Gregor The Overlander Boxed Set #1-5 (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
This series is definitely aimed at a less adult audience than the Hunger Games series. While I loved the Hunger Games, it was refreshing to see Suzanne Collins deal with some of the same important themes of blind hatred, war, sacrifice, etc, in a less bloody and brutal way. The world that Collins creates below New York city in this series is very imaginative, and the character development is quite good, especially for Gregor himself. I think Gregor is the ideal unwilling hero, especially because he not only has to worry about risking his life for an unfamiliar world, he also has legitimate 11 year-old concerns about getting grounded by his mom or needing to change his little sister's diaper. Boots (Gregor's little sister) also adds important elements of humor and human emotion to the stories. Finally, I liked the ending of this series much better than Mockingjay, and I didn't feel left hanging. I would reccomend this to anyone. It is really interesting reading this after being thoroughly obsessed with The Hunger Games. You can see, actually, how The Hunger Games might have evolved from Suzanne Collins earlier works. There is the simple things like repeats of names and descriptions (Pollux, a mechanical clicking/buzzing from the jungle) and there are other deeper things like relations between different groups of haves and have-nots, the mistakes/arrogance made by warring rulers, etc. I am interested in where the series goes (I read it once before but I cannot remember how the series ends).
What do You think about Gregor The Overlander Boxed Set #1-5 (2013)?
An amazing new world of magical creatures, intriguing characters, and a brave young Overlander :)
—Ageofmyths
Read these for myself, then read them with my kids. The boys especially loved them.
—laelaloverose
Great series, starts off childish but is pretty dark by the end.
—adds
Loved these books. Can't wait to read them with my boys.
—reka