Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve (Young adult fantasy)

Although this book has some flaws, it’s an excellent first novel, and a solid introduction to the Hungry City Chronicles. The premise of the quartet is that, in a post-apocalyptic world where resources are scarce, cities have become predators. Built on wheels, treads, or runners, cities and towns hunt each other, devouring smaller prey to use their food, metal, and fuel.

Philip Reeve does a marvellous job with the concept, making it both entertaining and believable. I’m a fan of steampunk, and the technology and gadgetry in Mortal Engines has a wonder and magnificence that kept me glued to the pages. (I think my favourite innovation was the word “urbivore”–an eater of cities. Reeve clearly has a good sense of humour, but he keeps it under control; although the book has its funny moments, its tone is serious.)

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…

The great traction city London is on the move again. It has been lying low, skulking in the hills to avoid the bigger, faster, hungrier cities loose in the Great Hunting Ground. But now, as its great mountain of metal lumbers along in hot pursuit of its quarry, the sinister plans it has harboured for years can finally start to unfold behind its soaring walls…

When Tom Natsworthy saves the life of his hero, Thaddeus Valentine, he doesn’t expect his reward to be being shoved down a waste chute and left for dead while his city roars away without him. Desperate to get back, he makes a temporary alliance with Hester Shaw, the girl whose thirst for revenge against Valentine led to Tom’s predicament in the first place.

The world-building in Mortal Engines is superb. The idea of traction cities is inventive, original, and just plain fun, and Reeve develops it with lots of detail. Unfortunately, characterization suffers a little as a result. The characters are all interesting and vividly-drawn, but none of them achieve the kind of depth I would have liked to see.

Ideally, I think Mortal Engines should have been much longer, with more time to explore all the places Tom and Hester visit, and to get to know them and all the people they encounter. What this book needed was more exploration of London, Airhaven, Shan Guo, and even Tunbridge Wheels, and more time to focus on Tom, Hester, Katherine, Bevis, and especially Anna Fang, who I would have liked to get to know better. Many events in the book would have made a stronger impact.

Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed Mortal Engines, and I look forward to Predator’s Gold, Infernal Devices, and A Darkling Plain.

Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, Hungry City Chronicles, Philip Reeve