Freefall
Freefall (Book 3, Tunnels Series)
The Chicken House, 2010
Fantasy
ISBN: 0545138779
608 pages
Synopsis
DEEPER sent Will and Chester into FREEFALL—tumbling through the subterranean Pore with the evil Rebecca twins in hot pursuit, both toting phials of the lethal Dominion virus. When, where, will they ever land?! Just when the drop seems infinite, the boys hit bottom, and find themselves in a realm of near-zero gravity atop a giant spongy fungus stuffed with artifacts from some lost golden age. But they are not alone. And above ground, black-clad Styx are sprouting like poison mushrooms, dead-set on spreading their plague!
Critique
Of the three books so far in the series, this is the one that I have enjoyed the most. The previous two largely take place in the dismal underground worlds controlled by the Styx, but Freefall is a subterranean area completely untouched by these evil humans. Thus, the general mood from the characters feels lighter, and the spirit of adventure is stronger.
(Spoiler alert!) My favorite part, though would have to be once they get to the very center in which is contained a second sun. I couldn’t quite grasp what that would look like as described in the ancient maps that Dr. Burrows references throughout the first and second books, but it makes a lot more sense as the authors describe it. It literally is a sun that formed inside of the earth, and, as such, there is another, smaller world there that is similar to the one we inhabit on the surface.
I didn’t think that anyone could recreate a center of the world fantasy with any originality since Vern’s pretty much covers it, but I think Williams and Gordon have done an excellent job of reopening our imaginations to what may lie beneath our feet. I recommend this fun, entertaining read to readers 12+.
The other books in this series so far are Tunnels (book 1), Deeper (book 2), and Closer (book 4) which has not yet been released.
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For the Classroom
Since this is largely a work of fantasy, the science of the world is different than our own. However, the exploration of the tunnels, and the cavernous underworld is interesting and somewhat applicable to geological studies.
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