Tunnels by Roderick Gordon & Brian Williams

Synopsis: Will Burrows and his father are excited when they discover an underground tunnel far beneath modern-day London, but then Will's father disappears.  With the help of his only friend, Chester, Will vows to uncover the truth behind his father's disappearance, leading he and Chester to discover a bleak and deadly underworld.

Review:  While I certainly enjoyed Tunnels, I don't think I get all the comparisons being made to the Harry Potter books.  True, Tunnels has an incredibly elaborate plot like the Potter books, but it lacks the wonderful characterizations.  Will is all right, I guess, but he's not near as tragic and defined as Harry.  I didn't find that I felt terribly sorry for him even though his mother is a crack-pot, his father has disappeared, and his sister is just plain weird.  Then, there's whiny Chester.  I know the Colony is a dark, scary place, but when Will is removed from the jail, I felt as if Chester should buck up and try to escape.  Instead, he curls up in a ball and cries.  I doubt we would ever see Ron and Hermione go fetal.  Then, there's Cal, Will's underground little brother, but that's all he is, a typical, annoying younger brother. 

Tunnels differs greatly from the Potter novels in its tone as well.  Tunnels is bleak and grimy and claustrophobic all the time.  There are no light-hearted moments. It's hard for the reader to feel any hope when Will and Chester are traveling miles below London's surface.  It's especially difficult when they are told they can never return to London without constantly living in fear of the Styx hunting them down and killing them.  Even when above the surface, the tone is depressing.  Will is constantly getting beat up at school, and the description of Auntie Jean and her cigarette smoke-filled apartment made me shudder.  Does Will have no where that he belongs?  Does he have no where to feel safe?  At least Harry has Hogwarts or the Weasley's home. 

So while I liked Tunnels and think Gordon and Williams did an excellent job of capitalizing on many people's fear of the dark, I just don't think it bears much similarity to the Harry Potter series.  I'd be curious to see what the ratio of boys to girls reading this book is.  As there are no well-defined female characters, I can't help but think this falls more on the side of being a boy book. Oh, and one more thing, what is up with all the terrible spot drawings in the book?  Why bother?  Nothing of any importance is ever pictured.  The drawings were just a hindrance to the pacing of the text.   Hopefully, they can be left out of book two.