Mortal Engines - Philip Reeve

Read: October 2007

Thousands of years in the future, London has become a Traction City, an anthropomorphised metropolis on wheels which stalks the plains of the hunting ground (formerly Europe) in search of smaller cities to eat. For years it has been hiding in what was once the British Isles, building its defences and avoiding bigger prey, but now it has crossed the land bridge and is in search of food.

Within the city lives Tom, a young apprentice historian with an obsession for adventure. Then there is Katherine, the daughter of one of London’s most celebrated citizens and Tom’s hero, the explorer, archaeologist and adventurer Valentine. But soon Hester Shaw appears, appallingly scarred and with murderous revenge blazing in her eyes - and her target is Valentine himself.

As London scampers across the hunting ground and prepares to launch a fantastic new weapon known only as MEDUSA, events within its walls take disturbing twists which will soon propel Tom, Hester and Katherine into adventurers they never saw coming, but which may determine the future of the entire world. And Valentine has been sent on a secret mission, from which nobody can contact him.

What a great imagination Philip Reeve has. Where many authors would have satisfied themselves with the brilliant idea of Traction Cities, he goes the extra mile, developing an entire historico-philosophical justification for their existence. Municipal Darwinism it is called and is that extra touch of depth which turns a brilliantly exciting adventure into a really believable world in which you feel like you can almost touch the characters. It is a concept at once both exhilarating and terrifying; seen first through the eyes of Tom it is the ultimate adventure; the excitement of the chase, the celebration of the kill. But like Darwinism, it is also thoroughly cutthroat and merciless. It is both post apocalyptically barbarian, and technologically advanced. In a barren world where land animals seem extinct the Traction Cities roam the plains in search of a kill.

Mortal Engines is everything you could want in a teenage fantasy/adventure. It is well written, exciting, jammed full of intriguing ideas, and each of the characters is strong and individual and likeable. Even the truly horrible ones. As the first in a quartet of novels spanning the entire world and twenty years Mortal Engines is a series to really get your teeth into. Like all the best children’s fiction it is dark and at times quite remorseless: characters are alive one minute and dead the next, tragedies strike out of nowhere and endings are always tinged with remourse.

If you buy this book today, I am certain you will soon be buying Predator’s Gold, Infernal Devices and A Darkling Plain. This is a series to enjoy for weeks to come.


8 out of 10

Predators Gold - Philip Reeve

Read: October 2007

Having escaped London shortly before it exploded, Hester and Tom have been excelling in the freedom of normality. They spend their days flying the bird routes, carrying passengers and cargo between cities and falling ever more in love. They are approached by the eminent ‘historian’ Professor Penneyroyal to carry him to Brighton but when the Jenny Haniver is attacked by a group calling themselves the Green Storm, they are soon drawn into another adventure, one that will put both their courage and their relationship to the ultimate test.

Forced to make an emergency landing on the last American City of Anchorage as she ploughs her way across the Ice Wastes of Greenland they find themselves aboard a once grand city ravaged by plague and led by Freya, a sixteen year old girl who doesn’t even know how to dress herself. There are less than fifty people left, but the arrival of Professor Penneyroyal seems the answer to Freya’s prayers – as author of the bestselling book America the Beautiful there can be no better man to navigate them back to what was once America, the Dead Continent and the green planes that await them there. But as they navigate a course across the thinning ice there are questions which no-one seems to be able to answer: did Penneyroyal really do all the things he claims in his books? With Tom happily back aboard a Traction City and Freya developing a fancy for him, can Hester and Tom withstand the pressures being placed upon their relationship? Can Anchorage survive the journey to America without being eaten by the vast hulk of Archangel who will pay handsomely to anyone willing to take Predator’s Gold in exchange for information on the location of smaller cities it can eat? And with the Green Storm gaining strength and influence within the Anti-Traction League is it only a matter of time before they declare all out war on the very existence of the Traction Cities.

Predator’s Gold is the rip-roaringly exciting second title in Philip Reeve’s award winning Mortal Engines quartet. With its rapidly unfolding plot and superb characterisation it carries the reader on a fast-paced and varied journey into the heart of the Traction City world, where no-one is ever quite who they seem to be. Hester and Tom are fabulous characters and here they are joined by a vast array of great creations such as the hapless Freya and Caul, a Lost Boy who spends his time robbing bigger cities in service of a man known only as Uncle.

If anything, Predator’s Gold is even better than Mortal Engines. Its plot is faster, the background even more developed and in Hester and Tom the world of children’s literature has found two really wonderful characters. As they visit new cities their world grows deeper and ever more complex and the unexpected usually lurks just around the next corner. Philip Reeve has created a terrific world which will carry you along with the story just as if you were aboard a Traction City yourself.

8 out of 10

Infernal Devices - Philip Reeve

Read: November 2007

Sixteen years have passed since Professor Pennyroyal shot Tom Natsworthy and escaped Anchorage in the Jenny Hanniver, leaving Hester pregnant and unsure whether Tom would live, or even whether Anchorage would survive the night. In that time much has happened.

Under the leadership of Stalker Fang the Green Storm has taken over the Anti-Traction League and is now waging a bitter and bloody war against Traction Cities across the world. Spurred on by the destructive and never ending war, technological development has boomed: the secret of heavier than air travel has been discovered, the Green Storm has learned how to turn dead birds into Stalker birds, and now everyone is searching for the Tin Book which could hold the secret to a weapon even more powerful than MEDUSA.

But life has been less eventful in Anchorage, now safely static on the shores of the dead continent. Tom and Hester’s daughter Wren is fifteen and growing bored with the lack of action. Her future appears to consist of teaching young children marrying one of her friends, and never seeing life outside what was once America. So when three lost boys led by Gargle appear in Anchorage in search of the Tin Book, Wren is only too willing to offer her services on one condition: they take her with them. But soon she has been kidnapped and held as slave to Professor Pennyroyal, (now mayor of Brighton) and the adventure she dreamed of is turning rapidly into a nightmare.

And with Hester and Tom hell bent on rescuing their daughter, everyone is beginning to remember just how cold and vindictive Hester can be.

Infernal Devices increases the scope of Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines quartet tremendously. With the plot moving towards the war between Traction Cities and the Green Storm it takes on some modern political issues, particularly terrorism and environmentalism and this gives it another level on which to work. But it is not overly serious and is also probably the funniest of the lot. Philip Reeve has a dark humour which often finds its targets within modern popular culture. In many ways he is liberated by setting the plot so far in the future as farcical examples of modern culture are legitimate targets both for myth and legend. So we have characters called Walmart, airships with names such as the ‘Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Machiney’, and even Christian theology has become fused with T.S. Eliot’s poem Four Quartet. Philip Reeve is a thoroughly ingenious author and his playful use of language and culture makes Infernal Devices a real reading pleasure.

In fact, Infernal Devices is virtually floorless. The characterisation is as sharp and detailed as ever, with Hester particularly displaying many of her worst qualities! It is these alongside her fierce loyalty and devotion to Tom which make her one of the most rounded and fascinating characters in children’s literature today. And this is no less a blood bath than the others, no sensibilities are spared in Philip Reeve’s exceptionally full future world. If you have not already started reading this incomparable series then you really must do so soon. You are missing out.


7.5 out of 10

A Darkling Plain - Philip Reeve

Read: November 2007

It is six months since that fateful night on Cloud 9 when the Stalker Fang attacked Brighton in search of the Tin Book. A great many things have happened since. Hester is missing, presumed dead, the legacy of her betrayal hanging over her memory. Once again in possession of the Jenny Hanniver, Tom and Wren have become air-traders, travelling the bird roads and making use of the fragile truce between the Green Storm and the Traction Cities. Wren is enjoying life as an Aviatrix but when Tom spies a face he is sure he remembers from London, he is catapulted back in search of his past and begins an expedition to discover just what is going on in the wreck of London. There is something he is not telling anyone, and Professor Penneyroyal has a lot to make up for.

And unknown to anyone, little Fishcake is rebuilding the Stalker Fang and she has plans to change the face of the Earth forever.

A Darkling Plain is fantastic. Nothing more needs saying. Everything that was great about the other three books returns here, bigger and more impressive than ever. The characterisation is superb, Hester and Shrike in particular will be long remembered and always loved for their complexities. Almost twice as long as any of its predecessors, A Darkling Plane tracks the fortunes of its many characters as the truce between the Green Storm and the Traction Cities begins to crumble.

And so the thrilling Mortal Engines quartet draws to a close. It is an ending which will delight all who read it, equivalent to His Dark Materials in the way it manages to sum everything up, cap the atmosphere and the action without spilling over into sentimentality or over explanation. Much is left unsaid, but the atmosphere which has built up is brought gently to conclusion. J.K. Rowling could learn a lot in how to end a much loved series from Philip Reeve. He is an author of unquestionable ability, and Mortal Engines is a quartet which everyone who loves well written, imaginative and exciting fiction should read.


8 out of 10

Here Lies Arthur - Philip Reeve

Read: August 2008

Have you ever wondered how a legend is born? Ever doubted the power of a story to cascade down history like a snowball, growing bigger and bigger until, eventually, it takes on a life of its own? If so, then this is the book for you.

All his life the storyteller Myrddin has worked hard to make Arthur the most loved and respected man in England. Through a web of mythical stories and legends, he has sought to unify England around one single king. It does not matter that Arthur is a violent thug seeking only power and glory because in Myrddin’s tales he is noble, honest, and righteous. And people remember stories much more clearly than they do reality. But now Myrddin is planning his most ambitious project, to demonstrate that Arthur is favoured by the old heathen Gods by having him pluck a sword from the depths of a river. And when Gwyna, a young servant girl escaping the ransacking of her master’s lands by Arthur’s warriors, climbs from a river, Myrddin has an even better idea…

As Myrddin and Gwyna follow Arthur around the country, building a mirage about him which will turn him from the brigand he is into the mythical king he is remembered as, they encounter adventures and challenges which neither of them ever dreamed possible. And Myrddin has another feat of magic to weave: can he turn Gwyna into a lake goddess, a boy, a lady? It is on the success of this project which Myrddin’s very life may rest.

In Here Lies Arthur, Philip Reeve adds his own, fascinating story to the plethora of mythologies which surround Arthur and Merlin. The Green Knight, the Knight’s of the Round Table, Lady Gwynavere, Tintagel, Excalibur, the quest for the holy grail: all of these find a home here. And at its heart, Here Lies Arthur is the story of a young girl and her quest to find a place in a harsh, violent, man’s world.

If you like stories then this is a must. Like Haroun and the Sea of Stories, this is a tale to delight readers of all ages, for stories have a life of their own, and once they have been told, there is no knowing what will happen.


7 out of 10

Fever Crumb - Philip Reeve

Read: March 2009

Fever Crumb in one tweet sized chunk:

An exciting addition to the Mortal Engines canon, with an unexpected and fabulous treat for anyone who loved the Stalker Shrike.

Named after the condition her mother suffered when she was pregnant, Fever is the only girl ever to be admitted to the Guild of Engineers, having been found and adopted by Dr. Crumb when she was just a little baby. Now fourteen, she shaves her head daily, values reason above all else, and has never ventured further than the streets around the Enginerium. But when a former Engineer named Kit Solent asks her to assist him in excavating a new site on the outskirts of London, Fever moves out of the safety of her home and finds that everything she has believed about her life is built on fabrication. And so, whilst fleeing from the clutches of Skinners who wish to kill her and dealing with the strange memories taking over her brain, she must uncover the truth about her past before it is too late.

Set many generations before Mortal Engines, Fever Crumb provides an enticing pre-history to the adventures of Hester and Tom. London is a normal stationary city, wracked with internal division and only days away from war. An armoured fortresses advances from the North, bringing hysteria to the streets of London and reviving old hatreds thought long resolved. But unbeknownst to everyone, hidden in a tunnel deep underground is a machine which will transform the world forever. If only someone can work out how to unlock it.

Fever Crumb is a welcome addition to the Mortal Engines canon. It is filled with many of the same qualities which made the other books such a joy. There is the playful mythologizing of our everyday life which sees ‘Cheesers Crice’ become an old Cockney God, St. Kylie now an area of London, and an old vacuum cleaner mistaken for a dangerous weapon. Philip Reeve has a wicked sense of humour; his books are some of the funniest I have ever read. And they are complex too. Once more he is able to create delightfully morally ambiguous characters you like and dislike all in the same breath. There are ‘baddies’ who are almost likeable, ‘goodies’ you can’t help but revile, and most of the others lie somewhere in between. London is populated with these rogues, Dickensian in feel, surrounding by steampunk technology and crumbling, damp streets. It is familiar, and yet generations away from the sky travelling, city hunting world of Mortal Engines.

Well aware of its Mortal Engines legacy, Fever Crumb plays games with what its readers know is going to happen later on. There is one point where Dr. Crumb sneers at the idea of ‘municipal Darwinism,’ completely disregarding the idea of an entire city being put on wheels. It is a glorious destruction of the basis of the later books. At other times these links are made just a touch too obvious, but that is probably a result of the fact that Fever Crumb is aimed at a slightly younger audience than the rest of the series. The print is bigger, the plot slightly quicker. It is a nice easy read, and just what I needed.

With a surprise treat in store for all fans of the series, Fever Crumb is an enjoyable read, sure to be well received when it by fans and critics when it is published in May.

7 out of 10