[.ca] Mortal Engines (ISBN 0060082070)

Reeve lifted story base idea?:
The description of this book, which I have NOT read, seems to match a book I read in the mid-1970's. "The Inverted World" by Christopher Priest. This is an exceptional story; I recommend it very highly. It is out of print but is reviewed and old copies are available by Amazon.com. Please check out this older book and see for yourself. The basic premise of moving cities occurs in both. Of course, there are also the "Okie" flying cities, using 'spin-dizzies', anyone remember them, from another very well-known author? I'll try out "Mortal Engines", myself, to see what kind of read it is, anyway.

London the conqueror:
With the Harry Potter craze currently in full swing, a lot of people are constantly looking for the "next" Harry Potter series. There are lots of contenders for the title; from the definite rip-off Charlie Bone series to the sly slightly evil Artemis Fowl. Personally, I've read a great deal of these and none really hit me as having the same moral core or elaborate well-constructed world that the Potter books conjure up. Until now, that is. With "Mortal Engines", the first in author Philip Reeve's "Hungry City Chronicles" we have the privilege of finally reading about a world that is just as creative, enjoyable, and exciting as anything J.K. Rowling could ever have imagined. It is the future, and the world is not as it was. After humanity almost destroyed itself entirely in what became known as the Sixty-Minute War, civilizations have taken it upon themselves to become mobile. Cities, townships, and even suburbs now move across the land, eating anything smaller than themselves. This system is referred to as Municipal Darwinism with the strong eating the weak. The city of London is a particularly vicious devourer of smaller villages and it is here that we meet Tom. A young Historian, Tom idolizes the famed Historian and explorer Thaddeus Valentine and his lovely daughter Katherine. When Tom narrowly keeps a severely deformed girl from assassinating Valentine, he finds himself wound up in a series of betrayals and adventures that may well lead to the end of civilization once more. The book is filled to the brim with interesting characters. There Grike, the last survivor of the old world who is more machine than man. Or Anna Fang, the red clad aviatrix that fights against the moving cities as an Anti-Tractionist. Or the pirate Chrystler Peavey that commands a posh pirate suburb and dreams of becoming a proper gentleman someday. You care for these characters, which makes it all the more painful when Reeve decides to kill them off. I've never read an author so ready to end the lives of his heroes with as much aplomb as Mr. Reeve, though I should've caught on when he killed off my favorite character almost exactly halfway through. Much like fellow British author Philip Pullman, Reeve has a knack for juggling multiple points of view and storylines without loosing his narrative thread. And like Pullman his story involves airships and a boy and girl on a quest to (in effect) save the world. Unlike Pullman, Reeve less interested in the how the characters' actions will affect the universe, and instead will affect their world. I was especially taken with the theme of obsession in this book. The evil Mayor Chrome, leader of London, is obsessed with making his town reign supreme over the rest of the world. Hester Shawn, deformed by the blade of Thaddeus Valentine, is obsessed with killing the man who murdered her parents. And Grike, the man machine that was one of the millions of walking dead soldiers participating in the Sixty-Minute War, is obsessed with a kind of love for Hester Shaw (though he spends much of his time in this book hunting her down to be killed). It might have been nice to spend a little more time getting to know what the characters' lives were like before this book ever took place. I ended up wanting to know a lot more about Tom and Hester's families and the lives they lead, but there didn't seem to be enough time to linger over such details. One objection to the American cover of "Mortal Engines". For the most part, the cover is very impressive, showing airships blowing up in front of the structure that is London. In the corner however are, who I can only assume is supposed to be, Tom and Hester. Tom is clutching a book, an odd choice since there is no point in the story where a book is important to his character. Hester, however, is completely wrong. The book describes her as have a huge gash down her face with a scar splitting her in two. Her nose is mashed in and she only has one eye. Now look at the cover. Apparently the cover artist decided that putting a deformed female would hurt "Mortal Engines"'s sales. So instead we've this cute little waif. Half her face is in shadow, yes, and there is the slightest hint of a scar on her forehead. But her nose is completely intact and she's smiling cheekily at the camera. Forgive me, but this is not the death obsessed horribly disfigured often crazed and violent Hester I came to love so much. Mr. Cover Artist, for shame. The book itself, however, is a delight. I can't recommend it enough. Go out, buy it, read it, and tell me that you didn't think it was the greatest addition to the teen literary futuristic canon to come down the pike since "The Giver". When people review books they often rely on that old phrase, "I didn't want it to end". Well I actually didn't. Amazing. It's a great book and a fantastic story.

I'll never see a book like this again:
Mortal Engines is one of those books that creates a world that is so fantastical that you can't beleive it but somehow it feels at if it is real. I love the way the several story lines weave together and you see diferent characters from totally diferent points of view. I also enjoy how there is a sort of 16 century flare to a book set far into the future. I would highly recomend this to any who wants likes adventures and sometimes thinks about what the world would be like if we had to start over again after a huge war with futuristic weapons.

Good, Light, Post-post-post Apocalyptic Fiction:
Philip Reeve weaves a fascinating world of airships and tank-like cities, intrigue and romance, action and adventure, without getting bogged down in the details of the world that Tom lives in. Despite the post-post-post apocalyptic setting, this is light reading. There are moments of wry humour, and well-paced action. And Philip occasionally produces a brilliant turn of phrase that stops me in my tracks. That isnt to say that its perfect. Far from it. Reeve has a flawed writing style that refuses to engage the reader with a consistent voice. Points of view jump from character to character within sections and, Im sorry, but since Ive had my head taken off for engaging in ping pong point of view, I dont see why Reeve should get off so easy. Occasionally, the narrative switches from past tense to present tense, apparently just to annoy me. But thats easily overlooked by the drive of the story here. Reeve engages in some cliches, but deliciously twists others. For instance, when Tom and Hester are taken prisoner aboard the pirate suburb of Tunnbridge Wheels, Hester just happens to know the Lord Mayor, and tries to use that to get out of her predicament. The readership groans at the convenience of this, but it doesnt work. Delightfully, their salvation comes out of nowhere; Reeve pulls a nice bait and switch. And while some characters are cardboard, many are not. Tom is occasionally so naive as to not be believable, but thats made up for by the fact that he gets an education in a hurry. The various characters of London, especially young Katherine, Valentines daughter, who investigates and discovers the truth about her dad, are engaging enough, but Reeves brilliance lies in the character of Hester. This poor, damaged, driven girl is ugly in every sense of the word: brutally disfigured, brutally violent, brutally cynical about the world around her. And yet Tom (and the readers) is able to discover a harsh beauty within her, in her clarity of purpose, in her determination, and in the occasional emergence of the shy girl that existed before Valentine slashed her face open. Her violent nature threatens to create a rift between her and Tom, but the story of their relationship is the engine that drives this series.

A marvelous piece of literature:
Mortal engines Philip Reeves What if the fate of millions lay on the shoulders on a 15yr old boy? Welcome to the world of mortal engines. Traction citys rule the world, the anti traction league is trying to fight. With marvelous weapons and exiting surprises mortal engines is a modern day masterpiece. Philipe Reeves new novel dishes up a plate full of delight and surprises. a must read for grade 7 and up.