Mortal Engines (The Hungry City Chronicles, #1)

by Philip Reeve

past the big plastic statues of Pluto and Mickey, animal-headed gods of lost America.

America Deserta — Across the Dead Continent with Gun, Camera, and Airship,

Would love to see the rest of the world in this future

“It’s Natsworthy, isn’t it? The apprentice who’s so good at spotting fakes? I’ll have to watch my step tonight, or you’ll find me out!”

Is this foreshadowing

“Tom,” said Valentine, his eyes twinkling with amusement, “meet my daughter, Katherine, and Dog.”

Love interest?

Ice Wastes,

Tom was not sure what surprised him more — that Valentine was letting him off, or that he was coming down to the Yards in person. Senior Guildsmen usually preferred to sit in the comfort of the office and let the apprentices do the hard work down in the heat and fumes,

I really dont know whether to trust Valentine or not at this point. Like i could see him either becoming a mentor figure.....or the Big Bad

Imagine being the one to rediscover some legendary secret, like heavier-than-air flying machines, or pot noodles!

A small metal box caught his eye. When he pulled it out and opened it his own face blinked back at him, reflected in a silvery plastic disc. “Mr. Valentine! Look! A seedy!”

The people of the old days may only have lived in static settlements, but their electronic machines were far beyond anything London’s Engineers have been able to build.

Like most Londoners, Tom was horrified by the idea that people still actually lived on the bare earth.

They came clustering around him, all except one, a tall, thin one in a black coat — a girl, Tom thought, although he could not be sure, because she wore a black scarf wrapped across her face like the turban of a desert nomad.

The girl on the cover?

She was no older than Tom, and she was hideous. A terrible scar ran down her face from forehead to jaw, making it look like a portrait that had been furiously crossed out.

say a prayer for her to one of London’s many gods.

Really wish it had delved into how London's mythology came to be.

Where is the girl?” “Dead,” Tom said lamely.

But is she........

Valentine was smiling kindly at him, his eyes full of sorrow. “Don’t worry, Tom,” he said. “I’m sorry….” Tom felt a big, gentle hand on his shoulder and then — he was never sure quite how it happened — a twist, a shove, and he was pitching over the handrail and falling,

He had fallen out of London, and he was alone with Hester Shaw on the bare earth!

He flung the torn shirt away and ran after her, slithering in the thick, clagging mud, stubbing his toes on fragments of rock and torn-up roots.

Okay they took so much care to describe flying alive London or whatever. Soooo pls tell me this isnt a survival story literally stuck in the mud.

Everyone he had ever known was aboard that dwindling mountain,

“I’ve got to get back into London, haven’t I?” she said. “Two years it took me to find it,

Katherine said he couldn’t even bring himself to shoot a wolf cub.

Ooh so whats the deal with katherine? Does she know her dad is evil?

“He shoved you out after me, didn’t he? Just because you’d seen me.”

Remember, we don’t know how much the girl knew of her mother’s work. If she were to tell another city that we have MEDUSA, before we are ready to use it …”

??????

don’t want too many people to know where we are taking the city.

Where are they going?

“My mum used to say Traction Cities are stupid. She said there was a reason for them a thousand years ago when there were all those earthquakes and volcanoes and the glaciers pushing south. Now they just keep rolling around and eating each other ’cos people are too stupid to stop them.”

So I went up the ladder and looked, and Valentine was there. I knew him, because he was Mum’s friend

‘Give me the machine, Pandora,’ he kept saying. ‘Give me MEDUSA.’

So we're going heavy on the mythology here?

she said, ‘Damn you, Thaddeus, I found it, it’s mine!’

Ok so Medusa is something she found. Old tech?

At first I didn’t remember much. It was as if when he cut my head open some of my memories spilled out, and the rest got muddled about.

“Something my mum found. Old-tech. It didn’t look important. Like a metal soccer ball, all bashed and dented.

All caps, acronym?

She hated Valentine, but she hated herself even more, for being so ugly, and for being still alive when her parents were dead.

He had thought that it was all his fault somehow. He had felt full of guilt, because he had not been there to die with them.

“Would you like some more algae, dear?” inquired Mrs. Wreyland as he fell to his knees. From a long, long way away he heard her saying, “It took an awfully long time to take effect, didn’t it, Ormey?” and Wreyland replying, “We’ll have to put more in next time, my sweet.”

Whut.

In the long millennia since the Sixty Minute War,

Municipal Darwinism

It’s a town-eat-town world.

It was the first time he had seen her smile: an ugly, crooked thing, but very welcome; it made him feel that she was starting to like him and didn’t just regard him as an annoyance.

Badass ugly girl yaaas here for thissss

Some Apprentice Historians spread out a banner reading Happy Valentine’s Day!

airship

I mean like the whole airship and old tech gives it a big steampunk vibe doesnt it? Reminds me of Leviathan.

He blushed, ashamed for Valentine, and ashamed of himself for having loved him.

“I’m sorry I never got the chance to say good-bye….”

Uhhh who is...was...shrike?

“Shrike doesn’t have feelings,” said Hester. “They cleaned all his memories and feelings away when they made a Stalker of him.” She sounds as if she envies him, thought Tom.

What a horrible, ugly, vicious, self-pitying girl she was!

Lol it me

He was pleased at Hester Shaw’s quick thinking, and he decided to let her live a few more hours as a reward,

Tom wondered dimly what Shrike had meant about his “heart’s desire.” Why would he have sold his precious collection to come after Hester if all he wanted to do was kill her? There was no way of knowing

I mean he wants her to be a cyberman with him....

Something’s wrong with him, thought Tom, inching up the hill. Stalkers weren’t meant to have feelings.

From Circle Park and all the observation platforms came the sound of wordless voices, and she thought at first that they were crying out in horror, the way she wanted to — but no; they were cheering, cheering, cheering.

He didn’t think he would ever get used to Hester Shaw and her seesawing moods.

“They just made a horrible mess of their world and then blew themselves up!”

“The old American Empire was quite insane toward the end; I’ve heard stories about terrible weapons: quantum energy beams that drew their power from places outside the real universe….”

......should I even be surprised that it's America that destroys the world.......

“I try to be nice,” she said. “Nobody’s ever made me feel they like me before, the way you do. So I try to be kind and smiley, like you want me to be, but then I catch sight of my reflection or I think of him and it all goes wrong and I can only think horrible things and scream at you and try and hurt you.