Mortal Engines | Phillip Reeves | Review

Mortal Engines | Phillip Reeves | Review

• Friday, 15 December 2017

“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.” - Goodreads

In a chase and an unwanted scuffle on the precipice, Third Class Apprentice Historian Tom Natsworthy is thrown off the city of London and into the wastelands below. As he watches his city zoom off on it's caterpillar under-tracks, chasing a smaller city in the hopes of making it its next scrap-metal meal, he finds himself on an adventure he only ever dreamed about. With a girl, nonetheless.

This girl is Hester Shaw, wanted by the London's leaders and on a mission herself to kill Valentine, a key London leader, who murdered her parents, attacked her and left her with a horrific scar running down her face. Katherine, Valentine's daughter, is in London trying to piece together the mystery of MEDUSA, and, with the help of engineer Bevis Pod, stumbles upon the truth of the city, her father, the death of Hester's parents, and so much more.

As Tom is swept into a whirlwind of pirates and Airships, lies and betrayal, hidden truths and cyborg zombie-like people, he gets more than he bargained for.

My thoughts

Mortal Engines was a really fun book. I picked it up because I knew that New Zealand's Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings films) was writing a movie adaptation of it. I don't know about you, but I like to read the book before I see the film, and seeing as the movie is set to hit our screens in 2018, I thought I had better get onto it. 

I hadn't heard of Mortal Engines before, but it was such a fun read I'm gutted I haven't picked it up before, especially in my younger years. The idea of cities on wheels and steampunk contraptions is absolutely fantastic! The story is set in the distant future on earth, where the land has become dry and derelict, so the cities have to move around and 'eat' other cities for scraps to keep going. Brilliant! I love this idea. 

I really liked the characters, and while they are 15 years old, it was definitely written for that age group and not us adults who just like reading YA books. The writing, therefore, was super easy to read and I managed to get through it in just a few sittings. 

Not really being a reader of steampunk (bar Cassandra Clare's Infernal Devices series), I found it a nice refreshing genre to dive into. If you're not into steampunk, then this is a perfect light story to get into. 

I am definitely looking forward to what they do with the movie, and can't wait to see these cities in action! 

Let us know if you've read Mortal Engines, or anything else by Phillip Reeves.