Freefall (Tunnels Book 3) [Hardcover]

Roderick Gordon (Author), Brian Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2010

Taking it down a whole 'nother level, Will and Chester journey to the center of the earth in FREEFALL. By the authors of the NEW YORK TIMES Bestseller TUNNELS and its sequel DEEPER!

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!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5–9—At long last, the third installment in the subterranean "Tunnels" epic reunites Will, his errant father, and his resilient mother—briefly. Then, as she stays on the surface to battle, and then become a captive of the sinister order of Styx, the two squabbling explorers and various companions embark on a long fall to a fabled land at Earth's center that is lit by an inner sun and anchored by centrifugal force rather than gravity. No, science is not the strong suit here—nor is credibility, as Earth's innards are apparently riddled with tunnels and littered with conveniently placed, mysteriously abandoned military equipment—but the overall tale nonetheless gains momentum as it goes, propelled not only by chases, attacks, explosions, cunning deceptions, and acts of heroism and stupid bravado, but also by run-ins with the vicious Styx (a secret society poised to rid Earth of its environmentally destructive "Topsoilers" with a plague) and several types of deadly, eldritch creatures unique to the planetary depths. The occasional drawings of faces or objects add nothing significant, but that's a minor bobble in a fantasy that has yet to show signs of flagging despite its high page count.—John Peters, New York Public Library
(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

From Booklist

Will and Chester, along with their injured friend, Elliott, are pushed into the chasm known as the Pore, where they encounter the evil Rebecca twins, who hold vials of the Dominion virus intended to obliterate earth’s population and free the planet for the sinister Styx. Now, in addition to finding their way topside and locating Will’s wandering archaeologist father, the friends must keep the Rebeccas from completing their mission. Readers of Tunnels (2008) and Deeper (2009) get more of the same with this third book: nonstop action, intertwined plotlines, repellent enemies, and a fascinating world down under. Grades 6-9. --Cindy Welch

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 608 pages
• Publisher: The Chicken House (February 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0545138779
• ISBN-13: 978-0545138772
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #329,550 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Roderick Gordon is the author of the Tunnels series of books.

Born in 1960, Roderick grew up in Highgate, North London. Chronically shy throughout his childhood, he sought refuge in drawing and writing, and at the age of twelve had a short story about running away from home included in a school magazine. Studying biology and genetics at university, Roderick eventually graduated without any idea of what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. More by accident than anything else, he eventually ended up in the City, working in corporate finance.

In 2001, after a nine year stretch with an investment bank, Roderick was made redundant, something that he describes as a blessing in disguise. He was now able to meet more regularly with an old university friend, Brian Williams, and in 2003, they began a book for younger readers, a project first suggested by Roderick's wife, Sophie.

Roderick has always been interested in archaeology and palaeontology. His great-great-grandfather, William Buckland, gave in 1824 what is credited to be the first scientific lecture on a dinosaur called the Megalosaurus, some twenty years before the word dinosaur itself had been coined. The idea for the character of Will Burrows in the Tunnels books came to Roderick when he learnt that a sixteenth-century house he'd bought in Northamptonshire was rumoured to have a secret passage beneath it.

All through late 2003 and the summer of 2004, Roderick and Brian cooperated on a book, which Roderick finally self-published as The Highfield Mole in 2005. All the copies quickly sold out, attracting the attention of Barry Cunningham, J.K. Rowling's original publisher and founder of The Chicken House, a publisher of children's books. After a period of editing, Barry Cunningham republished The Highfield Mole, re-titling it as Tunnels to reflect the fact that it had been changed from the original.

After intense media interest around its launch, Tunnels was published in forty different counties, achieving worldwide sales of more than a million copies, and both it and the sequel, Deeper, were New York Times Bestsellers. Shortly after the publication of Tunnels, the film rights were purchased by the production company Relativity Media, and shooting of the first film is expected to begin shortly with Vincenzo Natali as director. A manga of the book has also been released in Japan. Tunnels has been followed by further instalments in the saga; Deeper (2009), Freefall (2010), and next year, Closer, will be published in the US. There will a total of six or seven books in the Tunnels series.

Roderick lives in North Norfolk, England, with his wife and two sons, but is known to sneak back to London for reasons of sanity.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams continue to bring readers on a journey of a life time., February 12, 2010

By 

Joel M. Guelzo (Lynchburg Va) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Freefall (Tunnels) (Paperback)

The story of Tunnels, Deeper, and now Freefall, are absolutely incredible. Here are my reasons why:

1. I enjoy realistic fiction. I like when a stories science fiction seems to work within the books reality. These books try to do that as much as possible while maintaining a sense of fun adventure. There are so many things that happen in these books that if seem like it could happen if you believe in the science that the writers have come up with inside the context of the book. The writers are able to make amazing things seem believable and real.

2. The bad guys are bad. The danger is real, and it feels real. I enjoy a story that when someone is shown to be bad, they continue to be bad. It isnt the typical story where some bad guy monologues on about how bad he is, than shoots a guy so you believe what he says. No, these books have realistic danger and violence not just for violence sake, but for deepening the characters throughout the book. There are some parts in these books that you can hardly believe you are reading a young adult book, but it makes it so good because its real, and it could happen, and the writers don't make the danger or violence easy for the characters. When they escape danger, it feels like they did.

3. The story doesnt just add random action so the reader is fed with "fun". The story takes its time and creates a real world thats incredible to explore.

4. The writers use real science theories and facts, and history to create a realistic sounding history inside the book that makes sense and feels real to the reader.

5. The book doesnt have usual happy endings. It has happy moments when they happen, but not just to make you always feel happy after a sad moment. These books just feel like something special. They go where other books are scared to. The story contains moments where characters that usually wont ever get hurt, they get hurt. Also where plots seem just where you think they are going, they don't.

6. The writers detail the underground landscape so well. They make you feel like you are really there. The story doesnt just jump from action to action, it lets you understand each segment of the story and moves on at a very nice pace.


Read these books, you will love them. I cannot wait to see the movies sometime soon as well.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, July 9, 2010

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Freefall (Tunnels Book 3) (Hardcover)

After digging through the subterranean world of modern-day London in search of his father, Will Burrows ended up on the run from the diabolical Styx army with his best friend, Chester, and his newly discovered brother, Cal. After an encounter with the Rebecca twins and Styx army, the group of friends fell down a deep hole known as the Pore.

The FREEFALL takes them further into the earth, but they're not alone in the depths of the Pore. Having been mortally wounded, Will's biological mother used her last moments to knock the Rebecca twins into the Pore as well, and with them, the vials of the deadly Dominion virus.

Will and his group of friends must find a way to keep the Rebecca twins from escaping the Pore with the virus. They meet new friends and explore new places that bring them closer to understanding the inner workings of the earth. But will they be able to stop the Styx plot, escape the Deeps, and return to their lives in the world above?

The books in the TUNNELS series are long, and with the shifting points of view, sometimes can frustrate me when I have to leave a character in the middle of a dangerous situation to delve into another character's mind and situation, only to leave them and go to yet another. Though it may frustrate me at times, it doesn't keep me from reading and wanting more.

FREEFALL is a glorious continuation of the story that began in TUNNELS and continued in DEEPER. The new explorations and discoveries in FREEFALL kept me floating along with Will and his friends in near zero gravity. With each page turn, my fascination with this subterranean world created by Gordon and Williams increased. I can't wait to get CLOSER to the truth in the next book. Hopefully, CLOSER will also bring further understanding of the world and characters in this series.

Reviewed by: Joan Stradling

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's the perfect adventure in which to completely bury oneself, June 14, 2010

By 

A Customer (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Freefall (Tunnels Book 3) (Hardcover)

Fourteen-year-old Will Burrows and his best friend, Chester, have unknowingly stumbled into an adventure of a lifetime. It all starts when Will's father, an archaeologist, disappears. While looking for him, Will and Chester discover a hidden tunnel behind a bookcase in the basement. Positive that this is where Dr. Burrows has gone missing, they delve into the tunnel to search for him, unaware of the adventure --- and horrors --- they are about to experience. They discover an underground city called the Colony, ruled by a harsh and unrelenting people called the Styx, and that Will himself is from the Colony. His birth mom, Sarah, took him and escaped to the surface when he was a baby; the Burrows are actually his foster family. Plus, after years apart and not even knowing he existed, Will is reunited with his younger brother, Cal.

And then they learn of yet another shocker: his adopted sister, Rebecca, is actually a pair of Styx twins who has been spying on him all these years. Will and Chester don't mix well in the Colony and thus are banished to the Deeps along with Cal. There, they encounter a band of Renegades bound together to fight against the evil Styx. Two of the Renegades --- Drake, the war veteran, and Elliott, his young female protégé --- take Will, Cal and Chester under their wing, teaching them how to find food and fight the Styx. But then Will, Cal, Chester, Elliott, and their huge cat, Bartleby, find themselves tethered together, standing on the edge of the Pore, a massive crater that extends down into the center of the earth. Cal is mercilessly gunned down, falling over the edge of the Pore and dragging his friends with him. Rumor has it that in all of Styx history, only one person has ever managed to escape the depths of the Pore. History may have to change.

So after falling thousands of miles down into the dark depths of the earth, Will and his friends finally come to rest on some huge fungus outcroppings sticking out into the Pore. Elliott has a broken arm and can't seem to regain consciousness; otherwise the group survives the fall unscathed. Except for Cal, who is, of course, already dead. Will says his goodbyes to Cal and then pushes him back out into the Pore to fall even farther, sort of like a burial at sea. Afterwards, Will and Chester do a bit of exploring and are amazed to find even more caverns and tunnels running out from the fungus nets that caught them on their fall. With no other options, they set off down the tunnel.

Being so deep within the earth has lessened the pull of gravity, and they find they can leap great distances, which entertains them for a bit. It also helps in carrying the unconscious Elliott, making her almost weightless. But it doesn't take long for them to find more trouble --- trouble in the form of ten-foot-across flesh-eating spiders. They manage to fight off the spiders for a few minutes, but there are too many. Luckily, another refugee in the depths, a woman named Martha, comes along just in time. Martha has been surviving for quite a while in the depths and knows just how to fight off the huge spiders --- and how to prepare them for dinner. So she takes them to her home, and they are very grateful for the help, especially with the still unconscious Elliott. But they know they can't stay long. They have to find their way home --- despite even more terrors awaiting them.

Unknown to our heroes, the Rebecca twins also have been pushed into the Pore. They, too, manage to land on a fungal outcropping and survive with just a few scratches. Also surviving the fall is the only remaining sample of the deadly Dominion virus and its antidote, worn in containers around their necks. They know that if the Styx plan to kill off the people on the surface with the virus is to be carried out, they need to find their way back to the Colony.

The only one who doesn't want to return topside is Will's adopted father, Dr. Burrows. The archaeologist in him is determined to learn more about these ancient peoples buried deep in the earth. He has discovered a set of tiles that he believes to be a map leading to a hidden paradise called "The Garden of the Second Sun" and needs to find his way even deeper into the center of the earth, even if it means risking his own life. Unfortunately, it would also mean endangering the lives of his adopted children.

Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams are two of the most amazing storytellers of our time. Their imaginations seem limitless when fueling the hungry fires of our curiosity. They have a genuine gift for description that literally pulls readers deep into the story, allowing them to really feel the horrors of the characters. And book three brings some changes to those characters. First is obviously the loss of Cal: he will be missed and not only by his cat, Bartleby. Second is Will's birth mom: she finally breaks free of her debilitating depression and actively joins in the search for her family and the fight against the Styx. Will also has been changing with all of the challenges he has faced: his growing maturity is especially apparent when he finally reunites with Dr. Burrows, who attempts to treat him like a little boy. But Will is no little boy anymore. The authors also cleverly slip in the importance of saving the planet and how much people have hurt our earth, fitting it seamlessly into the story.

Even though FREEFALL is a long story, readers will not want it to end. And it won't --- at least not yet. A fourth book in the series, CLOSER, is on its way. Many thanks to Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams for this amazing story. It's the perfect adventure in which to completely bury oneself.