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Subterranean

Subterranean was undoubtedly my biggest guilty pleasure of 2008. Certain things are virtually guaranteed in a Rollins book: incredibly large cavern systems, a crack adventure team, and some sort of bizarre hominid species. Y’know what? It was fun! Sure, it seemed an odd mish-mash of Jurassic Park, The Descent, and Journey to the Center of the Earth, and despite the really weak opening chapters, the characters became likeable, entertaining, and I never had an inkling how it would end.

by James Rollins

4 Stars

Recommended

I remember the first time I saw the movie “Aliens” in high-school: it started a trend of watching it every day for a few months. That same crack military investigative team feeling came back every bit when reading Subterranean.

But first, a little about the author. Rollins received a doctorate in veterinary medicine, but apparently has devout interests in spelunking and paleoanthropology. These three elements form a triumvirate of thematic elements common to his novels. What amazes me is how he can take these three pillars and make them stand in so many different compositions and forms for his tales, making them more and more tantalizing.

The intro chapters, where an elite scientific and military team is formed, seemed a bit contrived. How many books start with the formation of a crack team sent to investigate a phenomenon? (Crichton wore that one out a long time ago). The dry interactions of the characters, to me, served as little more than a plot device to open the book and toss a few titillating teases of information and mystery to keep the reader interested.

As soon as they’re introduced to the environment in which their adventure will take place, however, it’s a world of grandeur and riddles. The characters come alive as they’re forced to work with one another, and it’s throughout the adventure that their personalities come alive. What started out as dry characters turned into some incredibly entertaining people, making for some intruiging interactions. Layer upon layer of mystery are revealed in answered in due time in gratuitous fashion – you come out feeling you understood everything that was there. It resolves nicely – no dangling leads, no sloppy resolution in an ending that would certainly change the historical records of planet earth.

In opposition to almost every horror-film, creature-feature team in literary or cinema existance, the majority of Rollins’ elite team survive. Of course, there is still quite a body-count, but the majority of the death toll happens either around the focal characters or unbeknowst to them. This would place Subterranean in more the the Star Trek camp, due to the fact that in nearly every episode of the original series you could expect Kirk, McCoy, and Spock to be attended by two security dudes that would die almost immediately. Key lesson: watch out for less-developed military-type characters – they’re the first to go.

I will certainly read more of Rollins’ works. He capitalizes on the action/adventure genre and delivers, every whit. His works would easily be adapted to film – I hope they do. Adventure this good has to be shared!