Descrip­tions

« Un guerrier de Surterre, un fils du soleil, nous rendra la lumière, ou ne nous rendra rien. » Comment cette prophétie pourrait-elle concerner Gregor, adolescent ordinaire ? Mais New York a ses secrets. Et un jour, Gregor bascule dans un nouvel univers, dans une ville sous la ville, un monde derrière le monde, plein de défis et de créatures insolites. Un monde qui attend sa venue depuis des siècles. Car Gregor est un vrai héros. Seulement, il ne le sait pas encore...

Gregor et sa sœur Moufle sont des enfants américains, métisses, orphelins de père et bloqués à New York... des enfants en somme tout à fait ordinaires. Jusqu’à ce qu’ils passent dans le conduit d’une machine à laver pour atterrir dans le monde de Souterre. Ils y découvrent un univers étrange, peuplé d’humains à la peau translucide, de chauve-souris domestiquées, de cafards qui parlent et de rats malfaisants. Gregor n’a qu’un désir : retourner chez lui. Mais rares sont ceux qui « remontent » de Souterre sans l’accord de Luxa, la future reine, guerrière impassible qui défie Gregor après une tentative de fuite.

It's the beginning of summer and everyone is going off to camp except Gregor, an 11-year-old boy from New York City. Since his father's disappearance from their New York City home, he has been helping out with taking care of his little sisters, especially two-year-old Boots. Gregor sacrifices his chance to go to camp, letting his other sister go instead. While doing laundry in the basement of his apartment building, Boots disappears down an air chute and Gregor goes after her. At the bottom of this inner-city rabbit hole, the two find themselves in the Underland surrounded immediately by giant cockroaches, or crawlers. The story moves quickly as the two Overlanders are taken to the Queen of the Underlander humans, where Gregor learns of a prophecy which focuses on him and a quest to find his missing father. He travels with bats, crawlers, spinners (giant spiders), a rat, and two of the royal Underlanders. Gregor spends his time between protecting Boots, who doesn't know she needs to be protected, and becoming the leader of the questors who must not only save his father, but also save the Underlanders' kingdom.