Gregor and the Code of Claw

Gregor and the Code of Claw

Author	Suzanne Collins
Cover artist	Daniel Craig
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	The Underland Chronicles
Genre	Fantasy
Publisher	Scholastic
Publication date	2007
Pages	416
ISBN	978-0-439-79144-1
OCLC	66527121

Gregor and the Code of Claw is a children's novel by author Suzanne Collins, best known for her Hunger Games trilogy. It is the fifth and final book of The Underland Chronicles, and was published in 2007. Scholastic has rated the book's "grade level equivalent" as 4.5 and the book's lexile score as 730L, making it reading-level-appropriate for the average fourth to sixth grader. The novel has been praised especially as a conclusion to The Underland Chronicles. In its description of the novel, as part of its "Recommended Books" award, the CCBC states, "Although Gregor and the Code of Claw works as a stand-alone story, readers will want to start with book one and work their way through to this final volume." An audiobook version was released in 2008, read by Paul Boehmer.

Plot summary

Only a few hours have passed since the closing of Gregor and the Marks of Secret, when Gregor returns from the Firelands to warn Regalia of an impending gnawer attack. As the novel opens, Gregor is numb with shock from the Prophecy of Time's apparent prediction of his death. He and his bond Ares disobey Solovet and return to the Firelands to find Queen Luxa, her bond Aurora, and her cousin Howard. Upon his return, Solovet orders Gregor locked in the dungeon as punishment for this insubordination. He is eventually released by Nerissa to help his sister Boots while the toddler works to fulfill the Prophecy of Gray by deciphering the rats' "Code of Claw".

Solovet still wants Gregor imprisoned, until Ripred and Mareth inform her that Gregor has recently developed romantic feelings for Queen Luxa, and would never leave Regalia while she is hospitalized. Shortly after this incident, an upset Gregor is called to the code room for an "emergency with [his] sister", and discovers his eight-year-old Lizzie has come to bring him home. When the code team learns that Lizzie has an aptitude for puzzles, Ripred makes the suggestion that she replace Boots. Gregor is desperate to keep his family safe, so he extracts a promise from Ripred to protect them and keep them in the dark about Gregor's impending doom. While Lizzie works on (and ultimately solves) the code, Gregor fights the Bane's armies, struggling all the while to cope with his emotions about Luxa and Sandwich's prophecy.

Shortly before his final confrontation with the Bane, Gregor has all but lost hope for his life. Noticing this, Ripred tells him that he doesn't belive Gregor has to die, because he's never believed Sandwich's prophecies. This revelation inspires Gregor to defeat the unstable Bane once and for all. Two weeks later, a wounded Gregor awakens in the hospital and learns of a series of crushing events. Though the humans routed the rats, Ares died in the Firelands; Ripred is presumed dead; and Vikus has been partially paralyzed by a stroke.

Gregor no longer feels bound by it, but many Underlanders wonder how the prophecy can be fulfilled while "the warrior" lives. At the rats' official meeting to discuss terms of surrender, they have their answer. Disgusted with a half-dead Ripred and mourning Luxa's readiness to return to war, Gregor breaks Bartholomew of Sandwich's sword on his knees and pronounces the warrior officially dead. Ripred and Luxa, agreeing with Gregor's sentiment, do something unprecedented and bond as a sign of their mutual desire for peace. Afterward, delegates from each species meet to negotiate more a specific treaty while Gregor's family says their goodbyes and returns to New York. The novel ends as Gregor's parents discuss a move to Virginia while their children wonder how they can ever forget the Underland.

The Prophecy of Gray

This prophecy is one of two mentioned in Gregor and the Code of Claw. (The other, the prophecy of "The Peacemaker", is mentioned only rarely.) It is much more rhythmical that the last four, which leads Gregor to adopt some of its lines as a sort of mantra, and sometimes to hear the tick, tock sounds of a clock when he thinks about its lines. It is carved on the ceiling of the prophecy room, so that readers must lie down below it to read comfortably.

The war has been declared,
Your ally been ensnared.
It is now or is it never.
Break the code or die forever.

Time is running out

Running out

Running out.

To the warrior give my blade.
By his hand your fate is made.
But do not forget the ticking
Or the clicking, clicking, clicking.
While a rat's tongue may be flicking,
With its feet it does the tricking.
For the paw and not the jaw
Makes the Code of Claw.

Time is standing still

Standing still

Standing still.

Since the princess is the key
To unlock the treachery,
She cannot avoid the matching
Or the scratching, scratching, scratching.
When a secret plot is hatching,
In the naming is the catching.
What she saw, it is the flaw
Of the Code of Claw.

Time is turning back

Turning back

Turning back.

When the monster's blood is spilled,
When the warrior has been killed,
You must not ignore the rapping,
Or the tapping, tapping, tapping.
If the gnawers find you napping,
You will rot while they are mapping
Out the law of those who gnaw
In the Code of Claw.

Meaning

The prophecy may be "translated" as follows:

First stanza: This section sets the scene for the rest of the prophecy. Luxa has declared war on the rats; the rats have "ensnared" the nibblers (longtime friends of the Underland humans); the humans must act immediately to decipher the rats' Code of Claw, else they will (according to Sandwich) lose the war.

Second, fourth, and sixth stanzas: These semi-repeating stanzas are never given meanings in the novels, though Vikus and Gregor both hypothesize that their purpose is to heighten the sense of urgency already present in the prophecy. The stanzas all mention time, perhaps to emphasize the Underlanders' lack of it.

Third stanza: The first two lines of this section are an admonishment by Bartholomew of Sandwich to honor the warrior, because of his importance to the war effort. The rest of the lines are another warning about the importance of the Code of Claw, as well as a hint that the code is being transmitted through the Underland equivalent of Morse code.

Fifth stanza: This stanza relates to the importance of "the princess", and to how she will crack the Code of Claw. The Underlanders interpret it to mean Boots, known by the crawlers as "the princess", must be somehow involved in breaking the Code of Claw. Boots is more of a hindrance than a help to the code team, so when Gregor's other sister Lizzie arrives in the Underland, Ripred is quick to suggest that she, as the sister of a "princess", may also be considered "royalty". The line "she cannot avoid the matching" is then interpreted to explain how she is assigned her role over Gregor's concerns for her safety. The final three lines are perhaps the most important of the entire prophecy. When Gregor is telling the code team about the first time Lizzie heard about the Underland, he mentions that she was fixated on the fact that his name and King Gorger's being the same (or at least having the same letters). When the code team hears about "what she saw", it shocks them into discovering the solution, which involves using one of those two names as a key.

Seventh stanza: This final passage is somewhat unclear. The Underlanders take the first two lines as indications that both Gregor and the Bane must die for the prophecy to be fulfilled. After Ripred reveals his distrust of Sandwich's prophecies to Gregor, "the warrior" no longer believes he's required to die, and kills himself figuratively by breaking his sword. This satisfies the Underlanders, who were so focused on those lines that they completely forgot the later ones. The characters never explicitly try to assign meaning to these, in part because Gregor no longer puts much stock in them. However, it is speculated that these lines are one last warning from Sandwich to not relax while the gnawers still live.

Characters

See also: List of The Underland Chronicles characters

Major characters

• Gregor: The series' protagonist, the Overland "warrior" of Bartholomew of Sandwich's prophecies, and a rager (a warrior with berserker-like fighting ability). Despite his tremendous skills as a fighter, Gregor cares deeply for those around him and tries very hard to retain his humanity during the Underland war. He develops romantic feelings for the Underlander Luxa.
• Ares: A large, very strong black flier and Gregor's bond. Before the war, he was shunned by bats and humans alike for allowing his bond Henry to die. During the war, however, the public's opinion of him begins to change because of his skills as a warrior. He is heralded as a hero upon his death in the region known as Tartarus.
• Ripred: A rat, rager, and seasoned warrior. Ripred's immense experience and wisdom lead to his acting as general, strategist, and skilled fighter for the humans. Ripred never loses sight of his own goals, however, which almost restarts the human-gnawer conflict after the end of their war. Ripred becomes fond of Gregor's sister Lizzie, who reminds him of one of his deceased pups, and bonds with Queen Luxa in part because of his concern for her and her family.
• Luxa: The Underlanders' young queen, granddaughter of Solovet and Vikus. Luxa is proud, stubborn, and cares deeply for her friends. Though her friend Gregor admires these traits in general, they are not an asset for her during wartime, and this causes some conflict for her in Gregor and the Code of Claw. Luxa has been bonded to the flier Aurora since childhood, and bonds to the rat Ripred at the end of the novel. She also begins to develop romantic feelings for Gregor.
• Lizzie: Gregor's little sister and "princess" of the prophecy (by her relation to Boots). Lizzie is very bright, but suffers from frequent panic attacks. As such, her older brother worries for her safety and almost refuses to allow her to stay in the Underland. The rat Ripred is mainly responsible for Gregor's change of heart, and promises to protect Lizzie with his life. Lizzie believes Ripred to be lonely, and is heartbroken when she thinks Ripred has died fulfilling his promise. The successful cracking of The Code of Claw is due in large part to her efforts.
• Boots (Margaret): Gregor and Lizzie's toddler sister. She is known by the crawlers as "the princess", which leads the Underland humans to believe she is important to the code-breaking effort. Her greatest importance to the story, however, comes from the contrast she presents between herself and her older brother. Gregor struggles to keep her in the dark about the terrible things going on around her, but is not entirely successful.
• Solovet: The Regalian army's head and husband of statesman Vikus. Gregor distrusts Solovet because of her involvement with the plague, but is forced to obey her orders because of her capability as a military commander. Gregor freely admits that the training she forces on him may have kept him alive, but still hates her for imprisoning him in the Regalian dungeon. Solovet is ambushed while on a diplomatic mission towards the end of the war and dies. Her husband, knowing that he could have saved her at the cost of revealing that the humans solved the Code of Claw, experiences a stroke as a result, and almost dies himself.
• The Bane (Pearlpelt): A highly unstable, gigantic white rat believed to be a harbinger of doom in the Underland. The Bane is emotionally fragile but extremely dangerous, especially when goaded on by his "friend" Twirltongue. He personally kills numerous Underland creatures, including the flier Ares. He is killed by Gregor and Ares in the last few chapters of the novel.

Reception

Gregor and the Code of Claw has been reviewed favorably by critics, but never reached the top of bestseller lists alone. The Underland Chronicles was a New York Times, Book Sense, and USA Today bestselling series, but its fifth novel reached only 116th place on a list of best-selling hardcover novels compiled by Publishers Weekly in the year it was published. However, the novel's position on that list remained mostly unchanged for the next four years. The audiobook version received considerably more public attention, receiving the 2009 ALSC Notable Children's Recording Award for its "originality, creativity, and suitability for children". In particular, the recording is praised for narrator Paul Boehmer's appropriately solemn tone and effective treatment of characters. A 2009 AudioFile review atates, "Boehmer creates atmosphere by slightly modulating his voice to depict the darker tone of the story and the maturity of its theme. The satisfying conclusion is bittersweet as listeners say good-bye to the many unforgettable characters in this finely crafted series."

A Booklist review for the final novel of The Underland Chronicles reads, "well-written, fast-moving, action-packed fantasy" -- a sentiment generally shared by book critics. The novel has also received critical acclaim for being an excellent series conclusion. A School Library Journal review praises the "realistic conclusion, including the loss of old friends and a message about the importance of peace and trust, [leaving] readers with a sense of optimism about the future of the Underland. The story's Kirkus review makes a similar observation: "The resolution is bittersweet but faintly hopeful—a fitting end for an unflinchingly gutsy series whose deftly drawn characters have always lived dangerously."

The novel's main criticisms have centered on its mature themes, which are much more prominent in Gregor and the Code of Claw than in the series's other books. Comparisons between The Underland Chronicles and Suzanne Collins's later Hunger Games trilogy cite parallels between this final novel more than any other, and note the series' many violent moments. Author and interviewer Nutschell Windsor says in her review of The Underland Chronicles, "the books do get progressively darker, as they touch on the politics of territory and the violence of war...and through [Gregor's] experience the readers are made to realize just how futile and utterly devastating war is." This trend culminates with the events of Gregor and the Code of Claw, and sets the scene for Collins's later works. One Kirkus reviewer comments that though this is "heavy stuff" for preteens, the novel is an excellent "read-alike" for series such as The Heroes of Olympus, which also possess more complex themes.

References

Category:2003 novels Category:American fantasy novels Category:Children's fiction books Category:New York in fiction Category:The Underland Chronicles