School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-9-This volume begins exactly where Tunnels (Scholastic, 2008) ended-with Will, Chester, and Cal on a train taking them away from the Colony to the deeper underground wilds. The authors waste no time with backstory and leap straight into the plot; they maintain a frenetic pace throughout via short chapters and nonstop action. The Styx, who tortured children in the last book, prove to be even more malevolent in this one. After teaming up with two renegades in the Deep, Will discovers that the Styx are planning to kill all of the humans living Topsoil so that the Colony can reclaim the Earth. Determined to stop them and to find his father, who is wandering lost in this underground world, Will is constantly running for his life, enduring hardships or caught in skirmishes with the militant Styx. There are dark moments in this book-references to torture, drug use, and intense violence-and several important characters die, but the pace is so rushed that readers have no time to dwell. Purchase where Tunnels is popular or where there is a need for action/adventure for readers who aren't afraid of the dark.-Caroline Tesauro, Radford Public Library, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Banished by the restrictive underground society of the Colony (discovered in Tunnels), Will explores the deadly Deeps with his brother Cal and friend Chester. Meanwhile, the sinister Styx hunt him and plan a horrifying biological attack on the "Topsoil" world. The plot has too many red herrings and near-misses to sustain tension, but the action is nonstop. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
In a clear case of bestselleritis, this bloated sequel to Tunnels (2008) offers a tangle of slow-moving plotlines both on and under the Earth most of which are either eventually forced together by massive coincidences or left to dangle. Having survived multiple attacks from a subterranean religious organization plotting to clear the surface of human life, the main cast is left plunging down a huge well toward the planet's center. What will they find? The many fans of the series won't be left too far in the dark, thanks to any number of broad hints and a sneak preview of the next volume.--Peters, John Copyright 2009 Booklist
