Book review: Under the mountain

Mulan and I both just finished reading Maurice Gee's Under the Mountain (1979).

I suggested it to Mulan, along with Gee's O trilogy (The Halfmen of O, The Priests of Ferris and Motherstone), and she read them all within a few days.

This was the first time I'd looked at Under the Mountain since I read it when I was about Mulan's age.  It held up extremely well; I recommend it.  Mulan also really enjoyed Gee's books.

For those who don't know, Gee is a local New Zealand author who has written many excellent books, both for children and adults.  Under the Mountain was made into a popular TV series back in the early 80s, and a few years ago was remade as a movie.

At 160 pages, Under the Mountain is a short book, but each chapter is tensely exciting.  It tells the story of twins, who are about Mulan's age, coming to Takapuna to stay with their aunt and uncle over the summer holidays.

Yeah, the book is set just a short walk from where we live!  Many of our local landmarks are featured -- Lake Pupuke, Rangitoto Island, the beaches, the shops, the Harbour Bridge.  And it is all still recognisable -- not much has changed in the past 40 years.  (The main things that stood out for me as having changed were that the Harbour Bridge tollbooths are now gone, One Tree Hill lost its tree, and the city's population has tripled.)

The tense excitement happens because Aunt and Uncle have weird neighbours, the Wilberforces, who turn out to be worm-like aliens intent on turning Earth into a mud-planet.  And the twins are the only people in the galaxy who can stop them (with the help of another neighbour, Mr Jones, who also turns out to be an alien).  It is a simple, silly premise, but an excellent, exciting story.

We found the old TV series version on Youtube.  We plan on watching it over the next several days.