Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve
Mar. 23rd, 2009 11:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
London is hunting its prey.
For too long, London has been hiding in the hills, safe from bigger, faster, HUNGRIER cities. Now London must feed.
But as the chase begins, events within the walls take a sinister turn ...
In the future people live in moving cities called Traction Cities that roam across a landscape still scarred from the effects of the Sixty Minute War that devastated life as we know it. Traction Cities hunt each other for the supplies that they need to survive in a process called Municipal Darwinism. But prey is scarce and the Traction Cities face opposition from the Anti-Tractionist League, a group of people dedicated to returning the world to its old “static” settlements and which has been launching increasingly brazen attacks.
Tom Natsworthy is an Apprentice Third Class Historian in London who craves excitement and adventure, which is precisely what he gets when a hideously scarred girl tries to assassinate the dashing Head Historian Thaddeus Valentine. Keen to impress Valentine’s beautiful daughter, Katherine, Tom chases after the girl, only to find himself pushed over the side of the city into the desert below for his trouble. Forced to team up with Valentine’s would-be assassin, Hester Shaw, they try to get back to London and in the process, Tom’s illusions as to the perfection of city life are shattered by Hester’s revelations as to what it, and his hero, Valentine, are really like. While at the same time, Katherine is also uncovering the truth about her father’s history and how his involvement in the city’s plans could spell death and destruction on a mass scale for others.
Reeves frequently head-hops between character’s points of view during scenes, he favours explaining reactions rather than showing them and there’s an infuriating lack of information as to backstory and the history of his world. And yet, for the technical faults, this is one of the best YA books I’ve read in a long time.
Tom’s naive optimism contrasts with the bitter vengeance that fuels Hester, a brilliantly drawn emotionally conflicted character driven by a need to kill the man responsible for her scarred face and the death of her parents. The burgeoning relationship between Tom and Hester is subtle and touching as and the supporting cast is similarly well drawn – particularly Katherine’s growing unease as to what her father is really like and her own growing relationship with the decent young engineer Bevis. Then there’s Valentine himself – cowardly, conniving but a survivor and Anna Fang, an aviator and anti-Tractionist who helps Tom and Hester in their quest and best of all, the Stalker Shrike, a fearsome cybernetic killing machine who loves Hester like his own daughter.
Reeves shows little sentimentality for his characters and there are deaths galore among the cast, regardless of whether they are good or bad, not that the reader has the chance to mourn for long because the pace is cracking, ripping along from scene to scene in a non-stop cascade of action that pulls you along with it. The wealth of ideas, speed of storytelling, originality of vision and sheer verve of the writing means that this is one novel that YA readers can’t miss.
The Verdict:
Despite the technical flaws in the writing, this is a brilliant novel and I loved it. Go and buy a copy now.
For too long, London has been hiding in the hills, safe from bigger, faster, HUNGRIER cities. Now London must feed.
But as the chase begins, events within the walls take a sinister turn ...
In the future people live in moving cities called Traction Cities that roam across a landscape still scarred from the effects of the Sixty Minute War that devastated life as we know it. Traction Cities hunt each other for the supplies that they need to survive in a process called Municipal Darwinism. But prey is scarce and the Traction Cities face opposition from the Anti-Tractionist League, a group of people dedicated to returning the world to its old “static” settlements and which has been launching increasingly brazen attacks.
Tom Natsworthy is an Apprentice Third Class Historian in London who craves excitement and adventure, which is precisely what he gets when a hideously scarred girl tries to assassinate the dashing Head Historian Thaddeus Valentine. Keen to impress Valentine’s beautiful daughter, Katherine, Tom chases after the girl, only to find himself pushed over the side of the city into the desert below for his trouble. Forced to team up with Valentine’s would-be assassin, Hester Shaw, they try to get back to London and in the process, Tom’s illusions as to the perfection of city life are shattered by Hester’s revelations as to what it, and his hero, Valentine, are really like. While at the same time, Katherine is also uncovering the truth about her father’s history and how his involvement in the city’s plans could spell death and destruction on a mass scale for others.
Reeves frequently head-hops between character’s points of view during scenes, he favours explaining reactions rather than showing them and there’s an infuriating lack of information as to backstory and the history of his world. And yet, for the technical faults, this is one of the best YA books I’ve read in a long time.
Tom’s naive optimism contrasts with the bitter vengeance that fuels Hester, a brilliantly drawn emotionally conflicted character driven by a need to kill the man responsible for her scarred face and the death of her parents. The burgeoning relationship between Tom and Hester is subtle and touching as and the supporting cast is similarly well drawn – particularly Katherine’s growing unease as to what her father is really like and her own growing relationship with the decent young engineer Bevis. Then there’s Valentine himself – cowardly, conniving but a survivor and Anna Fang, an aviator and anti-Tractionist who helps Tom and Hester in their quest and best of all, the Stalker Shrike, a fearsome cybernetic killing machine who loves Hester like his own daughter.
Reeves shows little sentimentality for his characters and there are deaths galore among the cast, regardless of whether they are good or bad, not that the reader has the chance to mourn for long because the pace is cracking, ripping along from scene to scene in a non-stop cascade of action that pulls you along with it. The wealth of ideas, speed of storytelling, originality of vision and sheer verve of the writing means that this is one novel that YA readers can’t miss.
The Verdict:
Despite the technical flaws in the writing, this is a brilliant novel and I loved it. Go and buy a copy now.
