Gregor the Overlander

Underland Chronicles, Book 1

By: Suzanne Collins

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

Rich in suspense and brimming with adventure, the New York Times-bestselling Underland Chronicles unfold the fate of the Underland and the great warrior, Gregor. Suzanne Collins is also the author of the bestselling Hunger Games trilogy.

When Gregor falls through a grate in the laundry room of his apartment building, he hurtles into the dark Underland, where spiders, rats, and cockroaches coexist uneasily with humans. This world is on the brink of war, and Gregor's arrival is no accident. A prophecy foretells that Gregor has a role to play in the Underland's uncertain future. Gregor wants no part of it, until he realizes it's the only way to solve the mystery of his father's disappearance. Reluctantly, Gregor embarks on a dangerous adventure that will change both him and the Underland forever.

©2003 Suzanne Collins (P)2005 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Collins introduces her young heroes Gregor and his little sister Boots into a wonderland....A fantastically engaging place." (Publishers Weekly)
"Collins creates a fascinating, vivid, highly original world and a superb story." (Booklist)

It's just ok

I have to say that, as a fantasy, this book is okay. I could never get into it as well as I could get into other books but it is imaginative. It's not magical like "Elves of the Reaches" but the supernatural elements are there. It may be abit in the children's range rather than young adult however the performance may not keep a child's attention. I won't be listening to the rest of the series.

A Little Slow

The book is pretty slow. Takes till like chapter 11 for anything to really happen. But I hear the next book is much better. So if it is, the first one isn't too bad.

Fun--if you can get into it.

This is not The Hunger Games revisited. This is an earlier work (so less refined) and with a different audience, scope, and perspective. So if you're going to be disappointed that it isn't another take on THG, don't bother getting started. This isn't that kind of story.

If you're not one of those people you just might find yourself enjoying the Gregor stories.

That is not to say that they're exceptional stories in any way. They're definitely not on the same level as Harry Potter, Percy Jackson or, well, The Hunger Games). From a literary standpoint the characters are largely stock and not highly dimensioned. There are also some logic gaps that might bother you. For instance, there is a stark lack of range weapons like bows, arrows, and catapults--and I don't recall an explanation to excuse their absence--and, in spite of being underground and in the dark, they seem to have a limitless sky overhead and never seem to experience a 'ceiling' as an obstacle.

But those things will only bother you if you want them to because, all in all, Gregor is acceptable good fun. He faces some real challenges and has some interesting outcomes. There's even a bit of deeper thinking slipped in.

I've enjoyed them and my eight-year-old likes them so far as well.

Initially, at least, I had a problem with the performance. At first Paul Boehmer's reading is awful, with very little separation between his 'voices' and frequent, unnatural pauses in awkward moments--exactly as if he had to stop to find the beginning of the new line of print. Worse, at least in the beginning, his voice for 'Boots' was, for me, painfully grating. Taken all together I didn't get far before I turned it off in frustration. I even tried again later and gave up again.

Eventually, if only because we didn't have anything new and I did like Suzanne Collin's other works, I decided we could power into it a little deeper. After about 15-20 minutes Paul's reading began to normalize (except when Boots spoke). After that he had fewer and fewer awkward pauses and the subtle differences in his voices became easier to distinguish until, by midpoint Paul had it managed and was pulling off a decent job. He's not as good or polished as my favorite narrators--yet--but he has room to improve and I think he will.

Good for young adults

Any additional comments?

I read this based on the knowledge that the author had written "The Hunger Games". It was a cute book but a little too adolescent for me. I'm 57 and would love for my grandkids to read this but that's about it.

Ge-go

When the narrator speaks Boots' lines, I can't help but a bit disoriented. I'm also guessing Boots' "Ge-go" was her attempt to say Greogor's name, so saying "geeh-go" didn't make sense to me. I could be wrong. Other than that, it's a great performance and a great story.

brought me back to my 5th grade year perfect

one of my absolute favorite books I have ever read and I recommend it to everyone

very good

narrator is freaking amazing Suzanne Collins is amazing this book is amazing highly recommend

Delightful!

My favorite part of this book was the bit where Gregor intentionally triggers a tantrum from his two year old sister so they can escape from the spiders--weaponized toddler!

The story was delightfully creative, characters were interesting, plot kept moving.

Completely Hooked!

If you could sum up Gregor the Overlander in three words, what would they be?

Keep on listening!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Gregor and his mature perspective for an eleven year old.

What about Paul Boehmer’s performance did you like?

Easy to listen to.

Any additional comments?

We found this series at the library and listened to the five book series at least three times over the past two years. Could easily listen to it again and decided we needed to own it!

slap city

Read this book as a 8th grade and now as a almost fully mature adult I still this this book was great fantastic story and I can slightly remember that the story get better and better in book 2 and 3 cant wait to jump im