Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
I don't 'get it' .....but my daugher liked it, 17 April 2008
A few days have elapsed since finishing 'Tunnels' and the feeling of being cheated has passed ;P
Ultimitely I realise that my annoyance isn't with the authors or the book itself....it's with whoever markets and hypes 'Tunnels'. I bought this book because it was hailed as the next Harry Potter. Now, granted, that was my own fault because I should have known that HP was one-of-a-kind, but just for a moment I believed in the hype. I think that sort of advertising is doing the authors and the book a disservice and is unfairly setting up some readers for a fall. It's NOT the new Harry Potter, there will never be another Harry Potter and why a new book can't just be touted as a great book in it's own right is beyond me. The comparison is letting 'Tunnels' down IMO.
To compare the 2 is one of the worst ploys this book's advertisers could have made. It's not an even playing field and I feel it's really unfair to put so much pressure on Tunnels when they're clearly nothing alike....neither in subject nor style.
As to how I feel about the book itself, well I'd be lying if I said I loved it. I'm not even sure I can say I liked it, but I did finish it so it can't be all bad. It had it's 'moments' but sadly, for me, they were all too few. If more (or even 'as much') time had been spent on characters as was spent on the surroundings, then perhaps I could have bonded with the people better. As it is, the only one that mildly interested me was the sister, and little was spent on her.
Having said that, the appeal is obviously there, judging by other reviews so maybe I'm just missing something.
I (might) even buy 'Deeper' to see how Will fares ;P
If this was made into a film it might have more appeal.....but as a book, it doesn't 'do it' for me..
I feel obliged to add that my daughter liked it, (although it was a bit scary for her), and since children are the target audience perhaps they are the best critics. That being the case, the rating reflects her appreciation alone.
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87 of 106 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Next Harry Potter? No. But the next "Tunnels"? Yes!, 15 Jul 2007
Barry Cunningham is best known for being the publisher who brought Harry Potter to the world by signing then unknown writer J.K. Rowling after she had been rejected by numerous other publishers.
Since then, I'm sure he's been on the lookout for the "next big thing". Apparently the wait is over. In what's touted to be the "next Harry Potter", Mr. Cunningham has signed another unknown author, or rather pair of authors, Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams. Gordon and Williams had previously self-published their book as "The Highfield Mole". After what I'm sure was exhaustive marketing analysis, the book's title has been changed to "Tunnels".
It's an unfair comparison to call a new book the "next Harry Potter". It's akin to saying a company is the "next Microsoft" or an up-and-coming band is the "next Beatles". There is no way any book will live up to the hype. And this book should not be compared to Harry Potter. It is its own animal. And it's pretty good.
"Tunnels" is interesting and entertaining - eventually. I won't recap the plot here because you can read the official description above. The problem is that it takes 170 pages before anything happens. I almost gave up on it. None of the characters introduced in the first third of the book are compelling. They just don't come to life.
Also, the writing in the first part of the book isn't that great. It's too wordy and over-laden with adjectives. It also suffers from "adverb disease" ("Will said quietly", "Rebecca said triumphantly", "Chester said awkwardly"). It's a chore to read.
Then Will and Chester go underground. The writing improves in the second half of the book as things begin to happen and some interesting characters emerge.
"Tunnels" is good, but you're left hanging at the end, waiting for Book 2, which is supposed to be published in 2008.
I predict that "Tunnels" will find its audience, but it will not be a huge success.
The universal appeal of Harry Potter was its magical world, co-existing with the regular world, but hidden from us Muggles. The magical world was whimsical, mysterious and fun. Readers escaped into that world and, when they were finished reading, couldn't wait to visit again and again and again.
"Tunnels" also has a hidden world, but there's nothing magical about it. It is mysterious, but it is also brutal and violent. People are tortured and killed. Vicious dogs attack with intent to kill. Even the regular world depicted in "Tunnels" is bleak. Here is a sample description of a neighborhood near Will's house:
"It was also the favoured spot for kids on their track bikes and, increasingly, stolen mopeds, the latter being run into the ground and then torched, their carbon-black skeletons littering the far edges of the Pits, where weeds threaded up through their wheels and around their rusting engine blocks. Less frequently, it was also the scene for sinister adolescent amusements such as bird- or frog-hunting; all too often, the creatures were slowly tortured to death and their sorry little carcasses impaled on sticks in sadistic youthful glee."
Yuck.
One of the main characters, Chester, whiles "away the time...by swatting bluebottles and wasps with an old badminton racket, easy targets as they grew lazy in the noonday heat." Later, he flicks "the mutilated remains of a large fly off the frayed strings of his racket."
Yuck again. Does this sound like someone you'd want your kids to hang out with?
Regarding the physical book, I have one major complaint about the softcover edition. I have an original copy of "The Highfield Mole" that includes many illustrations by Brian Williams. The softcover edition of "Tunnels" contains almost none of these illustrations. What a shame.
Finally, I couldn't help feeling a sense of déjà vu while reading "Tunnels". It evoked memories of Jeanne DuPrau's "The City of Ember".
I recommend "Tunnels", but be aware of what you're getting yourself into - bleakness, darkness, dirt, grime and violence - with the promise of a rip-roaring adventure story.
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18 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Very, very poorly written, 30 Oct 2007
I bought this book for my daughter having heard some marketing hype on Radio 4. When I asked her several weeks later if I could read it, she unearthed it from under her bed saying she'd only read a few pages. And I really don't blame her. Here is an example of the clunky writing:
"Although the growing friendship between Will and Chester seemed unlikely, the very thing that had helped to bring them together had also been the same thing that singled them out at school: their skin. For Chester, it was severe bouts of eczema, which resulted in flaky and itchy patches of raw skin. This was due, he was told unhelpfully, to either an unidentifiable allergy or nervous tension. Whatever the cause, he had endured the teasing and jibes from his fellow pupils, the worst ones being 'orrible scaly creature' and 'snake arse', until he could take no more and had fought back, using his physical advantage to quash the taunters with great effect."
Great sentence construction? Easy, natural flow of vocabulary? I think not.
In the next paragraph "Will had used his spade to great effect, and a bloody and one-sided battle had ensued in which teeth were lost and a nose was badly broken." Hmmn. So Will is a role model then?
Nothing about the early part of this story grabs you and this is exacerbated by the unrelenting poor writing. I dread to think how much worse it was before it was edited!
It makes me really cross that the power of marketing money is selling this to the masses as a really good book, when it is actually extremely mediocre. And all so a few unliterary men can make an awful lot of money out of you and me. I hope some of you can see beyond the hype, and agree with me.
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