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Underdogs #3
Underdogs: Acceleration
War is raging. Numbers are dwindling. It's a dangerous world for an underdog. The Underdogs of Spitfire’s Rise are falling apart. In the series’ penultimate novel, the remnants of Britain’s last army are called into battle again – this time to avert the violent deaths of tens of thousands of prisoners. The neurodiverse skills and defiant bravery of the Underdogs are pitched against the might of military science and the terrifying Acceleration project. Meanwhile, Oliver Roth has been offered a promotion that would make him the second most powerful person in Britain. But it’s conditional on the success of his next the discovery and annihilation of Spitfire’s Rise. The Underdogs fight for the safety of countless prisoners, clueless that their home is being hunted. As each side launches their respective attacks, it’s only a matter of time until one triumphs decisively over the other.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
400 pages, Paperback
Published July 1, 2025
3 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 8, 2022
Please know that you don’t have to feel guilty for who you’re note. Be proud of who you actually are, because that’s what matters.
In 2020 I was picked as a judge for the Guardian Not The Booker Prize – the judges role to be to pick from among a shortlist chosen by public votes (with the public vote also counting heavily towards the final decision)
As written up by Galley Beggar’s Sam Jordison in his write up here https://www.theguardian.com/books/202..., I made a very strong case for Underdogs: Tooth And Nail and the unique way it provides voice (not to mention adventure and excitement) for neurodiverse characters. – see from 3:30 to 6:15 here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3XQ5...)
In my strong case I explained that this was the second book in a series and that the third book was at the time being crowdfunded – and this book is that third book which I helped support via Unbound
My review of the first two books are here
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The book is very much in the same simple, dystopian, young adult adventure story style as the first two, and like those gains its uniqueness and literary value from the neuro-diverse teenagers who form the majority of the ever dwindling (at the book’s start only 10) group the Underdogs. The Underdogs are the remaining resistance to the plans of Nicholas Grant, who has already succeeded in enslaving almost the entire population of the UK via a vast army of killer drones and who now has wider plans for the rest of the world.
In this novel – which if anything is even more violent than its predecessors – both the Underdogs and Grant’s organisation suffer significant loss and damage, as the Underdogs seek to foil Grant’s next atrocity while Grant’s boy assassin and Underdog’s nemesis Oliver Roth sets out to discover and destroy their secret base. We also get the first glimpse of the limited attempts of the wider world to oppose Grant as well as gaining an insight into the truth behind Grant’s daughter turned Underdog Shannon.
One of the keys to the first two novels is the sensitive but also positive way in which it explores how each of the neurodiverse teenagers is hindered by their condition (not least with the additional stress of their predicament) but also assisted by their unique world views and by their own individual identity which is so much more than the label the pre-crisis world placed on them. In this episode I think we see a number of the group finding in turn that their condition and even the label they were given is more of a burden on them as the stress of their situation – including their (largely unavoidable) failures or compromised decisions weights heavily on them. Increasingly as a result we see each of the group needing to support and affirm the others.
Overall an excellent addition to an important series of books – with the fourth and final book now in crowdfunding.
https://unbound.com/books/underdogs-u...
In 2020 I was picked as a judge for the Guardian Not The Booker Prize – the judges role to be to pick from among a shortlist chosen by public votes (with the public vote also counting heavily towards the final decision)
As written up by Galley Beggar’s Sam Jordison in his write up here https://www.theguardian.com/books/202..., I made a very strong case for Underdogs: Tooth And Nail and the unique way it provides voice (not to mention adventure and excitement) for neurodiverse characters. – see from 3:30 to 6:15 here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3XQ5...)
In my strong case I explained that this was the second book in a series and that the third book was at the time being crowdfunded – and this book is that third book which I helped support via Unbound
My review of the first two books are here
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The book is very much in the same simple, dystopian, young adult adventure story style as the first two, and like those gains its uniqueness and literary value from the neuro-diverse teenagers who form the majority of the ever dwindling (at the book’s start only 10) group the Underdogs. The Underdogs are the remaining resistance to the plans of Nicholas Grant, who has already succeeded in enslaving almost the entire population of the UK via a vast army of killer drones and who now has wider plans for the rest of the world.
In this novel – which if anything is even more violent than its predecessors – both the Underdogs and Grant’s organisation suffer significant loss and damage, as the Underdogs seek to foil Grant’s next atrocity while Grant’s boy assassin and Underdog’s nemesis Oliver Roth sets out to discover and destroy their secret base. We also get the first glimpse of the limited attempts of the wider world to oppose Grant as well as gaining an insight into the truth behind Grant’s daughter turned Underdog Shannon.
One of the keys to the first two novels is the sensitive but also positive way in which it explores how each of the neurodiverse teenagers is hindered by their condition (not least with the additional stress of their predicament) but also assisted by their unique world views and by their own individual identity which is so much more than the label the pre-crisis world placed on them. In this episode I think we see a number of the group finding in turn that their condition and even the label they were given is more of a burden on them as the stress of their situation – including their (largely unavoidable) failures or compromised decisions weights heavily on them. Increasingly as a result we see each of the group needing to support and affirm the others.
Overall an excellent addition to an important series of books – with the fourth and final book now in crowdfunding.
https://unbound.com/books/underdogs-u...
February 5, 2022
Absolute page turner
A fitting third book to this amazing series. Read it in 2 days. Can't wait for the next installment! Chris is a great without and I love the depth and perspective he gives to his characters
A fitting third book to this amazing series. Read it in 2 days. Can't wait for the next installment! Chris is a great without and I love the depth and perspective he gives to his characters
March 6, 2022
Fantastic Read
Brilliantly written and with characters you are rooting for throughout. Looking forward to reading the next instalment in the series.
Brilliantly written and with characters you are rooting for throughout. Looking forward to reading the next instalment in the series.
December 27, 2021
Wow - what a page turner. Chris Bonello gets better with every book in the series. So many twists and turns as this group of neuro diverse teens take on the seemingly invincible Nicholas Grant. The Underdogs have numbers and technology against them as them fight their way through battles in air and on land. By the end, both groups are seriously wounded and have lost key figures. It leaves us on a knife edge as to which side can overcome the other, and at what cost. Bring on the final showdown in Uprising.
March 18, 2022
5/10
Some of the decisions taken at the end of the book really clash with me- as climactic as killing off a third of your cast in one scene is, i don’t believe any of the characters (deserved it- Simon and Thomas imparticular didn’t have enough development before they were killed off.
The helicopter scene is also absolutely audacious and the most ‘big blockbuster action film’ scene so far- possibly a step too far for me too.
I do like where the lead characters of Ewan and Shannon’s storylines go (well, Shannon’s is teased) even if Jack’s and Kate’s aren’t as interesting to me- because they aren’t given an arc in the same way (although Kate has more of one).
The Oliver Roth subplot almost works for me, and is subtly climactic, but feels kind of stationary in some ways too? like not much actually happens and the interiority that is explored for Roth is just kind of ignored at the end. Hoping book 4 will utilise his previous doubt interestingly. I did like the subversion of the redemption arc at the climax, but I don’t think the alternative is dramatically rich.
The book is still a lot of fun, and I like Bonnello’s writing a lot and have a private list of predictions for the series’ finale, and I can’t wait to see what happens.
1. Tooth and Nail
2. Acceleration
3. Underdogs
Some of the decisions taken at the end of the book really clash with me- as climactic as killing off a third of your cast in one scene is, i don’t believe any of the characters (deserved it- Simon and Thomas imparticular didn’t have enough development before they were killed off.
The helicopter scene is also absolutely audacious and the most ‘big blockbuster action film’ scene so far- possibly a step too far for me too.
I do like where the lead characters of Ewan and Shannon’s storylines go (well, Shannon’s is teased) even if Jack’s and Kate’s aren’t as interesting to me- because they aren’t given an arc in the same way (although Kate has more of one).
The Oliver Roth subplot almost works for me, and is subtly climactic, but feels kind of stationary in some ways too? like not much actually happens and the interiority that is explored for Roth is just kind of ignored at the end. Hoping book 4 will utilise his previous doubt interestingly. I did like the subversion of the redemption arc at the climax, but I don’t think the alternative is dramatically rich.
The book is still a lot of fun, and I like Bonnello’s writing a lot and have a private list of predictions for the series’ finale, and I can’t wait to see what happens.
1. Tooth and Nail
2. Acceleration
3. Underdogs
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 20, 2022
This series just keeps getting better. The first two books were good, this one was superb and a really great read. The storyline was fantastic and kept going at a pace, I'm looking forward to, what I believe is, the final instalment.
I read this in paperback format but it only lists the book as on Kindle.
I read this in paperback format but it only lists the book as on Kindle.
December 25, 2025
This one was heartbreaking and so intense. I could just feel the characters’ frustration and anger and heartache and fear. Expertly written.
September 11, 2022
This story is just getting better with every book! Can’t believe there is only going to be one more. I mean Shannon’s arc … spectacular! Itching to read the final book!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews