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Infernal Devices by Philip Reeve
The Blurb On The Back:
Wren is desperate to escape.
She’ll do anything to get out of Anchorage – and her new friends are only too willing to help.
But before long, she’ll find herself a captive, then a slave, and finally the bait that leads Tom and Hester back into perilous waters ...
16 years after the events in Predator’s Gold, Tom and Hester live with their daughter, Wren, in Anchorage, which has now settled in Vineland. Tom is content and dotes on his daughter, but Wren argues constantly with Hester and both women are bored with Anchorage’s safe, humdrum existence.
Wren’s chance for adventure comes when Gargle arrives with a crew of Lost Boys and asks her to steal the Tin Book, an artefact from The Sixty Minute War. Wren agrees but when things turn sour she’s kidnapped by Fishcake, one of Gargle’s men. Hester and Tom go after them, joined by Freya and Caul but find that the world has changed while they were away – under the Stalker Fang, the Green Storm has inflicted heavy losses on the Traction Cities and forced them into a retreat using stalker technology.
Hester and Tom’s search takes them to Brighton, a floating Traction City, where they discover that Wren and Fishcake have been sold into slavery, and the city’s mayor, Pennyroyal, is a successful author, retelling the adventures of PREDATOR’S GOLD with himself as the hero. Meanwhile, Dr Zero, the Stalker Fang’s personal physician, has found and resurrected Shrike, and her plans for him that will change everything ...
Much of what is so great about the previous books is repeated in this one. The story is tightly plotted, Reeve maintains his ruthless approach to his characters, and there are neat nods to the events in the previous books. What’s not so great is Wren. She’s a bit of a ninny – naive, wilful and not nearly as smart as she thinks she is. Ordinarily this wouldn’t be a problem but Reeve uses her as a plot device more than as a character of her own right and she pales in comparison to Hester, who remains emotionally conflicted, ruthless and fascinating. Reeve gives Wren a romance angle with Theo, a failed Green Storm suicide pilot, but there’s not enough of that on the page for it to hold the attention. Also missing is the background for Wren’s conflict with her mother – Reeve indicates that it’s about a boy, which is oddly superficial for the depth of antagonism between them.
Fortunately, the conclusion more than makes up for the niggles. Heartbreaking and horrific, it closes the story but does so in a way that will definitely leave you desperate for more.
The Verdict:
Although not quite as good as Mortal Engines or Predator’s Gold, this is still a thoroughly entertaining read with a scope of imagination that is breathtaking and an emotional climax that had me desperate to read the next book.
She’ll do anything to get out of Anchorage – and her new friends are only too willing to help.
But before long, she’ll find herself a captive, then a slave, and finally the bait that leads Tom and Hester back into perilous waters ...
16 years after the events in Predator’s Gold, Tom and Hester live with their daughter, Wren, in Anchorage, which has now settled in Vineland. Tom is content and dotes on his daughter, but Wren argues constantly with Hester and both women are bored with Anchorage’s safe, humdrum existence.
Wren’s chance for adventure comes when Gargle arrives with a crew of Lost Boys and asks her to steal the Tin Book, an artefact from The Sixty Minute War. Wren agrees but when things turn sour she’s kidnapped by Fishcake, one of Gargle’s men. Hester and Tom go after them, joined by Freya and Caul but find that the world has changed while they were away – under the Stalker Fang, the Green Storm has inflicted heavy losses on the Traction Cities and forced them into a retreat using stalker technology.
Hester and Tom’s search takes them to Brighton, a floating Traction City, where they discover that Wren and Fishcake have been sold into slavery, and the city’s mayor, Pennyroyal, is a successful author, retelling the adventures of PREDATOR’S GOLD with himself as the hero. Meanwhile, Dr Zero, the Stalker Fang’s personal physician, has found and resurrected Shrike, and her plans for him that will change everything ...
Much of what is so great about the previous books is repeated in this one. The story is tightly plotted, Reeve maintains his ruthless approach to his characters, and there are neat nods to the events in the previous books. What’s not so great is Wren. She’s a bit of a ninny – naive, wilful and not nearly as smart as she thinks she is. Ordinarily this wouldn’t be a problem but Reeve uses her as a plot device more than as a character of her own right and she pales in comparison to Hester, who remains emotionally conflicted, ruthless and fascinating. Reeve gives Wren a romance angle with Theo, a failed Green Storm suicide pilot, but there’s not enough of that on the page for it to hold the attention. Also missing is the background for Wren’s conflict with her mother – Reeve indicates that it’s about a boy, which is oddly superficial for the depth of antagonism between them.
Fortunately, the conclusion more than makes up for the niggles. Heartbreaking and horrific, it closes the story but does so in a way that will definitely leave you desperate for more.
The Verdict:
Although not quite as good as Mortal Engines or Predator’s Gold, this is still a thoroughly entertaining read with a scope of imagination that is breathtaking and an emotional climax that had me desperate to read the next book.