Book Number 68

Juvenile/ Young Adult fiction is really hit or miss with me.

The Novel: Deeper (book 2 in the Tunnels series)
The Authors: Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams
Link: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/roderick-gordon-and-brian-williams/deeper.htm

This book was a "meh it's okay" type of book. It was better than the first in the series, but like it's predecessor it ran long.
The characters are a little more interesting this go around and the action picks up quicker in this novel.
I guess I feel as though my YA fiction should read less juvenile and more teenish.....it's hard to explain. And You'd think with a novel being set for the 11- 17 ish age group that it wouldn't be so bloody long.
There are good elements to this novel as there were in the first novel, however I'm not a huge fan of the series so far. It's not really my style but I feel compelled to see this series to it's conclusion as I hope with the characters maturing the story line will begin to reflect that.

I give "Deeper" a rating of 2.75 out of 5.

Don't let the pervy title fool you, this novel is not like a typical teen novel with some teen angst and sexual tension, it is as far from it as you can get.

Book Number 59

It's been awhile so I'll get straight to it then.....

The Novel: Tunnels
The Authors: Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams
Link: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/roderick-gordon-and-brian-williams/highfield-mole.htm

Tunnels is the first in a series of 3 novels written for juveniles/ young adults. This novel came highly recommended by my friend Sian. (And yes I am finally blogging about it Sian so you can relax now lol)
I found this book to be well written, but so long. It took me several days to get through this novel. The writers spent a lot of time developing the characters and their motivation that by the time it got to some action I was getting a little tired of reading it.
The idea behind tunnels is fascinating. When the action got started I was really getting into the plot and was kept interested....which is of course, why I had to read the second novel in the series fairly soon after.
Tunnels was a little dark which I like, but surprised since the target reader is in the pre-teen/ teen age...but when I think back to when I was that age and I actually preferred stories with a little bit of grimness...so it just goes to show that I'm getting old I guess.
I wish the beginning of the novel was a little more compact so that the interesting stuff happened quicker. But the wait was worth it if you have time.

I give "Tunnels" a rating of 2.75 out of 5.

moving along then......

** Note: As I've come to review the second novel in this series I've felt that I have to amend my original rating down from 3.25 to 2.75.
Changing my rating would normally be against my own rules, however this series is the exception.