Customer Reviews

The Underwood See (Withern Rise)

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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.