debz57a52's review
4.0
This trilogy is so very interesting in some ways. The first book, Below the Root, is very much a stand-alone, if you want it to be. The end is kind of a good end.
This book more or less covers Raamo's first year as an initiate in the Ol-zhaan, his building friendship with Geena and Neric, not to mention the friendships between Teera and Pomma. The three Ol-zhaans make quite a discovery as they're exploring on the forest floor, and it leads to some disturbing new information about the history of the Kindar and their below-the-root neighbors, the Paachan.
And All Between is not a good end, if you want things to end right there, with the second book. There is no closure, really, although the reader gets a few definitive answers the narrative and the characters hadn't already expressly known. All the same, it ends on a cliffhanger, basically what the first two books are building toward, and I barely took a breath after finishing And All Between before I switched over to the third and final book to continue reading.
One of the things I thought about as I reread both this book and Below the Root last week is how much [book:The Giver|3636] owes to this series, whether or not Lowry had read these books. The idea of a non-violent utopia, with certain developmental checkpoints for all children, public celebrations of those checkpoints, the burden of knowledge that is placed on a select few, even the fear of the other... it's all in both The Giver and this series. Since this is a reread for me, maybe that is why The Giver felt for familiar and comfortable when I started reading it. They are definitely their own stories, no doubt there, but they're in the same family of books with some of the same plot elements, setting characteristics, and character sensibilities.
This book more or less covers Raamo's first year as an initiate in the Ol-zhaan, his building friendship with Geena and Neric, not to mention the friendships between Teera and Pomma. The three Ol-zhaans make quite a discovery as they're exploring on the forest floor, and it leads to some disturbing new information about the history of the Kindar and their below-the-root neighbors, the Paachan.
And All Between is not a good end, if you want things to end right there, with the second book. There is no closure, really, although the reader gets a few definitive answers the narrative and the characters hadn't already expressly known. All the same, it ends on a cliffhanger, basically what the first two books are building toward, and I barely took a breath after finishing And All Between before I switched over to the third and final book to continue reading.
One of the things I thought about as I reread both this book and Below the Root last week is how much [book:The Giver|3636] owes to this series, whether or not Lowry had read these books. The idea of a non-violent utopia, with certain developmental checkpoints for all children, public celebrations of those checkpoints, the burden of knowledge that is placed on a select few, even the fear of the other... it's all in both The Giver and this series. Since this is a reread for me, maybe that is why The Giver felt for familiar and comfortable when I started reading it. They are definitely their own stories, no doubt there, but they're in the same family of books with some of the same plot elements, setting characteristics, and character sensibilities.
smimholt's review
3.0
I like the ending of this, the second of the Greensky Trilogy; but the beginning recaps too much of the first book, only from a different character's perspective. It is annoying to have to re-read the same dialogue or plot lines. But the story makes up for that with the new material in the second half.
crowyhead's review
2.0
Eight-year-old Teera finds herself above the powerful Root that keeps her Erdling community captive underground. The Erdlings are feared and despised by the Kindar people who live in the massive trees above. Raamo and Neric, two young Kindar discover Teera and for reasons of their own decide to keep her hidden, allowing her to live with Raamo’s parents and his sister, Pomma. But Teera’s existence does not remain a secret and soon she, Raamo, Neric, and their friends are all in danger.
This book would be nifty as a stand-alone, but as a sequel to Below the Root (the first book in the trilogy) it's kind of boring and frustrating. Basically, it repeats the events in [b:Below the Root|127122|Below the Root|Zilpha Keatley Snyder|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171928608s/127122.jpg|6329] almost exactly, except from a slightly altered perspective, so the first 150 pages are a retread of what already came before.
This book would be nifty as a stand-alone, but as a sequel to Below the Root (the first book in the trilogy) it's kind of boring and frustrating. Basically, it repeats the events in [b:Below the Root|127122|Below the Root|Zilpha Keatley Snyder|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171928608s/127122.jpg|6329] almost exactly, except from a slightly altered perspective, so the first 150 pages are a retread of what already came before.
ellie31773's review
5.0
Snyder's [b:Below the Root|127122|Below the Root|Zilpha Keatley Snyder|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171928608s/127122.jpg|6329] trilogy is a nice introduction to fantasy and science fiction. It gets young readers ready for such heavy and layered series as [b:the Lord of the Rings|34|The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, Part 1)|J.R.R. Tolkien|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156043001s/34.jpg|3204327] or Narnia.
satyridae's review
2.0
I found the first 60% of this book to be a review of material from [b:Below The Root|127122|Below the Root|Zilpha Keatley Snyder|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171928608s/127122.jpg|6329]. Admittedly, it was from a different perspective, but it was too much for me.
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