Customer Reviews

Fever Crumb

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Fever Crumb is a prequel of sorts to Philip Reeve's fantastic Hungry Cities/Mortal Engines series. I say "of sorts" in that it's set in the pre-history of the Hungry Cities world but far back enough in time that Fever Crumb doesn't act as a direct lead-in to the larger series, but rather sets up the major concepts and incipient events of that series rather than give us more of the same characters. Though it's set earlier, I'd still recommend beginning with the later books because while I enjoyed Fever, the Mortal Engines books have a much stronger impact (think starting the Narnia series with The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe vs. The Magician's Nephew)

In the later series, cities are large, mobile monstrosities that war with one another in order to gain needed resources, one city devouring another. It's an annex or be-annexed world. In Fever Crumb, though, London is still geographically bound to one place, though smaller localities have taken up the nomadic life and one such alliance from the North--The Movement--appears on the horizon seemingly ready to invade. People are clearly on edge, especially as it wasn't all that long ago that there had been a violent uprising in London against the Scriven, the long-lived and seemingly inhuman tyrannical overlords who had ruled over London for centuries. All the Scriven were killed or driven out, but the memory of death and violence is still fresh, as is resentment toward anything remotely "other."

Fever is a young woman, a foundling brought up by Doctor Crumb in the uber-rational guild of Engineers who consider emotions silly and hindrances to logical living (they live, fittingly enough, in a giant head). The book mostly begins when Fever is sent out to work on an archaeological dig with Kit Solent, who is looking into secrets possibly buried beneath the home of the last Scriven overlord.

Clearly Reeve is going to be working several plots here. One is the simple suspense of the encroaching Movement--what do they want? Is it an invasion or something different? Will London fight or not? Another is the suspense regarding the dig--what, if anything, will they uncover? Will uncovering it be a good or bad thing? Yet a third is Fever's slow discovery of the truth of her lost background. Still focused on Fever, Reeve also explores her growing conflict between the rational, emotion-free approach she's spent near her whole life with and her newly-awakened sense of the emotional life. There are side-plots and mysteries as well surrounding several other characters: Doctor Crumb, Kit Solent, the old man who killed the last Scriven overlord and who remains ever vigilant, the old man's young apprentice in Scriven-hunting (called "skinning" for reasons you might imagine), and an ambitious tavern owner seeking to use the unrest to his own ends.

The characters are all pretty complex, even those that don't get a lot of page time. It'd be tough to accuse any of them save one or two of being "stock" types and those that are play a pretty minimal role. But from Fever to Kit to the old man and his apprentice, Reeve has created complicated, human, fully fleshed out characters.

The story does sometimes (not often and not for long) lag here and there--I would have argued for a stronger edit of Fever's back-story for instance--, but while I wouldn't call it "gripping" it mostly it pulls you along quickly and smoothly as you're eager to learn what happens. You'll also enjoy many of the mangled bits and pieces of our time that get sprinkled into the language of Fever's era, though a few times these felt a little forced. And there are just some wonderful bits of creative imagery here that I won't spoil, though it's tempting to rave about one in particular.

While not quite as strong as the Mortal Engines books, Fever Crumb stands well enough on its own and is certainly worth a read, even for those unfamiliar with the series. But as mentioned, while I recommend reading Fever, I strongly recommend doing so after picking up the series, not so much for plot as for a stronger introduction to Reeve's writing. If for some reason you don't and find you're not enamored with Fever, don't let it prevent you from trying the series.

When does a prequel then extend an original series, ( in this instance the Mortal Engines Quartet ), and when is it just a stand-alone companion? Well, I don't know, although I do think of the Quartet now a Quintet I also take other reviewers' points that it is really on its Todd.

Ok, minor muse/digression over, this is a great book. Philip Reeve brings a serious story to you in such a delightfully light, witty style, it is almost a paradox. You can be still on the dregs of a worthy chuckle when next thing someone is dead. But, I do stress. this is not a comedy as such.

The story involves a foundling, a baby named Fever, who grows up with the most practical of all breeds, the Order of Engineers. This is set in London, eons, ( well, centuries but eons sounds better ) before the main stories of the Quartet. But there are similarities as it is still well beyond our own time and cities are at least isolated grand fortresses even if not to the degree later on.

We are brought into the tale not too long after a civil uprising rids the city of its tyrannical rulers, the Scriven, these are a highly intelligent race who do not believe themselves to be human as we are, Homo Superior they jokingly refer to themselves. But their tyranny finally sees something snap and they were duly despatched by otherwise ordinary Londoners, who rise up and reclaim their city. But, and I know not everyone likes these too much in books ( myself I don't care a jot as long as it's still a good read ), the use of many flashbacks for certain characters let's us in on the time of Scriven rule, thus allowing greater understanding of current events.

I won't relate specifics, the book is too new to inadvertently introduce class one spoilers, but, I will say this, Fever, due to being brought up by the Engineers who of course come with a Spock-like devotion to reason and logic, goes through childhood and adolescence void of all emotions, either squashed out of her or due to it being ( almost . . . ) totally absent in her paradoxically caring but cold clinical guardians.

Mr Reeve, after reading this, is for my money, the best family-cum-kids author on the planet, just edging out the other Philip of Lyra fame and of course, JK. His writing style, is quite simply, fantastic, so much so it can make a long long tale seem like a breeze ( actually, none of his books are that long on their own, but I read the Quartet without breaks so it seemed like a mammoth single book. ) His humour comes in two main forms, he either makes you chuckle through bringing you the foibles of life in a delightfully whimsical style, mainly in dialogue but in the narrative on the odd occasion ( wait till you read the lines about the Londoners shouting who they want for their new leader ), or, he shoots you with a humorous buckshot, made of a literary alloy of in-jokes and references to our own culture here and now. Wait until you read who the LA style mantra-bleating zealots actually proclaim, I really did chuckle at that.

He also pays a clever but covert tribute to his peer, Philip Pullman, one or two of the chapters could just be in Lyra's haunts, brick marshes, alternative folks with coloured barges etc. I liked that, I really did.

Finally, whether a Quartet still, or now a Quintet, please, if new to the whole saga, do start with this, it's just like the later Star Wars films, all six make sense if you start with the Phantom menace, but here of course, it's Fever Crumb.

This is a strong fourth book in an already delightful series. I couldn't wait for the North American release so I had a copy shipped from the UK, and it was well worth the effort.

What Philip Reeve is really good at is working fresh and inventive ideas into a well-known genre, so that while I'm drawn to the post-high-tech-apocalypse setting for its own sake, I'm constantly grinning at his artistry. He has some just wild standalone hi-tech ideas (e.g. the paperboys), but is also able to make clichéd scenarios all new: wait until you read the "car chase" scene.

As in the previous three books, he does not shirk from creating morally difficult characters, which is unusual in books for teens period, let alone science fiction. He is also not afraid to let characters die, not necessarily heroically. It adds a heap of satisfying intellectual and emotional reality to an already believable and seductive storyline.

This is a prequel, and there's a certain amount of it dedicated to backstory that sheds light on characters and events in the other books, but not in a domineering way, and you could read this book first without having read the others, no problem.

If you liked the first three, you'll love this, and if you didn't like the first three, nothing will convince you.

as an adult I do not usually think of reading books created for children but as a sci fi fan I will cast an eye over most things, when a pupil was telling of this world of moving cities and adventures I gave it a go. I am hooked, the wrtiing style is delightful, the characters are great and the adventures mind blowing. the world of mortal engines is fantastic well thought out with robot zombie armies, mutants, eco warriors, air roads with air ships in a post apocolyptic future and cities that roam the planet looking for resources and eating smaller cities and towns. A must read for all ages I cannot praise this series of books enough.

Tons of *starred reviews* and raves had me eagerly looking forward to the interestingly titled, "Fever Crumb". And yet... and yet, I found myself impatient for it to be over. The only excuse I can find for this is that despite the book's being innovative and very well written and multi-layered and well plotted, that it suffered from not making me care overmuch for the characters. Or at least the main character. Oddly enough I find myself more interested/sympathetic in/towards nearly all the secondary characters, even the bad guys, rather than Fever.

I give "Fever Crumb" a very strong 3.5 Stars. It's well worth reading and fans of hardcore scifi in the 'old style' will probably like it better than I did. In my opinion though, it doesn't warrant kicking other books off the top of the stack in order to read it first.

Pam T~

mom/blogger

Note: suitable for middle-graders.

Fever Crumb is a prequel to Reeve's Hungry City series, of which I have read the first book. Although Fever Crumb is well written and quite clever, I did not enjoy it nearly as much as I did Mortal Engines. The problem for me was that Fever is exceedingly difficult to relate to, which, admittedly, is as intended. Still, her own calm kept me from getting drawn into the story and really feeling for her predicament. This was one of those books where I simply didn't care how everything ended up, even when Fever was in serious danger. However, I did appreciate Fever's struggle to remain rational and emotionless in the face of whatever came her way (Yay! Spock reference!).

The best parts (for me) were the nifty references thrown into the future world Reeve has created. Early on, there is a mention of religious nuts worshiping their lord, Hari Potter. Now there is a religion I could really get behind. Haha. The British city of Battersea is spelled B@ersea. Little goodies like this are so delightful. They also force you to pay attention so that no hilarious little jokes pass you by.

Fever Crumb is a foundling raised by London's Order of Engineers. As women are widely regarded as irrational, she is the only female ever to be apprenticed by the Order. She lives by the Order's rules, shaving her head to erase the vestiges of people's animal pasts and disregarding her feelings to embrace only what is rational. Fever's first assignment as an apprentice is to assist Kit Solent, an archaeologist who has discovered a locked room in the tunnels beneath his home. Kit seems to think that Fever has the key to open it.

What Fever discovers outside the world of Godshawk Head --- an unfinished monument to a past ruler where the Order makes their home --- goes against much of what she learned as an apprentice engineer. The outside world is ruled by emotion, not rationality. Fever's strange appearance --- her shaved head and mismatched eyes --- draw the attention of a mob suspicious that she may be Scriven, one of the speckled overlords thought to be eradicated in the Skinner Riots years before. Vestiges of flayed Scriven skins still flap on poles throughout the city, and one of the leaders of the riots, Bagman Creech, is still regarded as a folk hero. "This ain't genocide! This is rock `n' roll!" His rallying cry during the riots is invoked by those who would see London remain independent, even as nomadic invaders from the north threaten their city.

Fever is caught between these forces. Her rational upbringing in the Order of Engineers does not prepare her for the world she finds outside. She cannot fathom the irrational hatred of the mob, or Kit's insistence that she possess knowledge beyond what she has been taught. Stranger are the memories of people and places she has never known that come unbidden to her mind, or the obsession --- held even by her fellow engineers --- with ancient technologies: machines whose principles are not understood and whose actions cannot be predicted.

FEVER CRUMB is a prequel to Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines Quartet, which took place in a city-eat-city world where tiered traction cities roll the earth and devour each other for resources. Set in the period just before the great cities begin to roll, Reeve sets into motion the conflict between a stationary London and the nomadic horde known as the Movement. These barbaric invaders have a great deal of technology at their disposal, having already learned the art of resurrecting the fallen into Stalkers, machine men made for killing. What they don't have is a secret they believe London possesses. It is this secret that drives the novel, along with the mysteries of Fever's parentage and the strange microscopic machines that inhabit her blood.

Readers already familiar with the Mortal Engines Quartet will find significance in many of the characters who appear in FEVER CRUMB. Reeve even provides the origin story for the Stalker Grike, an important character in the other books. But this is a rare prequel in that it easily stands alone from the rest of the series. Fever's adventures continue in A WEB OF AIR, already available in the UK, with news that a third installment is in the works.

When I first encountered MORTAL ENGINES, I was both fascinated and disturbed by Reeve's original idea and the violence it entailed. Two of the four primary characters die, and I wasn't sure that I liked what this boded for an apocalyptic series. But I grew to love the quartet in part because Reeve refuses to choose sides in the events he chronicles. A lesser imagination could easily turn the conflicts into a battle between good and evil. Instead, he reveals the destruction inherent in valuing ideologies above human life.

In this regard, FEVER CRUMB is no exception. The conflicts here have not yet escalated into moving cities vs. stationary settlements, but the stage is already set. There is hatred, fear and oppression. There are opportunistic people who would use such emotions as tools to achieve their own power. There are fascinating technologies whose implications are not yet understood. There are ordinary individuals caught up in extraordinary circumstances. The Mortal Engines Quartet --- in conjunction with the prequel --- is a ripping read and a fantastic fable for our times.

Young Fever Crumb was abandoned at an early age. Taken in by the Order of Engineers, Fever was apprenticed to be the first female engineer within the organization. She has learned many things under the tutelage of Dr. Crumb, and now a request has been made.

A notable archaeologist, Kit Solent, has sought out Fever to help him dispel a myth. He has found a possible treasure trove of information, but the key to unlocking the secret lies within Fever's memories. Fever will be used as a tool to uncover the mysteries of Auric Godshawk - a prominent technomancer who was also a Scriven.

The Scriven came to power once they discovered their genetic abnormalities. Someone believes that Fever is a Scriven and will do anything to eliminate her. Fever's logic and rationalism will be tested, and the one thing that she fought so hard to control will bubble to the surface.

FEVER CRUMB, a prequel to the HUNGRY CITY CHRONICLES, is an excellent novel that stands well on its own. Readers who are familiar with the "steampunk" genre will appreciate this novel, and how technology, or rather the lack thereof, is used throughout the story.

I especially liked the main character, Fever. She is a no-nonsense type of gal - logical, straightforward, and unwilling to allow her emotions get the better of her; however, her façade does crack a bit as the story progresses. My hope is that Reeve will attempt to tie these books together, and then further develop the story of Fever. I will wait patiently for sequels!

Reviewed by: LadyJay

Steampunk fans are probably already familiar with Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines Quartet, in which the city of London roams around like a hungry mechanized beast. But (obviously) it wasn't always like that, and "Fever Crumb" reveals just how all this weirdness came to be -- a slowly-unfolding exploration of how a mysterious young girl held the key to London's future, which is only handicapped by an abrupt ending.

Fever Crumb was found by an Engineer as an abandoned baby, and now she is the only female Engineer apprentice. Eventually she is sent off to London to work with the archaeologist Kit Solent, who is attempting to uncover a vast vault belonging to the last Scriven king. But Fever's odd appearance and Vulcanesque manner soon raises suspicions among the townspeople, who suspect her of being a Scriven.

For your information, the Scriven were a spotted subspecies who once ruled London with an iron fist. Eventually normal humans rebelled, killed and skinned them alive.

But strangest of all, the Scriven relics seem to be stirring strange memories in Fever's head -- memories that she couldn't possibly have. With the nomadic Movement converging on London and a legendary Scriven-killing Skinner trying to murder her, Fever must discover where her strange memories came from and just who she is. Because as it turns out, her past is intricately linked with London's strange future....

The world of "Fever Crumb" is a sort of steampunk/medieval world, built on the ashes of our present-day civilization. And he has some pretty brilliant ideas for that -- cults that worship "Hari Potter," a brotherhood of rigid Engineers, and even some of the changed language (if you search the streets, you're going "a-googling"). But Reeve also explores some timeless ideas -- such as the racism from both Scriven and normal humans.

Reeve spends the first half of the book winding together all the mysteries about Fever's brain, blood and murky past, and then spends the second half picking them apart. He has a vivid, clear writing style that evokes some weird, wondrous stuff (the Movement's nomadic cities, the half-ruined future world), and he isn't afraid to include some tragic plot twists.

The only downside is that the book simply cuts off at the end, with few details about the massive changes about to happen. So many enormous changes take place, and we just don't see them.

It's a little hard to warm up to Fever, since she's so stiffly analytical and "reasonable" about everything (example: she thinks literature is worthless, doesn't embrace fun, etc). But she starts to unbend gradually as she gets to know Kit and his children. And there's a colorful array of characters who are all painstakingly explored -- the kindly if distant Dr. Crumb, the earnest Kit, a haughty Scriven princess, a corrupt businessman, the grimly determined Skinner Bagman and his nervy apprentice.

"Fever Crumb" is a solid prequel to the Mortal Engines books, melding timeless themes with some delightfully quirky steampunk. Hopefully there's more to Fever's story.

A juicy read, bulging at the seams with creative ideas and interesting personages, set in Reeve's future England! Fever Crumb was taken in the by Order of the Engineers as a babe--the only female Engineer, in fact, since girls and women are known to lack the mental capacity for the job. While with the Engineers, Fever learns to live a life ruled by logic--until circumstances push her out into the world at large. Set in a damaged England in the distant and indistinct future, Reeve has created an enthralling world, at times vaguely familiar, often a bit threatening, but delightfully inventive at every twist and turn. Readers who race through this book (it's the type to keep you up all night reading) will want to delve into Mortal Engines next (assuming, that is, that they haven't read it already.)