Synopses & Reviews
London is hunting...
The great Traction City lumbers after a small town, eager to strip its prey of all assets and move on. Resources on the Great Hunting Ground that once was Europe are so limited that mobile cities must consume one another to survive, a practice known as Municipal Darwinism.
Tom, an apprentice in the Guild of Historians, saves his hero, Head Historian Thaddeus Valentine, from a murder attempt by the mysterious Hester Shaw only to find himself thrown from the city and stranded with Hester in the Out Country. As they struggle to follow the tracks of the city, the sinister plans of London's leaders begin to unfold.
Review
"British newcomer Philip Reeve doesn't disappoint....In Mortal Engines, he has given readers of all ages an alternative world so richly, vigorously and wittily imagined that it lingers in the mind long after its supposed lessons have faded." Washington Post
Review
"Reeve takes his original idea and creates a very believable world where the action never lags. This may be what Pullman fans are waiting for." Children's Literature
Review
"There are echoes of the Star Wars sagas and Raiders of the Lost Ark, as well as old-fashioned pirate tales. It all adds up to a wonderful if rather violent read; there are some grisly deaths. Fans of Philip Pullman's work will love this, as will all SF and fantasy readers." KLIATT
About the Author
Philip Reevewas born in Brighton, England. Inspired by the Asterix and Tintin books he loved as a boy, he became a cartoonist and, many years later, the illustrator of several highly successful children's book series in the United Kingdom. He has been writing since he was five, but mortal engines, the first book in the Hungry City Chronicles, was his first published novel. He has since followed that with Predator's Gold, Infernal Devices, and the Victorian space opera Larklight. Mr. Reeve lives on Dartmoor with his wife, Sarah, and their son, Samuel.