Customer Reviews

Mortal Engines

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mortal Engines is a book written by Philip Reeve it takes place in the future. On London when city's eat other city's towns villages and farms. Mortal Engines is about 3 main characters named Tom and Katherine and Hester. Hester tried killing Katherine's dad Mr. Valentine, but tom chased her and then she and tom were pushed out of London into a waste land called the out country, and on London the mayor is planning a sinister plot, and Katherine is the only person who knows that he is planning 1.

The main character Hester is always hatful she also has a huge scar on her face. She is also very clever and is very smart. Mr. Valentine killed her mom and dad. In addition she is very revengeful. Katherine another main character is very brave and smart. She is also very kind and is very cunning. Tom the other main character is a coward he is also very rude, but he is also very kind hearted.

The problem in the story is that Hester and tom most find a way to get back in London and kill Mr. Valentine and not be captured into slavery. The problem for Katherine is that she must figure out the mayor's plan and find a way to stop it. She thinks it's called MEDUSA and she knows it has something to do with her father. Also she wants to figure out Hester's identity. She also wanders what happened to tom when Hester and him left the city. She wonders if Tom is alive or dead.

My personal favorite part was when they used MEDUSA on a near by city to destroy it. I liked it because it was the most intense part because it could be seen all the way were Tom was. This is when the Anti-traction group knew that it was a threat. And when they used it Katherine was sure were it was. At this part everyone in London new about it and the mayor's plan. And it showed what the problem was.

If I were to rate this book I would give it 4 and a half star. It was very interesting and had a lot of betrayal. It was very suspenseful and was also a little violent. It was also somewhat boring when the characters were not doing anything in the middle.

The Mortality of a City

This book is an excellent story of courage and nobility. This story demonstrates all the qualities that a good book should show. This book also brings out the deeper meanings of good and evil. It shows that what you are forced to believe may be a wrong and evil way.

The story of this book is unique unto itself. No other author has ever thought of a story that brings together the past and present so well. This book is like looking into a shattered mirror of the present world.

Long ago the cities of Europe started moving on great wheels to escape from horrible earthquakes. The landscape was destroyed by the legendary Sixty Second war. All borders and allies are destroyed, in fact the only technologies they have are dug up by archeologists. Now these cities are no longer needed but they keep moving because that is all they know.

The story opens in London. The city has found its prey and is coming down on its victims like a hawk. London has traveled in the mountains and is now making its way across the Great Hunting Grounds to an unknown errand. Tom, a third class apprentice in the Historians Guild has been forced to work in the Gut. The most boring duty he could ever be assigned. Oddly the chief historian Thaddeus Valentine and his daughter Katherine are there too. As everything seems normal, an assassin tries to kill Valentine. Tom realizes his opportunity to save Valentine's life. After learning the name of the assassin is Hester Shaw, Tom is thrown from the city with Hester for reasons he does not know. Together Tom and Hester must find a way to London to find the adventure that lies before them.

Over all, this entire book is a page turner. It is a book that I could not put down and it shows some very important lessons. It presents the meaning of good and evil and that all things on this planet are still mortal, even a city.

"...the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried bed of the old North Sea."" This is up there on my list of favorite book beginnings. You jump right into the idea that cities are now on tractor wheels and have to migrate to find resources to stay alive. Or another way of putting it is that cities chase small towns and eat them. How cool is that? The basic idea is really fun - one con is that there are quite a few characters, sometimes hard to keep track of who is doing what. Still, I was sorry when the story finished and quite grateful for the sequel.

_Mortal Engines_ is a post-apocalyptic steampunk fantasy about a time when most of the world's major cities have adopted Municipal Darwinism. They have set themselves upon wheels and tracks and set out across the landscape. These "traction cities" chase and devour smaller cities, absorbing their populations (often as slaves), stealing their technology, and using the cities' remains' as food and resources for their own use.

Tom is an orphan, being trained in London to be a historian. He looks up to Valentine, the most famous and swashbuckling of the historians, and has a crush on Valentine's daughter. The appearance of Hester, whom Valentine believed dead, puts that secret at risk. When Tom witnesses the confrontation between Hester and Valentine, he finds himself unceremoniously thrown off the city. Valentine's daughter, Katherine, discovers a secret that Valentine has been guarding, which undermines her faith in her father and what her city stands for.

Tom is rescued by Hester, who is experienced in fending for herself outside of a traction city. Tom eventually learns not only about Valentine's past misdeeds, but about how he plans to help London's mayor do a dastardly deed. Tom and Hester locate the Anti-Traction League and fight against the evil plot. Simultaneously, Katherine tries to stop the plan from inside London.

The book starts very strong and engages you up front, but drags a little in the middle before the exciting conclusion.

The problem I have with this book is that the characters' psychologies reflect a young tween's understanding of people, and the dialog is very simple. For example, there were a lot of characters that fell flat, and I think a teen would expect more psychological complexity. Also, the words that come out of the adults' mouths just don't sound adult. However, the rest of the book seems more appropriate for an older, teen audience. There's a lot of violence, including the death of a main character, and there is mention of an affair between two married characters, which seems unessential to the plot (I'm revising this post later on to tell you that it does become important later in the series, but I still questions whether it's appropriate).

On the other hand, the ingenious world creation achieved here by Phillip Reeve is a spectacular achievement, and the book addresses many interesting philosophical issues (can one town prey on another? is it okay to subjugate a class of workers for the benefit of others?). There is also an interesting subplot where Tom learns the difference between a crush (based on externals) and love (based on character). It's nicely done, but again, more appropriate for teens than middle-graders. There's enough here to make me want to read the sequels, but I can't recommend the books for tweens. I would recommend this book for readers 14 and up.