the still unconscious Elliott. But they know they can't stay long. They have to find their way home --- despite even more terrors awaiting them.

Unknown to our heroes, the Rebecca twins also have been pushed into the Pore. They, too, manage to land on a fungal outcropping and survive with just a few scratches. Also surviving the fall is the only remaining sample of the deadly Dominion virus and its antidote, worn in containers around their necks. They know that if the Styx plan to kill off the people on the surface with the virus is to be carried out, they need to find their way back to the Colony.

The only one who doesn't want to return topside is Will's adopted father, Dr. Burrows. The archaeologist in him is determined to learn more about these ancient peoples buried deep in the earth. He has discovered a set of tiles that he believes to be a map leading to a hidden paradise called "The Garden of the Second Sun" and needs to find his way even deeper into the center of the earth, even if it means risking his own life. Unfortunately, it would also mean endangering the lives of his adopted children.

Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams are two of the most amazing storytellers of our time. Their imaginations seem limitless when fueling the hungry fires of our curiosity. They have a genuine gift for description that literally pulls readers deep into the story, allowing them to really feel the horrors of the characters. And book three brings some changes to those characters. First is obviously the loss of Cal: he will be missed and not only by his cat, Bartleby. Second is Will's birth mom: she finally breaks free of her debilitating depression and actively joins in the search for her family and the fight against the Styx. Will also has been changing with all of the challenges he has faced: his growing maturity is especially apparent when he finally reunites with Dr. Burrows, who attempts to treat him like a little boy. But Will is no little boy anymore. The authors also cleverly slip in the importance of saving the planet and how much people have hurt our earth, fitting it seamlessly into the story.

Even though FREEFALL is a long story, readers will not want it to end. And it won't --- at least not yet. A fourth book in the series, CLOSER, is on its way. Many thanks to Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams for this amazing story. It's the perfect adventure in which to completely bury oneself.

The perfect adventure in which to completely bury oneself
Fourteen-year-old Will Burrows and his best friend, Chester, have unknowingly stumbled into an adventure of a lifetime. It all starts when Will's father, an archaeologist, disappears. While looking for him, Will and Chester discover a hidden tunnel behind a bookcase in the basement. Positive that this is where Dr. Burrows has gone missing, they delve into the tunnel to search for him, unaware of the adventure --- and horrors --- they are about to experience. They discover an underground city called the Colony, ruled by a harsh and unrelenting people called the Styx, and that Will himself is from the Colony. His birth mom, Sarah, took him and escaped to the surface when he was a baby; the Burrows are actually his foster family. Plus, after years apart and not even knowing he existed, Will is reunited with his younger brother, Cal.

And then they learn of yet another shocker: his adopted sister, Rebecca, is actually a pair of Styx twins who has been spying on him all these years. Will and Chester don't mix well in the Colony and thus are banished to the Deeps along with Cal. There, they encounter a band of Renegades bound together to fight against the evil Styx. Two of the Renegades --- Drake, the war veteran, and Elliott, his young female protégé --- take Will, Cal and Chester under their wing, teaching them how to find food and fight the Styx. But then Will, Cal, Chester, Elliott, and their huge cat, Bartleby, find themselves tethered together, standing on the edge of the Pore, a massive crater that extends down into the center of the earth. Cal is mercilessly gunned down, falling over the edge of the Pore and dragging his friends with him. Rumor has it that in all of Styx history, only one person has ever managed to escape the depths of the Pore. History may have to change.

So after falling thousands of miles down into the dark depths of the earth, Will and his friends finally come to rest on some huge fungus outcroppings sticking out into the Pore. Elliott has a broken arm and can't seem to regain consciousness; otherwise the group survives the fall unscathed. Except for Cal, who is, of course, already dead. Will says his goodbyes to Cal and then pushes him back out into the Pore to fall even farther, sort of like a burial at sea. Afterwards, Will and Chester do a bit of exploring and are amazed to find even more caverns and tunnels running out from the fungus nets that caught them on their fall. With no other options, they set off down the tunnel.

Being so deep within the earth has lessened the pull of gravity, and they find they can leap great distances, which entertains them for a bit. It also helps in carrying the unconscious Elliott, making her almost weightless. But it doesn't take long for them to find more trouble --- trouble in the form of ten-foot-across flesh-eating spiders. They manage to fight off the spiders for a few minutes, but there are too many. Luckily, another refugee in the depths, a woman named Martha, comes along just in time. Martha has been surviving for quite a while in the depths and knows just how to fight off the huge spiders --- and how to prepare them for dinner. So she takes them to her home, and they are very grateful for the help, especially with the still unconscious Elliott. But they know they can't stay long. They have to find their way home --- despite even more terrors awaiting them.

Unknown to our heroes, the Rebecca twins also have been pushed into the Pore. They, too, manage to land on a fungal outcropping and survive with just a few scratches. Also surviving the fall is the only remaining sample of the deadly Dominion virus and its antidote, worn in containers around their necks. They know that if the Styx plan to kill off the people on the surface with the virus is to be carried out, they need to find their way back to the Colony.

The only one who doesn't want to return topside is Will's adopted father, Dr. Burrows. The archaeologist in him is determined to learn more about these ancient peoples buried deep in the earth. He has discovered a set of tiles that he believes to be a map leading to a hidden paradise called "The Garden of the Second Sun" and needs to find his way even deeper into the center of the earth, even if it means risking his own life. Unfortunately, it would also mean endangering the lives of his adopted children.

Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams are two of the most amazing storytellers of our time. Their imaginations seem limitless when fueling the hungry fires of our curiosity. They have a genuine gift for description that literally pulls readers deep into the story, allowing them to really feel the horrors of the characters. And book three brings some changes to those characters. First is obviously the loss of Cal: he will be missed and not only by his cat, Bartleby. Second is Will's birth mom: she finally breaks free of her debilitating depression and actively joins in the search for her family and the fight against the Styx. Will also has been changing with all of the challenges he has faced: his growing maturity is especially apparent when he finally reunites with Dr. Burrows, who attempts to treat him like a little boy. But Will is no little boy anymore. The authors also cleverly slip in the importance of saving the planet and how much people have hurt our earth, fitting it seamlessly into the story.

Even though FREEFALL is a long story, readers will not want it to end. And it won't --- at least not yet. A fourth book in the series, CLOSER, is on its way. Many thanks to Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams for this amazing story. It's the perfect adventure in which to completely bury oneself.

The best in the series so far
Of the three books so far in the series, this is the one that I have enjoyed the most. The previous two largely take place in the dismal underground worlds controlled by the Styx, but Freefall is a subterranean area completely untouched by these evil humans. Thus, the general mood from the characters feels lighter, and the spirit of adventure is stronger.

(Spoiler alert!) My favorite part, though would have to be once they get to the very center in which is contained a second sun. I couldn't quite grasp what that would look like as described in the ancient maps that Dr. Burrows references throughout the first and second books, but it makes a lot more sense as the authors describe it. It literally is a sun that formed inside of the earth, and, as such, there is another, smaller world there that is similar to the one we inhabit on the surface.

I didn't think that anyone could recreate a center of the world fantasy with any originality since Vern's pretty much covers it, but I think Williams and Gordon have done an excellent job of reopening our imaginations to what may lie beneath our feet. I recommend this fun, entertaining read to readers 12+.

-Lindsey Miller,[...]

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