Mortal Engines

Okay bear with me because I have a lot of feelings about this book, and I am 100% sure that they're not going to come out coherently right now. Also, they will include major *SPOILERS*.

I should begin by saying that I had no idea this book existed until I was holding it in my hands, as it was a Christmas gift from a friend (who apparently knows my taste in books quite well haha)! Okay, let's get into this.

First off, The Good: The world building in this is phenomenal. Set in a very distant future, after civilisation has largely imploded due to a massive war, many locales have become mobilised, eating one another in an attempt to survive, grow, and thrive (a concept called "Municipal Darwinism" in-text. The ideas, ideals, and show more implementations surrounding this practice are well fleshed-out, and the world is immersive, filled with a very large, very diverse cast of characters.

The story is also very high-octane, and fun from start to finish. It's fast-paced, though, and you don't really get a moment to breathe, but with how engrossed I was in the worldbuilding, this didn't bother me too much at all. Also: one of the primary plots is very, very much a game of cat-and-mouse, so if that's not your thing then just beware.

Now, The Bad: Honestly, most of what got me is the characters and the way they're treated. Often times (though not always), the characters feel more like a vehicle for a plot than the other way around. Moreover, they seem somewhat inconsistent at times. Tom, for example, seems to change his morals on the matter at hand depending on what will make for the most interesting/plot-advancing outcome. I think the book would have benefitted from being longer and fleshing out the character growth of Tom and Hester more, as right now it just seems to kind of... happen?

The other thing is the way the characters are treated!!! Spoiler alert: they basically all die. Literally every major character bar two dies at some point in the book, most of them within the last 30 pages. What's more, a lot of the deaths are treated extremely nonchalantly, to the point where I had to actually check and make sure that's what had happened (most notably Bevis' death). The quality of writing around the characters was truthfully the biggest detractor in the book for me.

All that being said, however, I really enjoyed the book. I couldn't put it down! I wish the characters had been developed a bit more thoroughly within the book, but I'm hopeful that's what we see in the next few books, which I'll now have to read! show less

4Q, 4P
The world of Mortal Engines is deeply imagined and very vivid. Reeve clearly gave ample thought to how a world that has stuttered back from the brink of annihilation might redevelop itself. The story has the power to spark some lively debates about the nature of Darwinism and sheer self-preservation as well as the misuse of knowledge to obtain power and dominion over others. Likewise, because of its fantastical steampunk removal from realistic fiction, the novel provides the YA reader an invaluable opportunity to reflect upon her own society and how it is stratified to meet the demands of a specific group of people at the expense of others.

The realities of whole cities moving about on traction wheels and gobbling each other up show more for fuel and supplies may be a little far-fetched, but the complex nature of such a society is explored satisfactorily. Additionally, the opposing forces of landless, Airsperanto-speaking dirigible aviators and fixed, Anti-traction League cities allows for greater depth in this world than one often encounters in in such dystopic novels. Tom, the main character, is completely human and thoroughly compelling for his honesty and faults as much as for his tenacity and gradual heroism. His scarred and surly companion, Hester, provides a blunt, critical voice that forces Tom (and the reader) to truly consider the nature of accepted society. A colorful cast of additional players drawn from existing and future-imagined cultures around the world makes this an enjoyable read that will appeal to both boys and girls and will likely leave many of them eager to read the sequels! show less

This is an innovative and well-written young adult book, set in an original alternate future where there is no electronic technology and the world is based on mechanical instruments and machines. The reader is led to believe that this is our world after a cataclysmic war or event. A wonderfully original civilisation has evolved where vast, mechanical traction cities prowl the land and static settlements are rare and endangered. The future's here and the future's mobile. The world is based on the priniciples of Municipal Darwinism - throughout the Hunting Grounds, larger predatory cities prowl, swallowing up unwary smaller conurbations, cheered on by their population from viewing decks as their great jaws entrap and dismantle their show more unfortunate prey.

All is not tranquil and compliant in this world, however. The all-reaching tenets of Municipal Darwinism are not welcomed with open arms and the revolutionary Anti-Traction League, from their base in the static cities of the East, wage a war of underground resistance and subterfuge, fighting to destroy the evil exemplified by the traction cities. It is in front of this backdrop that the reader is taken on a great adventure, filled with action and treachery, as Tom Natsworthy, a young apprentice historian from the great traction city of London and the scarred and damaged Hester Shaw, a city-less loner on a quest for revenge, are thrown together by circumstance and necessity.

This is a great book. Reeve quickly draws the reader into a world of intrigue, of revolutionary plots and diabolical schemes, of treachery, adventure and bravery. He skilfully creates a world that is both familiar and alien, futuristic yet archaic. You will be disturbed by the eerie stalkers, the Resurrected Men. You will be inspired by the magic of Airhaven. It is an evocative novel, like Indiana Jones in another age, with archaeological finds pieces of our modern world. Reeve mixes cultures in a way that is reminiscent of Blade Runner or William Gibson. The traction cities are living characters themselves.

What sets this apart, to a degree, from other young adult books is not just this vibrant world but the fact that Hester Shaw is more of an anti-heroine. She is self-serving, without empathy, controlling to the point of treachery and utterly dishonest as long as it achieves her goal. She is a damaged child and her history makes her quite ruthless.

I would certainly recommend the whole series (this is the first of four books) for younger readers and adults who haven't lost the ability to be absorbed by the magic of an almost tangible future world, strange and beautiful, alien and exciting, a world that captures the imagination. It's the kind of book I would have loved to have had read aloud to me as a child and that would have absorbed me as a teenager. show less

In the far distant future after a catastrophic war, towns and cities have become mobile due to a lack of resources, roaming the Earth in search of prey, i.e. smaller or slower settlements. In London, Historian Apprentice Tom Natsworthy prevents an assassination attempt on Head Historian Thaddeus Valentine but ends up in the Out-Country along with the would-be assassin. Meanwhile Valentine's daughter Katherine enlists the help of Engineer Apprentice Bevis Pod to find out why anyone would want her beloved father dead.

Another reviewer commented that the principal idea of human settlements on tracks or wheels appeared too absurd and prevented them from truly enjoying the book; to me this is exactly the kind of adult closed-mindedness which show more stops grown-ups from reading (and enjoying) intelligent and thought-provoking children's and YA fiction, and to me the basic concepts seems no more absurd than, for instance, a vampire romance. I thought it owed a lot to Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, where humans are accompanied by dæmons, and once you get over the unexpected underlying premise you just need to run with it, and everything else falls into place.

This is children's fiction of the highest order: engaging, exciting, compelling, compulsive, epic in scope, with complex characterisations, and able to generate discussions between the generations; after the breathtaking finale I was feeling quite exhausted. Philip Reeve's vivid prose draws you in and won't let go, and I think this owes a lot to his frequent use of similes, which create images in your mind's eye you won't forget in a hurry. The plot is wildly imaginative and therefore unpredictable, but stays realistic within the narrative frame (even when this means sacrificing a sympathetic character or two), with lots of surprises and plot twists thrown in to keep the reader on the edge of their seat. It addresses such monumental topics as war and the struggle for peace, greed, the lust for power, empathy (and the lack of), love, friendship and common humanity, but the story never becomes sermonic or overbearing. Needless to say I can't recommend this book highly enough, to both children/teenagers and their parents, and I've already started the second volume in the series, Predator's Gold. show less

I love the background of this novel: set thousands of years in the future, cities are mobile beings who seek and consume mobile towns, as these towns seek out villages, and so on. This process is hilariously referred to as municipal darwinism. Set against this model of civilization is the Anti-Tractionist League, whose stationary cities are heavily protected against the threat of the mobile cities.

Unfortunately the book falls mostly flat beyond this setting. It feels as if someone took this great idea to a bad Hollywood screenwriter, who decided to rework it into a cliched young adult novel with cardboard characters and a recycled plot. Although I found the second part significantly better than the first, in the end it just feels like show more any other young adult novel. I found myself constantly infuriated with the characters, in particular the protagonist Tom, but even at times by the most likeable, Katherine. I doubt that I will feel so inclined as to read the sequel. show less

Why did I wait so long to read this book (actually listen to Barnaby Edwards' marvelous audio rendition)??? I LOVE THIS BOOK! Funny, arresting, with great characters and a plot that, like the enormous treads of the traction city London, barrels along at a thrilling pace. There is so much to love, not the least the concept of movable mega-cities literally gobbling up smaller burbs and the suburban engines that live in fear. I was mesmerized by the chapters mentioning Panzerstadt-Bayreuth, which roams the Great Hunting Ground that was Europe in search of cities and towns to devour. Totally absorbing and wonderful. Reeve has a real talent with names and building his world in a way that totally serves the story.

Mortal Engines, though I was not aware beforehand, is actually a dystopian novel. In fact, there are a couple of disparate dystopian levels to the book. On the one hand, there are the many references to the downfall of America, which, unsurprisingly, sought to take everyone else with it through the use of insanely stupid and dangerous weapons. The way the world worked back then all changed with something called the Sixty Minutes War (how long does war really need to last with some of the weapons people are now capable of making?).

In addition to the apocalyptic nature of that downfall of one set of civilizations, the era of traction cities is not doing so well. Prey is running low and the mayor of London has all sorts of big, bad ideas. show more The Mayor, Crome, is a Machiavellian figure who has a major personality cult in effect and does absolutely terrible things to any people deemed unimportant to society.

Despite this depressing setting, the book is actually quite funny in a lot of parts. The humor is well done (although I could have done without some of the scatalogical scenes). One really awesome element was reading about the Museum, which, of course, contained items from the life we live today (Very prominent is the skeleton of a blue whale). The book definitely gets more depressing toward the end and (warning!) some characters do not survive.

Recommended! My favorite thing about this book: the last two sentences (although I also appreciate that the ugly girl is not judged solely by her appearance). I think they set the tone and conclude the first novel in the series perfectly. I will not repeat them here, because you should go read the book and find out for yourself! show less