A Web of Air

Two years have passed since the events of Fever Crumb, and Fever is still travelling aboard the actor's land-barge on which she fled London, raising the children of the deceased Kit Solent. The actor's troupe has arrived in the Portuguese city of Mayda, built around a flooded nuclear crater, and Fever's scientific interests are piqued by the rumours of a young man attempting to build a flying machine.

Like Fever Crumb, A Web of Air dispenses with the high-flying, globetrotting, swashbuckling adventures of the Mortal Engines series in favour of a slower-paced story confined to a single location. This is something of a shame, since swashbuckling adventure was part of what I enjoyed most about the Mortal Engines series. Combined with the show more fact that I'm now an older reader, plus the fact that nostalgia is doubtless a significant factor in my love of the first series, and I continue to find the Fever Crumb series far less compelling. (Although judging from other reviews I'm not the only one, so perhaps nostalgia isn't a very big factor after all.)

Nonetheless, A Web of Air is a somewhat better novel than Fever Crumb. It just seems slightly more interesting, a bit tighter, and has more creativity and visual description and less stupid jokes (although they're still there - what the hell was with the barbershop quartet mafia?) Although it doesn't have anything that quite compares with the final moment Kit Solent sees his children in Fever Crumb, that was a) the only great moment in Fever Crumb and b) piggybacking on readers' established love of a character from the Mortal Engines series. The emotional, character-driven moments in A Web of Air stand on their own, and there's more than one, even if they are merely good rather than great.

Overall, the Fever Crumb series continues to lag a significant distance behind the Mortal Engines series, and I'm reading it more out of obligation than genuine desire. But I'll see it through, and hopefully it will pick up. It's still better than most of the young adult steampunk dreck that lines the shelves these days. show less

A worthy sequel to Fever Crumb. Sometimes second books in a series are slower-paced and not as engaging, but A Web of Air is just the opposite. Reeve adds complex and interesting new characters and revs up the tension with plot twists and political machinations. Arlo Thursday, the inventor, is a great contrast to Fever. Where Fever is a logical and scientific engineer, Arlo is a whimsical and spontaneous artist. They are opposites that attract. My favorite new characters are the angels, genetically-engineered gulls with some intelligence and hand-like appendages that allow them to do more than their bird cousins. They are Arlo's friends, sometime spies, and inspiration for the creation of his flying machine. Unfortunately, many groups, show more including the establishment and religious factions, prefer the status quo and do not want newfangled contraptions like flying machines. They harken back to the "bad, old days" of technology that caused a major world disaster. Fever and Arlo are swept up in a whirlpool of intrigue and danger. I look forward to the final installment, Scrivener's Moon. show less

I found this book delightful. I'm not sure it's actually 5-star amazing, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The protagonist, Fever Crumb, is intelligent and admirable. After escaping the chaos of London, which was in the midst of exchanging one oppressive regime for another, she and the two orphans in her care become valued members of a traveling theater. Fever, being a skilled engineer, uses bits of old tech to provide it with electric lighting effects, much to the astonishment of all who are not familiar with such marvels. Some are delighted by them, but others react with self-righteous indignation. Many people in the coastal city where the theater has stopped view the old technologies as sinful. Fever discounts their opinions as being show more unreasonable, and even (perhaps unwisely) publicly confronts the city's religious leader at one point. This, however, is only one of the challenges she must meet. There is a mystery, here. Someone appears to be trying to build a flying machine, and someone else is apparently killing anyone who succeeds. And then there is her internal turmoil. Can her cherished rationality withstand the biological urges of becoming a woman?

Although the prose still sounds unpolished to me, this is a great story. show less

Not as good as its predecessor. Still clever and amusing, but the elements of the tale are not as interesting. The take on organized religion should limit its success in the US a bit if anybody notices.

As other reviewers have mentioned A Web of Air is a much stronger book than the first book in the series, Fever Crumb. In this book Fever is traveling with the acting troupe to the South American city, Mayda. I loved the world building in this book. The elevator houses and the angel birds were all quite intriguing. We see a lot of character growth for Fever in this installment. Fever learns to be a little less cerebral and more emotional when dealing with people. The ending of this book left me absolutely heartbroken. There are quite a few loose ends that I'm not sure will be resolved in the next installment. Great book, highly recommended!

For the past couple years Fever Crumb has been traveling with a theater troupe and her two young charges. In Mayda, Fever discovers a flying machine which leads her to an eccentric inventor obsessed with flying. And Fever is inspired to assist young Arlo Thursday. But there is an unknown enemy ready to put a stop to any advancement in flight technology. And just as dangerous, thieves that wish to steal the incredible invention.

Fever is a mature young adult who values rational thinking above all. The engineers in Reeve's world are akin to Star Trek's Vulcans who shun emotion in favor of logic. But Fever does have emotions, which make her struggle with her feelings versus her logical reasoning.

A Web of Air is second in the Fever Crumb show more trilogy for young adults. Set in a futuristic, mildly dystopian universe, the steampunk setting is imaginative and inspired. As before, the story is full of suspense, mystery and fantastic characters. While a bit predictable, Fever's latest adventure is fast-paced and riveting. Ending with a bit of a cliffhanger, the final installment in the trilogy can't come fast enough. show less

A Web of Air is the latest outing by Brighton born author Philip Reeve. The book is the sequel to Fever Crumb and as such is a prequel to the Mortal Engines hexology.

I was fairly disappointed with Fever Crumb. Not because it was a bad book, in fact it was a highly enjoyable one, but simply because it did not live up to the truly superb Mortal Engines hexology. Compared to the first four books it was limited in characters, lacking in depth and had nowhere near the scope of the others. So, needless to say I was apprehensive about this one, but optimistic at the same time...

A Web of Air starts well, you are introduced to a number of new and interesting characters, and we meet a more developed lead character than previously. Fever Crumb has show more taken on the role of guardian for two children from the first novel and because of this has had to evolve, if only slightly, into a more rounded human being. We are then taken to a new city, Mayda, where buildings rise and fall on runners and Angels fly through the sky (at least birds called angels do), where we meet even more new, and often shady, characters. It has scope. It has depth. It has most of the things that Fever Crumb lacked. Plus Reeve stays true to the dark, sinister and treacherous plot lines that make his stories stand out from the crowd. And yet it still does not live up to the quartet, but I can't quite put my finger on why. Maybe the characters aren't as believable, nor likeable. Maybe it's due to the lack of the big, dirty, exciting traction cities. It is hard to say, but something is lacking.

Another point that needs to be made is the similarities to Airman by Eoin Colfer. Although I would never suggest that Reeve would steal ideas, he really does not seem the type and has plenty of his own ideas - in fact, judging by his blog, he has probably never heard of Eoin Colfer – but the similarities are there. Mainly it is the plot centring around flight that does it, along with the lead male character that has gone through a great deal of hardship that has left him with an obsession with flight, and then the finale with the protagonists flighting for their lives defending a keep that holds their flying machine whilst the baddies try to break their way in with superior force. Even so, there plenty of original ideas within A Web of Air that more than make up for this slight tarring.

A Web of Air is a good book, a really good book. As a stand alone book, or even as a sequel to Fever Crumb, it's great. As a prequel to Mortal Engines it remains a mild disappointment. Reeve has suggested that the next outing will be on a broader scope, with more in common with the originals – let's hope so!

Highly Recommended – but read the Mortal Engines hexology first!

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