Amazon.com Review
Ruth Berry wants to be the first reporter in years to interview reclusive Jeremy Jones, the son of famed author E.A. Jones and the hero of her classic children's fantasy books. Jeremy does not want to discuss his childhood; he has forgotten it, he has changed his name to Jerry, and he has not spoken to his mother in many years. But he finds his memories returning when strange events seem to indicate that the Adventures of Jeremy in Neverwas weren't fantasy. He, Ruth, and Ruth's daughter Gilly sink ever deeper into a terrifying underworld, pursued by the villainous Barnaby Sattermole, by Sattermole's monomaniacal archenemy Sneath, and by the relentless Shadow Committee, a secret conspiracy at least as old as human history.
In Dark Cities Underground, American Book Award winner Lisa Goldstein reveals and explores the connections among the worlds of Narnia and Never-Never Land, the Wind in the Willows and Wonderland, myth and legend. But don't read Dark Cities Underground as an escapist secondary-world adventure; that will lead to disappointment, because this novel is about the nature and meaning of otherworlds, and not about disappearing into them. This fine modern fantasy is also about archetypes, childhood, growing up, loyalty, immortality, death, and love. --Cynthia Ward
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
The basis of some of the world's most enduring myths is explored in this new novel from Goldstein (winner of an American Book Award for her fantasy novel The Red Magician, 1982). Journalist Ruth Berry is working on a biography of E.A. Jones, beloved author of The Adventures of Jeremy in Neverwas, a classic series of children's books based on stories that Jones's son, Jeremy, told her about the imaginary Land of Neverwas. Now in his 50s, Jeremy "Jerry" Jones remembers little of his childhood, but Ruth's questions stir up a batch of old memories. Ruth isn't the only one dredging up the past: mysterious Barnaby Sattermole insists that Neverwas and its inhabitants are quite real, and he wants Jerry to show him the entrance, said to be someplace underground, in the World Below. As Ruth and Jerry delve deeper, they uncover links between the plot of the Neverwas series and Egyptian myths: specifically, how the god Osiris was killed by his brother Set and then restored to life by Isis. Ruth begins to wonder if many of the best-known children's books might actually be based on places and events in Neverwas. When Sattermole kidnaps Ruth's daughter, Gilly, Ruth and Jerry must enter the World Below to find the Eye of Horus, the key to Neverwas. The novel moves rapidly, building momentum as each secret is revealed. The narrative feels overplotted, however, and the characters not as full-blooded as those in some previous Goldstein books. Still, the story's premise, and the questions that arise from it, should keep readers involved.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
