Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Dede

Gregor's, who is 11, father disappeared a little over 2 years ago.  Since then, he has pretty much taken care of his mom and his little sister, Boots, who is now 2 years old.  One day while he is in the basement laundry room with Boots, they both fall through a grate into a totally different world, the Underworld.  They meet up with some giant cockroaches, called Crawlers, who then take them to the "Queen" of the Underlanders, a sometimes royal pain in the rear - Luza.  Luxa's grandfather Vikus takes Boots and Gregor to their castle and give them a room.  They hint that there are huge dangers for Boots and Gregor, them being Overlanders, but Gregor only wants to go home with Boots.  They try to escape and find out just how dangerous the Underworlds creatures are for them.  Boots is sweet and gets along with almost everyone and every creature.  When Vikus tells Gregor that his father fell years ago and is rumored to still be alive, kept prisoner by giant rats, called gnawers, and that ther is a prophecy that foretells of Gregor coming and saving not only his dad, but also all of the Underland.  Humans in the Underland live on a thin rope in the land of crawlers, gnawers, giant spiders - called spinners, and giant bats.  The bats are human allies, humans actually fly on their backs.  Gregor doesn't truly believe he is the warrior that the prophecy foretold of, but he agrees to go on the quest just to save his father.  Is his father really still alive, if not - how will Gregor react, if he is still alive - will he be the same great father or will he have sided with the gnawers.  The quest Gregor takes with other Underland humans and creatures is told in an exciting and transfixing way and I was really interested in what was going to happen.  There were setbacks, sadness, trials, betrayals and hope. 
I would recommend this book highly and am looking forward to reading the second in the series - The Prophecy of Bane.