Underwood See (Aldous Lexicon) [Hardcover]

Michael Lawrence (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 5, 2006 | Series: Aldous Lexicon

It's now October, four months on from the events in Small Eternities - Naia and Alaric desperately seek answers and resolutions.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The plot thickens as the realities multiply in this stunning conclusion to the intelligent, well-crafted series that began with The Crack in the Line (2004) and Small Eternities (2005). Naia, now 31 and pregnant, is returning to her childhood home, an estate nicknamed the Underwood See, where she wants to raise her child. The story rewinds 14 years, and the central characters continue to cavort with chance and fate in a growing array of realities. In one, Naia is nearly raped by the leader of a group of wild and violent boys but escapes with help from Ric, that reality's version of Alaric. When some of the realities they inhabit threaten to end, mysterious Aldous devises a risky plan to save his young relatives, even if it means further change and adaptation for them all. Readers will be lost if they begin with this installment, but fans of the series will be riveted by the surprises and twists thrown their way again—true fans will start again at the beginning to pick up clues they missed the first time. Dobrez, Cindy
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Michael Lawrence's trilogy is a spine-tingling thriller about parallel worlds. These are brilliant, thought-provoking novels ... about grief, responsibility and choice. -- The Times The complexity of the storyline is not something that many authors could successfully handle: however Lawrence has written with a truly cunning hand. -- Independent on Sunday 'The Underwood See showcases his skills as a powerful, thought-provoking author.' -- Achuka 20060601 --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Orchard (October 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1843628759
• ISBN-13: 978-1843628750
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,155,023 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Since his first novel came out in 1995, Michael Lawrence has published over forty books for children and young adults, plus a personal memoir, Milking the Novelty, which covers a year in his life as a young photographer in London, Paris, and at a holiday camp in Wales.

His fiction includes The Aldous Lexicon, a trilogy about chance and reality (published as The Withern Rise Trilogy in the US), which he has issued as Kindle ebooks. He has also re-edited the three volumes into one extensive ebook (equivalent to around 700 printed pages) under the title The Realities of Aldous U, a trailer for which can be viewed on YouTube.

Several of Michael's books have won awards or been shortlisted for awards in England and America.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as Good as the First Two, But . . ., March 27, 2007

By 

Hakajin "Ecclectic Student" (GA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Underwood See (Withern Rise) (Hardcover)

After reading the first two books in the Withern Rise trilogy, I was quite excited to read the third. I bought it the day it came out and read it in two nights. But while I certainly enjoyed it, it was not as good as the first two.

What I mostly didn't like was that it lost the spirit of "A Crack in the Line" and "Small Eternities". In these two, there was more of a plot. The characters were trying to figure out what was going on, and you speculated along with them. They also seemed more realistic. But "The Underwood See" loses a lot of these qualities. Too much of the book is given to Aldous U.'s explanations of how the realms work. The plot takes a backseat. There are so many realities and characters (some of them different versions of the same person) that it can get confusing. Also, the book loses the realism that the first two had. It starts using alternate realities as explanations for things like UFOs, and it just gets a little too incredible, a little too sci-fi. This would be fine for another book, but it doesn't fit the mood of the first two. The author tries too hard to explain his thoughts on realities, and doesn't let the characters (or the readers) ponder them for themselves.

Still, it was an exciting conclusion, and the theories the author present leave you with a sense of awe. They're fun to think about, and they can freak you out a little (but in a good way). And the ending is good. All in all, I would recommend "The Underwood See", just don't expect it to be as good as the first two.