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143rd out of 148 books
—
98 voters
A Web of Air (Fever Crumb #2)
by
Philip Reeve
In a ruined world where humans have lost the skills of flight, Fever Crumb, a clever young engineer, is swept up in a race to build the first flying machine. Her mysterious companion is a boy who talks to angels. But powerful enemies stalk them—either to possess their revolutionary invention, or to destroy the secrets of flight forever. . . .
Hardcover, 281 pages
Published
April 5th 2010
by Scholastic
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Reading through the reviews it strikes me that this book is heavily affected by your experience of Phillip Reeve's writing. If you a fan of Mortal Engines - this may lack depth. If you have only really read Fevercrumb, this is a step up. If you are familiar with Reeve's world, then the absence of a resolution with Arlo and Fevercrumb will not surprise you as Reeve often works on a longer timeline than just 1 book. Bearing all that in mind here is my original review:
The second in the prequel to...more
The second in the prequel to...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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Philip Reeve is one of those authors who has an ability to transport me to a world where I wish I lived, full of steam-punk esque technology and interesting and colourful characters.
A Web of Air is a great book, and acts as a great hook for the world we are all so familiar with of the Mortal Engines series. That's one of the reasons I liked it - because of the exploration of the origins of the traction cities, and to be honest it is what I am most looking forward to in the sequels.
I do like the...more
A Web of Air is a great book, and acts as a great hook for the world we are all so familiar with of the Mortal Engines series. That's one of the reasons I liked it - because of the exploration of the origins of the traction cities, and to be honest it is what I am most looking forward to in the sequels.
I do like the...more
Clearly better than the first book.
Sure, the first book was good, but the climax was a giant beer barrell rolling down the street. The action in the sequel hooked me, and the concept of a concave city with rising and falling houses was sweet. It seemed like Reeve put more thought into this one. Although Fever sort of falls in love, at the end, it all diminishes to nothing and the guy runs off. I mean, not my favorite, but actually better than the alternative, once you consider it. There were a...more
Sure, the first book was good, but the climax was a giant beer barrell rolling down the street. The action in the sequel hooked me, and the concept of a concave city with rising and falling houses was sweet. It seemed like Reeve put more thought into this one. Although Fever sort of falls in love, at the end, it all diminishes to nothing and the guy runs off. I mean, not my favorite, but actually better than the alternative, once you consider it. There were a...more
My enjoyment of Fever Crumb -- the first in a series of prequels about the "Mortal Engines" world -- led me to read this book and Scrivener's Moon in short order. Although I would praise the book for its creativity -- the detailed world that Reeve creates is fascinating -- I thought it lost a little something. Narrative drive? Drama? Perhaps I am just being churlish because I didn't like the abrupt severing of the relationship between Fever and Arlo (the flight-mad dreamer).
Just as he did in the...more
Just as he did in the...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Not quite as satisfying as the preceding title, Fever Crumb, this one still has quite a lot going for it. I'd give this one a 3.5 if Goodreads allowed that score. Fever, raised by engineers, uses her knowledge of technology to light the stage for the traveling group of thespians with whom she has been living for the past couple of years after leaving London behind. It's a quiet life, but one that the sixteen-year-old embraces because it allows her to forget about her past. When Fever hears about...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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Fever Crumb is back. After a few years on the road with a traveling theater, where her job has been lighting the shows and taking care of orphans Ruan and Fern, the troupe stops for some shows in Mayda at the World's End. Fever meets several interesting characters in Mayda, first Senhor Fat Yago, a fellow Londoner and Engineer Dr. Teal, and misfit Arlo Thursday. Arlo's family had been master shipbuilders before the Ragged Islands, just off the mainland, was wiped out by a tsunami. Arlo was the o...more
Fever Crumb is an engineer from London - a futuristic London, one hundreds or thousands of years from now. The world has changed following some worldwide destruction where technology is shunned or lost. There are myths of the 'ancients' having flown to the moon and some still understand the secrets of electricity. Fever Crumb is one of the latter and she puts this knowledge to use in the traveling lyceum. When the theatre stops in Mayda, she encounters Arlo Thursday, a recluse trying to discover...more
Sequel to Fever Crumb, and also the second in a prequel series (I haven't actually read the Hungry City Chronicles). Set in a steampunk Europe far in the future where airplanes don't exist but moving houses using funincular (whatever that is) and water mechanisms do about a 16-year-old who was raised in the Order of Engineers, which means that she is very rational. I had sort of forgotten how the first book ended, but it does a little bit of explaining. In this book, she's working for a theater...more
This was really a 2.5 star rating in my opinion, which was hard for me to award given how much I liked the first book, Fever Crumb. This book was much darker and more depressing than the first book. There was more violence (not my thing so much) and a very (no spoilers here, so I'll be vague) depressing end. The book completely cut off with no resolution at the end that it made me wonder if it was an attempt to force readers into reading book #3 prequel, Scrivener's Moon, (or if he had a very su...more
This was quite a disappointment to me. I have always loved Philip Reeve's work and his Mortal Engines Collection is easily my favorite series of all time. This volume though was lacking in just about everything I've loved about his writing and stories. Here' two things that really struck me:
The trademark humour was almost nowhere to be found.
Reeve's anti-religious 'message' was very in-your-face and really didn't aid the story at all... and frankly at points was more than a little offensive. FYI...more
This second prequel to the Mortal Engines quartet again features Fever Crumb, who has traveled with the theatre company to a port city that disapproves of all engines. That means they (and this future world generally) are not excited about Arlo Thursday's attempt to make a flying machine, but Fever is (as excited as she, a trained Engineer after all, ever gets). Reeve has created another fast-moving plot with interesting characters and some trademark humor for readers in the know (like "the godd...more
A Web if Air is the second book of Fever Crumb. the main character Fever Crumb has left London and is working as a technomancer aboard a floating theater. She is also taking care of orphaned Raun and Fern. When they visit Mayda she meets an other engineer visiting from London. He tells her all about a young man trying to bulid a flying machine called and aeroplane. His name is Arlo Thursday. Fever is suddenly interested in this new machine and becomes very good friends with him. They suddenly ha...more
A great follow-up to Fever Crumb. Following the somewhat traumatic events of Book One, Fever's run away and joined a theatrical troupe as their technomancer (sort of combination IT nerd/electrician/Jill of all trades), and the majority of the action takes place in Mayda, a Mediterranean, beach-side town built on the sides of a crater (Reeve identifies Mayda as "somewhere off the coast of present-day Portugal"). It's a lovely change from the steamy dirty grimy London of the first book, but Mayda...more
I probably should have given it a 4, because I really do love this series, and Arlo was an interesting new character.
Fever (and Fern and Ruan) have joined a traveling theater, Persimmon's Electric Lyceum; Fever as the electrician in charge of lighting and special effects, Ruan as her helper and scenery painter, and Fern as a budding actress. Life is good until they come to Mayda-at-the-World's-End where Fever meets Arlo. Arlo is the descendant of master ship builders. He talks with angels (a gen...more
Fever (and Fern and Ruan) have joined a traveling theater, Persimmon's Electric Lyceum; Fever as the electrician in charge of lighting and special effects, Ruan as her helper and scenery painter, and Fern as a budding actress. Life is good until they come to Mayda-at-the-World's-End where Fever meets Arlo. Arlo is the descendant of master ship builders. He talks with angels (a gen...more
Once again, another 4.5 star book from Philip Reeve. "A Web of Air" confirmed (for me) what I already stated in my review of "Fever Crumb" - in some ways, because of their intimacy, I prefer these prequels to the Mortal Engines Quartet. "A Web of Air", as its title would suggest, weaves a delicate story of frienships, betrayal and love. We once again encounter Fever Crumb and her two "wards", Ruan and Fern, but this time they are aboard a travelling "circus" boat, the Lyceum. Having travelled ha...more
I liked how this book furthers Fever's story and continues to fill in the gap between these prequels and the world of Mortal Engines. These prequels add this great backstory and depth to the Mortal Engines series by illustrating the situations that precipitated the decisions that created the Municipal Darwinism that we see later on.
The city of Mayda is another awesome creation of Reeve's that adds a whole other dimension to the story.
Like Reeve’s other books, the characters are complex and extr...more
The city of Mayda is another awesome creation of Reeve's that adds a whole other dimension to the story.
Like Reeve’s other books, the characters are complex and extr...more
Where and how this sequel continues Fever Crumb seemed to leave all that happened in the first book behind. Fever is now 16 and the technical director of a theater on a barge using her knowledge of technology to bring lights to the production. They are in the city of Mayda where all technology is banned. She meets a young man, Arlo, who is trying to build a flying machine and is so the target of the powerful in the town and those in London she wanted to escape. The book can stand alone because s...more
May 28, 2011
Emily
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
review-books,
steampunk
There is something so very different about Reeve's books and I can never pin down what it is that I like so much about them. I like this book, even though it is definitely one of those second books in a trilogy that feels like a toll booth you have to stop at in order to get to your true destination. This book felt really different from the first book, Fever Crumb. It is set in anti-technology Mayda, which I took to be Spain, and is far removed from London's steampunk clockwork and strikers. Fev...more
Let's hear it for Fever Crumb book 2!! Though I still prefer Reeve's Hungry City Chronicles, this prequel series involving Fever is great. Fever is loosening up from her strict engineer upbringing, even though she works for something as trivial as a traveling theater. Then she meets up with Thursday, a recluse trying to build a flying machine and her genius is again put to work. Just a touch of romance, angels (genetically altered birds), and flying. I can't wait for the last book!
Summary: In Ma...more
Summary: In Ma...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Maybe it's me, but I can't just finish Philip Reeve's sequels. I loved Fever Crumb and I was so excited about Web of Air. I read (not skimmed) half of the book, but the plot was dragging and tacked together. Arlo Thursday is a very likable recluse and a good match for Fever. Maybe there was not enough genuine interpersonal conflicts? Maybe this is less of an issue for other people (like guys)?
I had the same problem with the Mortal Engines. I loved the first book and read the second two, but just...more
I had the same problem with the Mortal Engines. I loved the first book and read the second two, but just...more
When Fever Crumb left London she traveled to Mayda-at-the-World’s-End where she signed on with a traveling theatre company to do lighting for their plays. Whereas it was not as challenging as her Engineering it filled her time, provided her with a living, and gave her a place with people. Then she met Arlo Thursday, last remaining member of a shipbuilding family, communicator with seagulls, and aficionado of flight. But as her friendship with Arlo grows she finds herself fighting for his life as...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Fever Crumb's story continues in this latest prequel set in the world of Mortal Engines. Fever has been traveling with a theater barge, but she parts ways with them in the city of Mayda-at-World's-End. She hears tales of Arlo, a young but possibly crazy inventor experimenting with the lost art of flight, and she sees enough to think it may be possible, if she helps him. A mysterious assassin is killing anyone who toys with flying machines, so Fever and Arlo are risking their lives in more ways t...more
This book didnt capture my imagination or attention as much as Fever Crumb did (which I thought was a great book and wounderfully written). Although it was a good read overall,I just felt that this series set after the events in the first four Mortal Engine books are not as magical and exciting to read. Maybe its because I have now read about the world and its not new to me.
I must say that Philip Reeve's writing is just as good and the story line if at time a bit perdicable and boring its still...more
I must say that Philip Reeve's writing is just as good and the story line if at time a bit perdicable and boring its still...more
Sequel to Fever Crumb. The book begins with Fever as a member of the Persimmon's Electric Lyceum a traveling barge-theater. She has with her the two orphans Ruan and Fern from the first book. Fever uses her engineering ability to add dazzle and flash to the plays. In Mayda she comes into contract with the brilliant boy Arlo Thursday. It is Arlo's dream to rediscover the secrets of making a flying machine. A whole line of villains converge on Arlo to stop him from building the first flying machin...more
I did really like the first of Fever Crumb's books, but it was definitely a less complex book than any of the Mortal Engines series had been. A Web of Air is like the middle ground, a little darker than Fever Crumb had been, but without quite the same narrative complexity of Mortal Engines.
Essentially, the plot is about Fever helping a new character named Arlo Thursday re-discover heavier than air flight. (view spoiler) Ther...more
Essentially, the plot is about Fever helping a new character named Arlo Thursday re-discover heavier than air flight. (view spoiler) Ther...more
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Philip Reeve was born and raised in Brighton, where he worked in a bookshop for a number of years while also co-writing, producing and directing a number of no-budget theatre projects.
Philip then began illustrating and has since provided cartoons for around forty children's books, including the best-selling Horrible Histories, Murderous Maths and Dead Famous series.
Philip has been writing stories...more
More about Philip Reeve...
Philip then began illustrating and has since provided cartoons for around forty children's books, including the best-selling Horrible Histories, Murderous Maths and Dead Famous series.
Philip has been writing stories...more
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Nov 09, 2011 06:29am