Dark Cities Underground

May 31, 1999
The basis of some of the world's most enduring myths is explored in this new novel from Goldstein (winner of an American Book Award for her fantasy novel The Red Magician, 1982). Journalist Ruth Berry is working on a biography of E.A. Jones, beloved author of The Adventures of Jeremy in Neverwas, a classic series of children's books based on stories that Jones's son, Jeremy, told her about the imaginary Land of Neverwas. Now in his 50s, Jeremy "Jerry" Jones remembers little of his childhood, but Ruth's questions stir up a batch of old memories. Ruth isn't the only one dredging up the past: mysterious Barnaby Sattermole insists that Neverwas and its inhabitants are quite real, and he wants Jerry to show him the entrance, said to be someplace underground, in the World Below. As Ruth and Jerry delve deeper, they uncover links between the plot of the Neverwas series and Egyptian myths: specifically, how the god Osiris was killed by his brother Set and then restored to life by Isis. Ruth begins to wonder if many of the best-known children's books might actually be based on places and events in Neverwas. When Sattermole kidnaps Ruth's daughter, Gilly, Ruth and Jerry must enter the World Below to find the Eye of Horus, the key to Neverwas. The novel moves rapidly, building momentum as each secret is revealed. The narrative feels overplotted, however, and the characters not as full-blooded as those in some previous Goldstein books. Still, the story's premise, and the questions that arise from it, should keep readers involved.

May 15, 1999
Researching her E. A. Jones biography, Ruth Berry gets in deeper, literally, than she would have thought possible. Jones is famous for writing up her little son Jeremy's strange adventures underground, which she says he told her. Middle-aged Jeremy, long estranged from his mother, denies he told her anything of the sort. But shortly after Ruth meets Jeremy--now Jerry, if you please--a strange man visits him, asking questions that stir forgotten memories. In short order, Jerry, Ruth, and new widow Sarah Kendall are prowling the same underground little Jeremy explored. The place exists below the world's subways, and in it one can travel from, say, San Francisco to London by walking through the right doorway. It is the original of such fantasy worlds as Wonderland and Never-neverland, and, inhabited by outmoded gods and crazed archetypes, it is neither safe nor cozy. Jerry and Sarah become speechless companions to Ruth on what come to seem solely her adventures, but this structural defect doesn't lessen the excitement and fascination of Goldstein's engrossing entertainment. ((Reviewed May 15, 1999))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1999, American Library Association.)