Gregor the Overlander

Title:  Gregor the Overlander aka Gregor and the Rats of Underland

Author:  Suzanne Collins; Read by Paul Boehmer

Publisher:  Listening Library

Series:  Underland Chronicles, Bk 1

ISBN: 0307282694

Length:  6 hours, 34 minutes; 6 discs

Obtained:  Library audiobook copy

Comments:

I've heard good things about this series for awhile now.  I checked this out in print but ended up returning it without reading it.  Then I needed another audio, preferably children's.  I asked for a recommendation and said I was looking for something fantasy.  The children's librarian pulled this out and said the series was actually pretty good (it sounded like it wasn't really her kind of genre).

I'm pleased to say I found that I did enjoy it.  I really liked Gregor.  He was so responsible for an 11 year old.  I loved how he cared for his little sister when others might have found a 2 year old tagging along and causing mischief annoying.  I was happy he was willing to overlook his personal wants for the good of his family.  It is something I struggle with, so I find it especially admirable when I see it (yes, even in fictional characters) ... all the more so in a kid.  The other characters were varied and interesting as well.

Another point of interest is the setting and storyline.  It's kind of James and the Giant Peach (which I've never read - I'm basing this comment on the movie) and Harry Potter (no wizardry, but a whole new world just past our every day Earth and major cities) - though Gregor is not so abused as either of the aforementioned comparisons - and Alice in Wonderland (which I've never read or watched all the way through, but which apparently inspired the author).  In any case, it was interesting and different (despite all the comparisons).

I moved quickly through the story and am currently listening to the second book, Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane.  Or at least I'm trying to, if only I can get through the part that keeps skipping and jumping backward.