Mortal Engines (The Hungry City Chronicles, #1) by Philip Reeve

Mar 23, 2011 Aaron Vincent rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-read, dystocalypse, scifi

Originally Posted on Guy Gone Geek

With the dystopian boom the market is now seeing, it’s kind of hard to find a true dystopian novel. Strange, isn’t it? There are lots of ‘dystopian’ novels being published these days but only few of it really fits the genre. Yeah, some books tries but that’s what makes the difference: it tries, it doesn’t just be. Gone was the bleak tone of the narrative. Gone was the relentless nature of the society. Gone was the subtle questions the readers have to ask themsel...more Originally Posted on Guy Gone Geek

With the dystopian boom the market is now seeing, it’s kind of hard to find a true dystopian novel. Strange, isn’t it? There are lots of ‘dystopian’ novels being published these days but only few of it really fits the genre. Yeah, some books tries but that’s what makes the difference: it tries, it doesn’t just be. Gone was the bleak tone of the narrative. Gone was the relentless nature of the society. Gone was the subtle questions the readers have to ask themselves. What we have instead is a love story that happens to occur in a pseudo-dystopian– pseudo because it feels completely artificial– society. It sucks. I’m not saying that a dystopian novel can’t have a love story in it. It can but it doesn’t have to be the element that thrust the narrative forward and it certainly doesn’t have to be the only thing that defines and motivates the heroes. Remember MT Anderson’s Feed? One of the best in this genre, in my opinion. Romance was very prominent in that book but it was never wholly about the romance.

Of course, we have different standards as to what books we qualify as dystopian. I am just speaking for myself and I am simply not a fan of the kind of dystopian novels that are being published recently. How do I satisfy my hunger for books that in my standards qualifies as dystopian? I look for titles that were released before the genre became insanely popular. That is exactly how I came across Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines. I can say that this strategy works because Mortal Engines is an honest-to-goodness dystopian novel. I love it.

After a long time of staying idle, the London traction city is back on its wheels, ready to hunt smaller towns. Everyone in the city is excited including Tom Natsworthy, a third-class apprentice in the Guild of Historians. But after saving his hero who is also the city’s darling, Valentine, from an assassination attempt, he found himself thrown off the mobile city with no less that the would-be assassin herself, Hester Shaw. As he spends time with this mysterious and scarred girl and board mobile town after mobile town in hope of chasing his beloved city, he slowly uncover the truth behind the Lord Mayor’s decision to return to the Hunting Ground. Tom has to choose a side and act fast before history repeats itself and the civilization he know meets its doom.

One of the most notable things about Mortal Engines is Philip Reeve’s finesse on tying together pacing and world-building, something we don’t get to see too often. The world as we know it almost died after the so-called 60-Minute War, leaving few cities with a poisoned land and scarce resources. In order to survive to this kind of environment, these cities adapted Municipal Darwinism, a system in which they had to build their cities on wheels and hunt one another to get resources. This system resulted to a literal town-eats-town world. Without reading the book, it is rather hard to wrap your head around this idea but the amount of detail Philip Reeve puts into the novel made this idea appear plausible. It felt complete and it made a lot of sense.

After reading that paragraph, it would seem that this novel is heavy on world-building. It is not. Trust me, I put down a lot of epic fantasy books already because of its exhausting information dumps just to create a believable world. Mortal Engines is a mile far from those kind of books. There was not a point in the novel when Tom and Hester’s adventure was halted to give way to detailed explanations of how different their world is from us. It’s an exhilirating chase to the breathtaking(and harrowing) finale. You’d be at the edge of your seat every moment of their thrilling adventure.

The complexity of the characters are also worth mentioning. As we explore the vast emptiness of the Hunting Ground, we are also introduced to the characters, who they are, what they want and what motivates them. This doesn’t applies only to the lead characters but also the secondary ones, and it’s a pretty big cast, mind you. These characters make the terrible mistakes and pay for it later on. They have unpleasant motivations. They are certainly the kind of people in their history that almost killed earth. These characters are incredibly flawed that makes them incredibly human.

Mortal Engines can be enjoyed on so many levels. Philip Reeve is an author that doesn’t compromise. The amount of thought he gave into realizing his imagined world, weaving plot points, creating tension and drawing complex characters makes this novel worth-reading. This is a very gripping and grim story set in a fully-realized dystopian society — this is exactly how I want my dystopian novels served.(less)

like 7 likes · see review

Jul 25, 2012 Jonathan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favourite-series, science-fiction, favourites

Mortal Engines as a series is a master-class in inventive YA science fiction. There are very few series where I can state that the last novel is my favourite in full honesty. Often I will read a series and the last novel will bring it all to a painful or awkward close. Which is what I am hoping will not happen with The Wheel of Time and the last Obernewtyn book. I do know for a fact that this is not what happened here.

The world of Mortal Engines is dominated by Municipal Darwinism. This is the i...more

like 12 likes · see review

Mar 21, 2011 Lady Eilonwy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, personal-favorites, post-apocalyptic, science-fiction, strong-female-leads, steampunk, favorites

Mortal Engines reminds me of the kind of story Dianne Wynne Jones or J.K. Rowling would have written if either had decided to write post-apocalyptic steampunk science fiction. What else could I say of a book with a distinctly British fantasy style and characters set in a quirky and colorful (yet gritty) world? I discovered the series after reading Reeve's later prelude to the Hungry City Chronicles, the YA Fever Crumb. Little did I realize, the Chronicles were not only more mature in their wri...more

like 28 likes · see review

Jul 24, 2012 Wei Cho rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, steampunk, favourite, young-adult, post-apocalyptic

Dear reader,

MAGNIFICENT READ. FAST PACED. EXCITEMENT!!!

I don’t have enough words to describe how much I enjoyed this book. The genre, post-apocalyptic steampunk science fiction, has made it into one of my top favourite genres; it totally submerged me intoa new world. Reeve introduces us into a new, strange, colourful, yet gritty world, ruled by “MunicipalDarwinism” (town-eat-town world). His world-building was exceptional, creating an adventurous environment where cities move and “eat” each othe...more

like 3 likes · see review

Mar 14, 2011 Rollie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I’ve seen this book with a YA label on the cover and I thought it was silly for a book to be labeled a genre on it. Since I heard about the book before, I went home along with this. Yeepah!

Tom Natsworthy is a third-class Historian apprentice of New London, since his parents died and left him with small amount of money that could only support a third class of apprenticeship. Being a Londoner is a pride but being a third-class apprentice is mock. When he meets for the second time his hero, Timothy...more I’ve seen this book with a YA label on the cover and I thought it was silly for a book to be labeled a genre on it. Since I heard about the book before, I went home along with this. Yeepah!

Tom Natsworthy is a third-class Historian apprentice of New London, since his parents died and left him with small amount of money that could only support a third class of apprenticeship. Being a Londoner is a pride but being a third-class apprentice is mock. When he meets for the second time his hero, Timothy Valentine and has saved his life. Instead of honoring him, he has got himself out of the running island of London.

Hester Shaw is a girl who survived from a massacre. Her parent’s murdered but she remained alive and lives with a scar that reminds her of the reason she lives for. She must take revenge against a man who murdered her family. When she gets her chance to kill the murderer, a boy intervenes. Unexpectedly, the same boy travels with her to hunt down the murderer they both now loath.

This book is surprisingly good. I mean really good. Before my main review, I don’t know if this is a dystopia or a steampunk since the book has the two qualities to consider either of them. But I think this is a cross-genre of steampunk and dystopia, if my sources are right that steampunk isn’t just set during Victorian era but any era as long as engines are in it. But if you’re looking for some kind of steampunk of book, I highly recommend this.

Back to really good, this book has made my taste. I like the new world. This book shows different world unlike the previous dystopian novels I’ve read. The world sets in the future but bringing with it the Victorian era. If we’ll think of future, technology might be the first thing to come to our mind because it’s pretty obvious that as year passes by, the technology is becoming better and better. And to think of its downfall in the future is really unimaginable. But Reeve made it possible. The present technologies we have as if forgotten in this book that depicts how far the year they are from us. Among the dystopian novels I’ve read, this is the farthest to the possibility of the future. The idea of the book is really cool but where’s the science in a walking city?

This is one of the heartbreaking books I’ve read so far. I can’t imagine the loss in the story… it saddened me a lot. I was hoping for a bright future of the heroes here in the sequel of this series but it distressed me to know that it may not happen anymore. I don’t want to discuss it any further; I may have given the titanic spoiler.

Among the characters, I liked Grike. The people who have read this might think I’ve gone nuts. Yes, if it is what it takes for them to believe me. Why Grike? Behind his monstrous features, I admire his heart’s desire. After the squeezing of my brain, I still did not guess what his heart really desires. And now I’m sorry for him.

I wasn’t really paying attention in the story that I didn’t notice the biggest twist of the story at the near-end of the book. I didn’t see it coming, but there’s still in me that think that it could have been unnoticeable still. It was as if the turning point of the event—turning point of the character’s interest. Only one thing negative that must be said, I wasn’t contented at how this book ended.
(less)

like 4 likes · see review

Apr 14, 2011 AH rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: YA readers

Shelves: first-in-series, library-finds, steampunk, young-adult, zzread-april-2011

Most awesome book 4.5 stars!

"It’s a town-eat-town world.” –Municipal Darwinism

Municipal Darwinism is a concept that hooked me right from the first page. Imagine a society where hungry cities roam, searching for prey. Imagine these huge cities, shaped like giant steel tiered wedding cakes rumbling around the countryside gobbling up smaller towns and settlements. Imagine the noise, the dust, and the deep tracks in the mud. This is the intriguing world of the Mortal Engines.

This is a world set fa...more Most awesome book 4.5 stars!

"It’s a town-eat-town world.” –Municipal Darwinism

Municipal Darwinism is a concept that hooked me right from the first page. Imagine a society where hungry cities roam, searching for prey. Imagine these huge cities, shaped like giant steel tiered wedding cakes rumbling around the countryside gobbling up smaller towns and settlements. Imagine the noise, the dust, and the deep tracks in the mud. This is the intriguing world of the Mortal Engines.

This is a world set far into the future. Society has been destroyed by atomics and viruses in the Sixty Minute War. Cities became traction cities because of earthquakes, volcanic activity, and advancing glaciers.

This book is full of awesomeness! The author’s attention to details and his story telling talent made this a rich and textured read. The world building was, for lack of a better word, awesome. The technology is interesting. There are elements of steampunk. Everything usable is recycled. Society is even organized in hierarchies, but in this world, everyone is assigned to a guild.

There be pirates in this book! There are airships, even an Airship city! There are resurrected men, a type of robot/zombie/Borg-like creature. There is even the mystical town of Shan Gao, a city protected from traction cities by its geography. This book is a feast for the eyes.

I adored the main characters. Tom Natsworthy is a young, idealistic third class apprentice in the Guild of Historians. This means that he does a lot of dusting and cleaning of artifacts. He likes his job and is very loyal to the city of London. Tom lost his parents a few years ago in the Great Tilt (which is never explained in the book. I’m assuming the city tilted and some people got squished). Hester Shaw is truly an interesting character. Seven years ago, Hester’s parents were murdered by Valentine. Hester was also attacked and left for dead. Hester is heavily scarred by her ordeal and has vowed to kill Valentine. Valentine’s daughter Katherine plays the role of dutiful daughter until she learns of her father’s nefarious activities. Aided by the engineer Bevis Pod (love that name!), Katherine seeks out the truth. I found these characters endearing and I felt like cheering them on when they encountered obstacles.

And these characters encountered many obstacles. Tom and Hester are thrown off the city, captured by pirates, rescued by an airship captain, chased by a resurrected man and more. Added to this mix of adventure was the mysterious MEDUSA, some kind of weapon from an earlier civilization.

This is a clever, well written book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to reading Predator’s Gold, the next book in this series. By the way, I handed my 11 year old this book and he was also hooked - he loves it!
(less)

like 11 likes · see review

Jul 02, 2007 Emily rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: those who like strong female characters, children's fantasy, and books set in London

Shelves: scififantasy

I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It's has a great concept: mobile cities roam Europe "eating" each other. It has a nice, if off-beat, feel for London. On the plus side, the novel actively attacks heroic ideals, leaving a darker, more morally ambiguous world view than I'd expected. I especially liked how Reeve initially juxtaposes the beautiful, "High London" girl Kate, who is oblivious to the oppression that keeps her world afloat, with a physically and mentally scarred Hester, who is b...more

like 8 likes · see review

Aug 03, 2012 Melanie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sparrow-and-nightingale, sf, own, 2000s

3.5 stars

I liked it :). The story is excellent, the concepts intriguing (Municipal Darwinism is awesome). And whew, that was a blast of an ending! I would most definitely continue reading this series; I'm very curious where the story will go from here, because the story for this book was reasonably self-contained. So basically, it could go anywhere (and anywhere in this very interesting world will be a lot of fun I think), now isn't that exciting :)...

I did have some minor issues with this book,...more 3.5 stars

I liked it :). The story is excellent, the concepts intriguing (Municipal Darwinism is awesome). And whew, that was a blast of an ending! I would most definitely continue reading this series; I'm very curious where the story will go from here, because the story for this book was reasonably self-contained. So basically, it could go anywhere (and anywhere in this very interesting world will be a lot of fun I think), now isn't that exciting :)...

I did have some minor issues with this book, all of which I think might improve or disappear over the next installments in this series (I'm a hopeful person^^). First of all there is the characterisation, mostly for the side characters but occasionally also for the main characters. It sometimes feels... clumsy? I'm not really sure what it is exactly that bothers me about it, it is not so much that it's entirely flat, or one-dimensional, but more... simplistic? Characters definitely have clear and reasonable motivations (or even conflicting motivations, like Tom who goes back and forth between his loyalty to Hester and his home city of London), interesting background stories, and they face dangerous situations and hard choices, so there is definitely a lot of stuff going on inside of and around these characters. And still, and still... it doesn't give me a feeling of complexity. Characters jump from one emotion to the next in the blink of an eye, there are no moments of true ambivalence. Take for example Tom: his "going back and forth" between loyalties is exactly that, one moment he's pro-London, the other pro-Hester, there is never any attempt at compromising or trying to combine the two. Or Hester (view spoiler): one minute she's furious at Tom for interfering, and a major trauma comes to the fore, the next all is well and forgiven and happy. Huh?

This feeling of simplicity extends also to the writing and dialogue (mostly in the first half, this didn't bother me so much in the second half of the book). Even considering this is a children's book, the writing felt a little too simple here and there, which is slightly odd when you take into account that the subject matter gets pretty heavy *massive spoiler* (view spoiler), so if the author clearly thinks his readers can handle that (and some technical vocab), why the oversimplification?
And another thing about the writing... what is with that tense-changing? First I thought that it was to highlight some character's POV voice, which I thought unnecessary but hey, not my choice... But then it suddenly happened from one paragraph to the next with no apparent reason? I didn't get it, and it annoyed me.
The dialogue suffers from simpleness here and there as well and also some inappropriate sillyness (?), such as with that pirate mayor whats-'is-face who gets some clowneske stuff to say when (view spoiler)... ahem... right...

So some minor gripes, yeah, but mostly this book is a great read! I'm still pondering over that ending... On to part 2!

(less)

like 1 like · see review

Mar 26, 2012 Anne Toronto1 rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, action, fun, suspense

"Mortal Engines" (Hungry City 1), first published book from Philip Reeve are big hungry Traction cities on wheels, like London rolling eastward, to capture and plunder in Municipal Darwinism. Painful surprises in a dangerous future. Everyone has hidden depths and sides to their human souls. Even the Resurrected Grike, who rescues then hunts to kill (spoiler: for love). Complicated motivations, twists. The author shows the reader what the protagonists do not see. A slowly (un?)ravelling mystery d...more

like 1 like · see review

Dec 18, 2011 Peter rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, steam-punk, ya

I started this book recently, I thought the opening page was funny and intriguing, but after a short while I got bored of the broad cartoony style of the writing. It just seemed to skim over concrete details and made me feel that there was a lot of unworked out elements of the intriguing world. I think in tone the author was aiming for Terry Pratchett but it doesn't come close, there are too few jokes and the broad style also jars with the many gruesome deaths in the story.

SPOILERS: Having fina...more

like 2 likes · see review

Nov 08, 2011 Reshma Popat rated it 5 of 5 stars

Mortal Engines,

The futuristic ideas throughout this book are phenomenal. Phillip Reeve throws in the idea of Municipal Darwinism, which is the concept of "survival of the fittest," in which towns eat other towns.

As a giant city and a powerful one at that, London; a stronghold; plans on depleting towns that are East. As a plan to do this they have a weapon known as Medusa, which London plans on using to destroy the long standing cities of the East.
Stolen from Hester's parents; Medusa is a weapon...more

like 3 likes · see review

Jan 23, 2009 Becky rated it 5 of 5 stars

It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea. In happier times, London would never have bothered with such feeble prey. The great Traction City had once spent its days hunting far bigger towns than this, ranging north as far as the edge of the Ice Wastes and south to the shores of the Mediterranean. But lately prey of any kind had started to grow scarce, and some of the larger cities had begun to...more It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea. In happier times, London would never have bothered with such feeble prey. The great Traction City had once spent its days hunting far bigger towns than this, ranging north as far as the edge of the Ice Wastes and south to the shores of the Mediterranean. But lately prey of any kind had started to grow scarce, and some of the larger cities had begun to look hungrily at London. For ten years now it had been hiding from them, skulking in a damp, mountainous western district that the Guild of Historians said had once been the island of Britain. For ten years it had eaten nothing but tiny farming towns and static settlements in those wet hills. Now, at last, the Lord Mayor had decided that the time was right to take his city back over the land bridge into the Great Hunting Ground.

I don't know about you, but this one had me hooked from the beginning. In this fun science fiction series, it's a town-eat-town world ruled by municipal Darwinism. London is a city on the go, on the move. And for better or worse, Tom is along for the ride.

Tom Natsworthy is an apprentice. True, he's just a third apprentice...and an orphan at that. But he's as content as a boy can be under the circumstances. But when Tom witnesses something he shouldn't--no matter that he'd just saved Mr. Valentine's life--his new life of danger and adventure is off to a brutal start. Tom's new companion--the young girl who got him into this mess of an adventure is Hester Shaw, a flawed and scarred character if ever there was one. But this encounter leaves an unintended impression on another teenager as well...a Miss Katherine Valentine.

All three teens will in one way or another impact the world, save it even. I won't go into all the ins and outs of the plots--the different factions the world is broken into, the danger that Medusa poses to the world, the need for a hero or two to risk it all.

The world Reeve has created is an interesting one. One that you may enjoy reading about--I know I did--but that you'd never want to live in yourself. It's a fast-paced, sci-fi adventure with danger and mystery and the slightest smidgen of romance.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews (less)

like 2 likes · see review

Mar 26, 2013 Jason James rated it 2 of 5 stars

I saw this book on a list with the Leviathan series by Scott Westerfeld (which I loved) and thought it would be a good read. I was highly disappointed. While the premise to this book is interesting the writing is very amateurish. This is due to a lack of character depth and irrelevant story lines. The author creates a cyborg-like character called Grike who is obsessed with a girl named Hester. Grike chases the main characters, Hester and Tom, around for much of the book but only in a direction...more

like · see review

Jan 24, 2013 John rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: lusfaf-book-club

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I really enjoyed the novel, especially the phrase ‘municipal Darwinism’, which made me giggle the first time it cropped up and struck me as clever. The main character, Tom, is an apprentice of the Guild of Historians in a London that’s moving along through the Hunting Grounds (what we might call Europe). He leads a terrifically boring existence as an apprentice until an encounter with a strange girl leads him onto an adventure of mystery, intrigue and espionage. The book isn’t particularly long,...more I really enjoyed the novel, especially the phrase ‘municipal Darwinism’, which made me giggle the first time it cropped up and struck me as clever. The main character, Tom, is an apprentice of the Guild of Historians in a London that’s moving along through the Hunting Grounds (what we might call Europe). He leads a terrifically boring existence as an apprentice until an encounter with a strange girl leads him onto an adventure of mystery, intrigue and espionage. The book isn’t particularly long, but the plot is perfectly suited to the length, and the pacing is brilliant the whole way through. I read the final half of the book in about an hour’s burst on my sofa, and I really enjoyed the climax of the novel.

Tom is a Londoner, born and bred, who has cause to meet a girl by the name of Hester Shaw. This meeting leads to his forcible ejection from London by a man – Thaddeus Valentine, the Head Historian – he thinks is his friend. This leads to several revelations about Valentine, about Hester, about the people he meets on his travels and about the city of London as a whole. Each revelation makes him reconsider his attitude towards the city, and eventually he turns against it, realising that the place he once called home is not a place he wants to have any connection with.

There is a parallel thread with Valentine’s daughter, Katherine, throughout the novel. At the beginning of the story, she overhears a conversation between her father and the Lord Mayor. This naturally segues into an investigation of her father’s past, as she attempts to find out who Hester Shaw is and what her father’s past holds. As she journeys deeper and deeper into London, her discoveries about her home dismay her in parallel with Tom’s discoveries of what life outside London is like

The novel really got me thinking about something that’s been nagging at my consciousness, what with the Jubilee this weekend. In the book, London is a city that ‘eats’ smaller cities, and eventually harnesses a weapon that can allow it to best larger cities (this weapon, which is a futuristic quantum beam called MEDUSA, can destroy large targets from hundreds of miles away). Valentine has killed a woman to get this technology, as Tom and Katherine eventually realise, and the city of London plans to blast a hole through into Asia and stomp on the cities there.

In the case of both Tom and Katherine, their sense of patriotism, pride and belonging conflicts with the knowledge of what London is attempting to do. This struggle runs throughout the novel, and I felt a real parallel between the conflicts the characters have and my own feelings about Britain. As a Briton, I am quite patriotic and proud of my country. However, it’s sometimes difficult to reconcile that feeling with the knowledge of what this country has been responsible for in the past (for example, our imperialism and atrocities we’ve committed overseas). This meant that the novel resonated with me in a way that I wasn’t expecting it to, and I greatly enjoyed it for that reason, alongside the fact that it’s a fun story and world.(less)

like · see review

Jan 17, 2013 Noah Diewald rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is considered juvenile fiction but the story is more complex and less wishy-washy than a lot of what I've read that is aimed at adults. I think the only reason it would be considered juvenile is that it is written in clear prose and has sometimes naive teenagers who learn not to trust authority as the main characters. The author is incredibly imaginative and will break your expectations for how the story is supposed to progress at times. As is common for literature aimed at this particular...more

like 1 like · see review

Jan 11, 2013 Quinn rated it 4 of 5 stars

The novel Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve was a very exciting adventure book. This book is about a boy, Tom Natsworthy, starts off in the giant city of London. This book is based in the future when all the cities are on wheels and try to eat each other. They become bigger and bigger every time another city is consumed. One day, however, Tom finds himself chasing someone who tried to kill his boss. When they get to the garbage chute, the girl Tom is chasing jumps off of the moving city of London....more

like 1 like · see review

Dec 29, 2012 Paul Collins rated it 5 of 5 stars

Most of the cities in England are hungrily trundling across the landscape, eating up smaller cities and towns for old tech and spare parts. The citizens of these fallen cities are either killed or enslaved.

Lowly third class apprentice Tom Natsworthy is unceremoniously thrown off London town – down a waste chute, no less – after having the misfortune to meet would-be assassin Hester Shaw. Together they must find their way back to London, each of course for different reasons. Much like Arthur Den...more Most of the cities in England are hungrily trundling across the landscape, eating up smaller cities and towns for old tech and spare parts. The citizens of these fallen cities are either killed or enslaved.

Lowly third class apprentice Tom Natsworthy is unceremoniously thrown off London town – down a waste chute, no less – after having the misfortune to meet would-be assassin Hester Shaw. Together they must find their way back to London, each of course for different reasons. Much like Arthur Dent hitchhiking aboard a spacecraft, Tom and Hester climb aboard Tunbridge Wheels, only to find it’s a pirate town run by one Chrysler Peavey, whose daughter is called Cortina, of course!

There’s a strong cast of protagonists. Among my favourites are the hideously disfigured Hester Shaw and an Oriental aviatrix called Miss Anna Fang, both of whom remind me of another favourite character from years gone by, Modesty Blaise. The latter faced many villains as Reeve’s characters do. Foremost of these are the Stalkers, seven feet tall with metal armour; once human but now transformed into the living dead (think Terminator). Reeve delights in sudden gusts of humour at the least expected moments. Introducing his Stalkers he says in part: “Its round glass eye gave it a startled look, as if it had never got over the horrible surprise of what had happened to it”. In another scene, a Stalker called Shrike meets his comeuppance: “Is it . . . dead?” asks Tom Natsworthy, to which Hester replies: “A town just ran over him. I shouldn’t think he’s very well . . .”

A secret energy weapon called MEDUSA (from the Sixty Minute War) has been discovered by archaeologist Thaddeus Valentine (Hester’s mother, actually, but Valentine killed her to obtain it), and now London is roaring across the Hunting Ground to take on the static enclaves of the Anti-Traction League in Shan Guo (not everyone it seems wants to uproot their homes and live the life of gypsies).

Reeve does commit a cardinal sin so far as this reader is concerned. He kills the dog, or the equivalent of one. I always think that’s a cheap trick to gain reader sympathy, used most notably in fantasy novels.

Originality, humour, action, adventure, greed, clashing civilisations, betrayal, murder, pirates ─ it’s got it all. (Not to be restricted to teenagers!)

It might be a town-eat-town world, but I’m glad Reeve kept it rolling to a quartet. Three more to go for me!

(less)

like 1 like · see review

Dec 10, 2012 Will rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really liked this book. It was action-packed, and it takes place in the future with lots of new and cool ideas. It is about a boy named Tom, who lives in London. But it isn't really the London that we know of today. All of the major cities have gone on wheels. They travel the world and eat other, smaller towns to get iron, fuel, and food. In the time that this book takes place, the hunting grounds that London lives and hunts through is becoming scarce of food. Tom is just a low-life historian...more

like · see review

Oct 24, 2012 Lee Penney rated it 4 of 5 stars

I forget where I heard about Mortal Engines, but reading the first line was enough to convince me I’d made the right choice.

It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea.

I was hooked from then on and the book charges onwards, barely stopping to take a breath before the end. There's no chance for the reader to get bored. It seems like a while since I’ve read a book I wanted to get back to.

The book...more I forget where I heard about Mortal Engines, but reading the first line was enough to convince me I’d made the right choice.

It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea.

I was hooked from then on and the book charges onwards, barely stopping to take a breath before the end. There's no chance for the reader to get bored. It seems like a while since I’ve read a book I wanted to get back to.

The book is set several thousand years in the future, in a time after the "60-Minute War" in which humanity used its awesome weapons to destroy civilisation, and most of the planet. Not long after that, someone had the bright idea of putting cities onto huge platforms, carried on numerous sets of tracks and powered by giant engines. This brought into practice "Municipal Darwinism," the idea of large cities eating smaller towns and cities for resources, kind of like a food chain based on size (the idea supposedly came from the way London is constantly expanding and consuming towns, turning them into suburbs).

Into this landscape step the characters of Tom, Hester, Valentine and Katherine, among others. Valentine is London's top historian, to most, but he’s actually a spy for the tyranical ruler, the Lord Mayor. He found the parts of MEDUSA, a terrifying weapon created by the ancients, a weapon the Lord Mayor plans to use on the shield-wall that protects the static cities of the Anti-Traction League, who oppose the moving cities.

Valentine killed Hester’s parents and maimed her, leaving her with one eye and hideous scars on her face, for that she wants revenge. Tom foils her first attempt (Valentine is a hero most of London), but Valentine tosses him overboard with Hester, just for hearing her name. That leaves Tom and Hester to team up, both of them determined to get back onto London.

Katherine, Valentine’s daughter, wonders who the girl was and why she would try to kill her father. As Tom and Hester are finding out how nasty Valentine really is, and just what danger their new-found friends at the Anti-Traction League are in, Katherine is uncovering the horrible truth about the Lord-Mayor’s plans, and her father’s part in it.

In terms of style, Mortal Engines reminded me of Terry Pratchett; humour used to hide the serious underbelly and the slight twist on reality to make it amusing. A lot of this humour comes from the interpretation of historical artifacts (“Old-tech”), but Reeve has a lot of fun with his character’s names too.

I absolutely loved this, and will be seeking out the other three books that round out the quartet. Aside from being highly inventive, and having a rip-roaring tale, it’s packed with lively, entertaining and unstereotypical characters, making it all the mosre fulfilling.(less)

like · see review

Oct 11, 2012 Andrew Winkel rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Middle school readers who are interested in science fiction

I enjoyed Reeve's extrapolated world built around roaming cities. He plays with words ("Urbivore") and concepts ("Municipal Darwinism"), adding nuanced touches to his world that resonate with an older reader. The story is no poorer if a reader fails to make the connections, but it is richer when a reader does.
Reeve's strengths were keeping the action moving, especially as the story moved into its climax. He is less effective at building characters, and they are deployed predictably.
There are vi...more

like 1 like · see review

Oct 08, 2012 Charles Robb rated it 4 of 5 stars

Set in a post-apocalyptic world one thousand years after the “Sixty Minute War “, which caused most of North America to become an irradiated desert continent and there to be massive geological upheaval in most of Europe, most of humanity survive in great traction cities. Built like layered wedding cakes, they practice municipal Darwinism, where the Cities eat the suburbs, they eat the villages, they eat the hamlets, hamlets eat the semi-static settlements, and they eat the static settlements. As...more

like · see review

Sep 05, 2012 Jean rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a stunning book which I would recommend for older Key Stage 2 readers for fun reading. It tells the story of the apprentice Tom Natsworthy and Hester Shaw who meet within the first few chapters. Both are presumed dead at the hands of the evil Valentine, father of Katherine. Tom rapidly has to change his ideas about people! The story unfolds as Tom and Hester travel amongst the moving cities and Katherine uncovers facts about her father and his past which force her to act in dangerous way...more

like · see review

Jul 17, 2012 Nesa Sivagnanam rated it 5 of 5 stars

You'll need to familiarise yourself with the theory of Municipal Darwinism for this book. The first thing you need to know is that it is a town eat town world, out there in the Great Hunting Ground:

The little town was so close that he could see the ant-like shapes of people running about on its upper tiers. How frightened they must be, with London bearing down on them and nowhere to hide! But he knew he mustn't feel sorry for them: it was natural that cities ate towns, just as the towns ate smal...more You'll need to familiarise yourself with the theory of Municipal Darwinism for this book. The first thing you need to know is that it is a town eat town world, out there in the Great Hunting Ground:

The little town was so close that he could see the ant-like shapes of people running about on its upper tiers. How frightened they must be, with London bearing down on them and nowhere to hide! But he knew he mustn't feel sorry for them: it was natural that cities ate towns, just as the towns ate smaller towns, and smaller towns snapped up the miserable static settlements. That was Municipal Darwinism, and it was the way the world had worked for a thousand years, ever since the great engineer Nikolas Quirke had turned London into the first Traction City. "London! London!" he shouted, adding his voice to the cheers and shouts of everybody else on the platform, and a moment later they were rewarded by the sight of one of Salthook's wheels breaking loose. The town slewed to a halt, smokestacks snapping off and crashing down into the panicked streets, and then London's lower tiers blocked it from view and Tom felt the deck-plates shiver as the city's huge hydraulic Jaws came slamming shut.

Now, it may be a vast, sophisticated city, but London is cobbled together from bits of scrap metal and Old-Tech. Some of the scavenged Old-Tech goes straight to the Guild of Historians to be preserved, and some goes to the powerful Guild of Engineers. Sometimes the Engineers can work out how to recreate the old technology from their bits and pieces, and sometimes they can't.

This story is about what happens when Valentine the Explorer brings back to London a malignant piece of Old-Tech, known as Medusa. The thing is, if London really proposes to recreate an ancient weapon of mass destruction, then mass destruction is going to be one of the inevitable consequences. So Valentine finds he has quite a few enemies. For a start, there is the grossly disfigured Hester Shaw, whose parents he killed in his quest to obtain possession of Medusa:

A terrible scar ran down her face from forehead to jaw, making it look like a portrait that had been furiously crossed out. Her mouth was wrenched sideways in a permanent sneer, her nose was a smashed stump and her single eye stared at him out of the wreckage, as grey and chill as a winter sea.

And there is Tom, Third Class Apprentice of the Guild of Historians. He just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Valentine pushes him down the waste chute after Hester Shaw because he fears he knows too much about Hester Shaw. But neither Tom nor Hester Shaw are killed by their fall down the waste chute. They land in the soft mud of the Out-Country, and so begins an uneasy alliance, which gradually firms up into friendship, and even something more.(less)

like · see review

May 31, 2012 FantasyWereld rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adults

In de wereld zijn de levensmiddelen zo schaars geworden dat de mensheid een opmerkelijke overlevingsstrategie heeft gekozen: de steden zijn op rupsbanden gezet. Tom Natsworthy is een trotse inwoner van de grote tractiestad Londen. Hij is minstens net zo trots om lid te zijn van het Geschiedenisgilde, zelfs al is hij maar een derde klasse leerling. Hij woont in het oude museum, waar hij zijn dagen slijt met het schoonmaken en oppoetsen van allerlei ouderwetse spullen uit de tijd van voor de Oorlo...more In de wereld zijn de levensmiddelen zo schaars geworden dat de mensheid een opmerkelijke overlevingsstrategie heeft gekozen: de steden zijn op rupsbanden gezet. Tom Natsworthy is een trotse inwoner van de grote tractiestad Londen. Hij is minstens net zo trots om lid te zijn van het Geschiedenisgilde, zelfs al is hij maar een derde klasse leerling. Hij woont in het oude museum, waar hij zijn dagen slijt met het schoonmaken en oppoetsen van allerlei ouderwetse spullen uit de tijd van voor de Oorlog van Zestig Minuten. Na vele jaren is Londen het Buitengebied weer ingegaan op zoek naar levensmiddelen. Al vrij snel komt de stad een klein tractiedorp tegen. Londen zet de achtervolging in en krijgt het dorp te pakken. Terwijl de grote stad het kleine dorp compleet uit elkaar haalt wordt Tom naar de onderbuik van de stad gestuurd om te controleren of er nog waardevolle spullen voor het Geschiedenisgilde uit het dorp tevoorschijn komen. Hier aangekomen ziet hij dat zijn grote held, Thaddeus Valentijn door een gesluierde vreemdeling wordt aangevallen. Tom komt meteen in actie, maar tuimelt echter door een ongelukkige samenloop van omstandigheden uit de stad en eindigt in het Buitengebied. Terwijl Tom bijkomt van zijn diepe val uit de stad, ziet hij Londen aan de horizon verdwijnen. Totaal gedesoriënteerd raakt hij al snel in paniek. Dan blijkt hij niet alleen te zijn, een meisje met een verminkt gezicht is ook uit de stad gevallen. Ze zijn allebei niet blij met elkaars gezelschap, maar ze hebben dezelfde bestemming en zijn op elkaar aangewezen.

Post-apocalyptische wereld
Philip Reeve heeft voor Levende Steden een zeer originele post-apocalyptische wereld gecreëerd. In de 21ste eeuw heeft de mens zichzelf tijdens de Oorlog van Zestig Minuten praktisch uitgeroeid. De Aarde is voor het grootste deel in een grote woestenij veranderd. In de daaropvolgende paar honderd jaar hebben de mensen hun steden op gigantische rupsbanden gezet en rijden zo over de dorre vlaktes heen, op zoek naar kleinere steden of dorpen welke ze compleet uit elkaar halen voor hun levensmiddelen en onderdelen. Londen is een van de eerste en een van de grootste tractiesteden. Alle steden rijden op stoom en bizarre vliegtuigen worden door gasballonnen in de lucht gehouden.
Net zoals de meeste tractiesteden bestaat ook Londen uit verschillende lagen, waarvan de rijke mensen op de hogere en de arme mensen op de lagere niveaus wonen. Alle inwoners van Londen zijn onderverdeeld in diverse gildes. In de stad is er vaak genoeg onenigheid tussen de verschillende sociale klassen, zowel binnen als buiten de gildes, maar ook tussen de verschillende gildes heerst een zekere strijd. De auteur heeft deze problemen zeer overtuigend uitgewerkt en je voelt tijdens het lezen dat er een vervreemding heerst tussen de leden van de verschillende gildes.

Wil je de volledige recensie lezen? Klik hier:
http://www.fantasywereld.nl/reviews.p...(less)

like · see review

May 29, 2012 Becky rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is one of those books that I had looked at multiple times but never got round to reading, I think I took it out of the library at least 3 times but always had to return it before I had time to read it. But last week I knew I was going to meet the author at the 'Worlds of Tomorrow' event in London so I knew it was time to finally read it.
I looked for it on the Monday and it was out, I was so annoyed, thinking that now I had made time to read it, I wouldn't be able to, but that afternoon som...more This is one of those books that I had looked at multiple times but never got round to reading, I think I took it out of the library at least 3 times but always had to return it before I had time to read it. But last week I knew I was going to meet the author at the 'Worlds of Tomorrow' event in London so I knew it was time to finally read it.
I looked for it on the Monday and it was out, I was so annoyed, thinking that now I had made time to read it, I wouldn't be able to, but that afternoon someone returned it so I snatched it up quick and started it in my tea break that afternoon.
My initial reaction was 'What?!?' This is weird', but then, I like weird so I was prepared to give it a try. Basically towns and cities don't just stay in one place any more, they are mobile and travel the world, dodging waste sites and barren lands. Big cities like London catch smaller towns and 'eat' them - strip them down for materials and fuels. It's a rough existence but seems to work in it's own way. This is a very strange, but somewhat brilliant idea, I really found myself getting into it within a few pages.
This story mainly follows Tom - he works as an apprentice in the museum, but he wants more, then one day he is invited out with Valentine - an important member of society, but when a murder attempt is carried out by Hester Shaw he is thrown in a whole new world. Tom and Hester end up stranded and desperate to get back to London, but throughout the journey they meet a host of colourful characters, get to know each other better and get to know themselves too.
I liked Hester a lot - she's feisty, she's fierce and won't take any rubbish from anyone, she is a tough cookie with a strong sense of justice. She also has a great wit and sarcasm. She starts off as a bit of a mystery and quite closed off, but as the book develops so does she and I really did like her.
Tom starts off as the under-dog and you just know he will be the hero, he can be a bit sulky and very impulsive, he's eager to prove himself and make others proud of him, but in the same way as Hester, as the book progresses he finds a new side to himself and starts to hold his own.
This book is a real mix of, dare I say it - Sci-Fi, Mystery, Love story and Adventure. It really carries you away.
I really wasn't sure I would enjoy it before I started but I honestly did - I even laughed out loud at a couple of moments. I will definitely be trying to read the rest of the series.

(less)

like 1 like · see review

May 17, 2012 Hugues Marie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Mortal Engines, a book written by Philip Reeve, disembarks the reader on a journey through fantasy and adventure. In a town eat down world, after the destruction of the sixty minute war had left the world barren, London was roaring through the hunting ground in search of prey to catch. Tom Natsworthy a third class engineer is overcome by curiosity and leaves his place in the museum to watch London catch it's first prey in years. As Tom is sent down to the engines rooms as a punishment for his cu...more Mortal Engines, a book written by Philip Reeve, disembarks the reader on a journey through fantasy and adventure. In a town eat down world, after the destruction of the sixty minute war had left the world barren, London was roaring through the hunting ground in search of prey to catch. Tom Natsworthy a third class engineer is overcome by curiosity and leaves his place in the museum to watch London catch it's first prey in years. As Tom is sent down to the engines rooms as a punishment for his curiosity, he meets the head engineer named Valentine. As they venture deep down in the core of London, a scarred face girl attacks Valentine. Tom pursues her and as they chase each other they fall into a hole and fall off London. Hester, the scared face girl and Tom are now stuck in the wilderness and have to fight to survive, and they must track down Valentine, to kill him.

The first of my favorite scenes is the part when the historians arm themselves with the museums muskets and armor and attack the robot stalkers, to protect Katherine, Valentine's daughter, and Bevis Pod an apprentice engineer. Katherine and Bevis were trying to sabotage Medusa, London's secret weapon. I really enjoyed this scene because it was quite comical and funny and really made me laugh. It also brought me a sort of prides from in me when the underdogs, the historians beat the people who are more likely to win, which was really well portrayed in this scene.

My second favorite scene was when Katherine jumps in front of Hester to protect her from her father's sword. She get cuts and falls the ground, she never sees the world through her eyes again. This part was really touching and sad and it really showed how much Katherine was willing to sacrifice to show her father how much she wanted to do right, because her father was in charge of the destruction of the anti traction's leagues shield wall and the discovery of Medusa. her father had betrayed her trust and she wanted to make things right.

This book is by far the story that i have read the most over and over again and it never gets old. Every new events hits you so vigorously that it makes the story so real and believable. I would recommend this book to an audience of the age ten and above as the book does contain some difficult Literature at some points of the story and some parts of the book are more aimed at a mature audience(less)

like 1 like · see review

Apr 19, 2012 Beaulah Pragg rated it 4 of 5 stars

When I started reading this book I realized that I had actually read it before. At the time I had thought it a bit weird and strongly disliked the ending. This time round I enjoyed it a lot more, perhap because I knew it was going somewhere (there were more books with the main characters to come).

The world Reeve has created is amazingly detailed and consistent. I love the way his characters are completely at ease within their moving cities and actually fear dry land (as is the case for Tom).

Thou...more

like 1 like · see review

Feb 28, 2012 Kat rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A plot so strong it beats the bad writing. Barely.

The world building in this book is epic. It's an interesting take on the future and doesn't dwell overlong on the science of it, which is nice. Because I'm sure if someone started explaining the science of uprooting entire cities and putting them on wheels to travel at freeway speeds across Europe, there would be holes in logic. Large, gaping holes. But I accepted it. I went with it. And I enjoyed it. The story's good, engaging, entertaining.

The...more

like · see review

Feb 16, 2012 Owen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: novel, young, adult, science, fiction, steampunk, cities

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.[return][return]Unfortunately the book falls mostly flat beyond this setting. It feels as if someon...more

like · see review

Nov 17, 2011 Πέτρος rated it 3 of 5 stars

Consider this a review for the entire series. They are all following the same pattern so they don’t deserve different analysis on each.

This series of books is quite interesting when it comes to premises. Imagine a post-apocalyptic world, where mankind’s struggle for survival turned to installing wheels on their cities and hunting one another in order to scavenge them and live of their scraps, or wait for bigger cities to make a mistake and be plundered by smaller ones. The “survival of the fitte...more Consider this a review for the entire series. They are all following the same pattern so they don’t deserve different analysis on each.

This series of books is quite interesting when it comes to premises. Imagine a post-apocalyptic world, where mankind’s struggle for survival turned to installing wheels on their cities and hunting one another in order to scavenge them and live of their scraps, or wait for bigger cities to make a mistake and be plundered by smaller ones. The “survival of the fittest” lifestyle was initially highly captivating as it could explore a thousand concepts that could sprout out of it. Unfortunately, the premise and the basic key events are the highlights of the whole thing, since the actual line of thought is presented in a most childish way that ruins its plausibility and ends up jumping from one convenient event to another.

The protagonist in particular is a very boring one, since he is a wimp and all he is doing is running behind battle-hardened Hester and experiencing how the world really looks like outside the city. The main focus ends up being given to the all major female characters for setting goals that go beyond “return home”. As much as I liked them though, I still couldn’t swallow the cheese with which everything occurred. No matter the problem, the resolution to it was extremely rushed and childish, making you think that all the villains were preparing a masterplan for decades that fails because they can’t see past their noses.

The elements that make up the story are amazing when it comes to teen adventure and occasionally they are presented extremely morbid and amoral. The problem is that any actual development occurs because the protagonists are either saved by unlikely means or act out of character. Or at least this is how I come to view any sudden change of heart Tom or any other male in later books experience, only to go on the offensive, kill some baddies in order for the story to reach an end, and then revert back to their passive frightened and insecure selves. Add to that how the author conveniently keeps resurrecting dead characters as cheap shock effect to woah us with poor plot twists that are otherwise meaningless if they are equally easy to defeat as before.

Thus in the end of the day Hungry Cities is a very light read despite the numerous scenes of mass destruction and amoral ideologies. Some villain kills people to get his hands on a weapon of mass destruction and then as he laughs and destroys entire cities with it, a 15-year-old jumps out of nowhere and turns from a frightened chicken to a murderous Rambo, trashes everything and escapes as the base blows up. And then the villain returns as a robot and tries again! He captures the kid and goes to sleep instead of killing them, so the kid escapes, turns Rambo, and the base blows up again. Then the villain returns as a ghost… It is simply too silly after awhile.

In terms of interesting situations and character coloring, the series is quite captivating. It is really a fine dark adventure, full of misery, death, amoral ideologies, environmental issues, and hopes for a better future. In terms of mature handling though, it is very disappointing. (less)

like · see review

topics	posts	views	last activity
Mortal Engines Fa...: Shrike	1	10	Sep 22, 2011 12:47am
Sci-Fi Fantasy Bo...: Mortal Engines	5	24	Sep 22, 2010 02:05pm

title link	preview: Mortal Engines
avg rating	preview: Mortal Engines Goodreads rating: 4.00 (5378 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/287861.Mortal_Engines?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1352173057l/287861.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/287861.Mortal_Engines?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve[/url]

Mortal Engines (The Hungry City Chronicles #1)

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (32)

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Philip Reeve

Books by Philip Reeve

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About Mortal Engines

Quotes from Mortal Engines