Customer Reviews

Predator's Gold (The Hungry City Chronicles)

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It had been a while since I'd read Philip Reeve's first installment in the "Hungry Cities" quartet, and so my memories of the events that happened in "Mortal Engines" were a little hazy. However, nothing could make me forget the imaginative post-apocalyptic world that Reeve had created, in which massive Traction-Cities trundled across the wastelands according to the laws of Municipal Darwinism; eating any smaller city that crossed their paths. There was a massive death-toll by the end of the book, in which many of the principal characters had been killed (to the point of desensitisation), but our protagonists Tom and Hester managed to ride off into the sunset in the battered old airship "Jenny Haniver".

"Predator's Gold" is set several years later, where we find that Tom and the horribly-scarred Hester are still together, taking on passengers and cargo to make a living. One such passenger is Professor Pennyroyal, a pompous explorer and adventurer with a penance for stretching the truth (think Gilderoy Lockhart) who join the couple as they flee to the Ice Wastes and are saved by the Traction City of Anchorage. The city is ruled over by the young Freya Rasmussen who makes a radical decision to return to the Dead Continent in the hopes of escaping the dual threats of both predatory Traction Cities and the Anti-Traction League.

Unbeknownst to her, her city is being discreetly ransacked by a trio of `Lost Boys' who answer to the mysterious thief-lord Uncle (who as another reviewer pointed out, deliberately bears less resemblance to the carefree boys of "Peter Pan" than to the wretches of "Oliver Twist" under the tyranny of Fagin) a man who has his own game to play in the rising tensions. But when Hester witnesses a foolish kiss between Tom and Freya she makes an equally foolish decision to betray the city. From here the action keeps rolling: escapes, intrigue, kidnapping, betrayals, battles... you name it and its here. As an adventure story, I would be hard-pressed to recommend anything more exciting than this. If you loved the adventure and atmosphere of Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy or Garth Nix's "Old Kingdom" trilogy (Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen) then Reeves's series is a must-have.

Most interesting is Reeves use of political agendas and intrigue. The world is roughly translated into two groups: the Traction Cities and the Static Communities, who are bitterly at odds. The Static communities (headed by the Anti-Traction League) despise the parasitical scavenging cities, whilst the roaming Cities are arrogantly casual about their allegiance to Darwinism and their right to any prey that comes their way. Naturally, one would expect to be on the Anti-Traction League's side (after all, the thought of consuming smaller cities sounds barbaric to our contemporary ears), and yet the fact that Tom is a citizen of a Traction City and Reeves's deliberate admiration for their roving spirit throws the whole scenario into a hefty shade of grey.

Plus, if we really analysis the situation, is there really a difference between the Traction Cities and the phenomena of the Western world's colonisation across the rest of the world (and its current insistence on globalisation)? Add to the fact that a branch of the Anti-Traction League - the Green Storm - is undoubtedly a terrorist network whose members wear "the shiny, smug expressions of people who know they are right", and the book suddenly takes on a level of depth and allusion that you would never expect in what appears to be a simple adventure story.

Neither the Traction Cities nor the Static Communities are right (in fact most of the time they are very much in the wrong), and the conflict of the book is not which side wins, but whether Tom and Hester can survive the conflict that goes on between them, living long enough to make a decent life for themselves. This is a great set of books: read them!

PREDATOR'S GOLD is the second book in the Hungry City Chronicles, an action-packed series set in a "city-eat-city" world. Philip Reeve introduced "Municipal Darwinism" in his first book MORTAL ENGINES, in which traction cities roll about the earth looking for smaller, weaker cities to devour. He also introduced the series' protagonists: Hester, a scavenger who has lived her life largely outside the bounds of the enormous rolling cities, and Tom, an apprentice historian.

PREDATOR'S GOLD follows the continuing adventures of Hester and Tom, who have taken charge of the Jenny Haniver, an airship belonging to legendary aeronaut Anna Fang. They have spent the past few years traveling the "birdroads," taking on passengers and cargo to earn their living.

Their peace is short-lived when a new, radical wing of the Anti-Traction League (a rebel group dedicated to the idea that cities should become stationary again) tries to reclaim the airship for their own uses. Shot down and desperately in need of repairs, Hester and Tom land on the sparsely populated city of Anchorage, which is under the new leadership of Freya, a spoiled margravine whose parents died in an engineered plague. Freya, enamored of the tales of a lush, green paradise, as reported in the preposterous books of Prof. Pennyroyal, has directed her city towards the Dead Continent, across the uncharted ice of the arctic.

Things take a turn for the disastrous when Hester, jealous of Tom's affection for Anchorage and the beautiful, plump margravine, commits an act of betrayal that sets off an explosive series of events. Murder, intrigue and resurrection of the dead steer the book toward an exciting conclusion.

Those who enjoyed MORTAL ENGINES will not be disappointed. Having established "Municipal Darwinism" in his first book, Reeve is now free to explore and expand upon the idea. There is less violence in PREDATOR'S GOLD, but the book remains full of action and has several new imaginative twists. Among them are the "Lost Boys," a group of parasitic thieves who attach themselves to unsuspecting cities and plunder them in secret. Despite a name that suggests Peter Pan's Neverland, the Lost Boys and their greedy Uncle have more in common with Fagin's gang of boy thieves in Oliver Twist, and are ruled by manipulation and cruelty.

Also reappearing are the Resurrection Men, machines made using the bodies of the dead. While these horrifying machine men, and the fact that most cities are dependent upon poorly treated slaves, would suggest a moral agenda, one of the most fascinating aspects of the Hungry City Chronicles is that Reeve does not involve his main characters in politics or rebellion. Hester and Tom find themselves involved in their adventures accidentally, or because of personal reasons. Where most authors would be likely to be sympathetic toward the aims and ends of the Anti-Traction League, Reeve has instead created the militant Green Storm, who will stoop to terrorism to achieve their ends.

The Hungry City Chronicles contains a lot of moral ambiguity and offers some excellent chances to explore the pros and cons of technology, and societal structures. The ending of PREDATOR'S GOLD leaves some intriguing possibilities for the following book in the series, already titled INFERNAL MACHINES. It is set for release in the UK next spring. Sadly, those of us living on the Dead Continent will have to wait another year before we find out what happens next.

--- Reviewed by Sarah A. Wood

This book was everything I'd hoped for and more! I read it as quickly as I could, for it was very hard to put down. (You should've seen me when I first got it, I was jumping up and down and screaming, people were starting to stare at me...)
This is a great example of a sequel that does not fall flat on its face, but builds upon and enhances what was begun in the first book. I really enjoyed the character developement in this one, I felt like I ended up knowing the characters a lot better than before. I especially LOVE Hester, she's like an anti-heroine, but so perfect for what these books are trying to do. All the new characters are top-notch, and I'm so glad that they didn't ALL die this time, like at the end of Mortal Engines. The Anna Fang Stalker was particularly chilling, that whole plot line definately leaves a lot of room for a third book.
This book is still as gruesome as the first one and can be more than a little scary for the faint of heart. I for one was shaking in my shoes, heart pumping and practically hyperventilating! But that's what makes this series what it is, it has the power to evoke these sharp emotions, making you feel you are actually in the book. Absolutely amazing, I'd give it 100 stars if I could. Another great classic, courtesy of Philip Reeve!

In this book, Tom and Hester (from the first book in the series), find themselves stranded in the traction city of Anchorage after an attack by radical Anti-Tractionists who believe they killed Anna Fang. In Anchorage, they find a teenaged ruler governing a dying city. Tom and Het meet new challenges, both personal and otherwise.

In my overall positive review for _Mortal Engines_, I complained about several issues. Chief among them:
1) The audience was unclear. The weak dialogue and simple characterization seemed like they belonged to tweens, but the rest of the book was more appropriate for teens.
2) The middle dragged.
3) There was an affair mentioned, seemingly for no good reason.

Philip Reeve did an impressive job with _Predator's Gold_. The writing is more mature, with a clear teen audience. The dialog is more snazzy. The pacing is much better, with no long, boring middle act. The affair turns out not to have been an extramarital affair, but one that took place before the marriage of one of the characters. It also turns out to fuel a plot point or two. There is only one problem with the book, which is Het's surprise ending, which seems to clash with the timing of other events.

Highly recommended. Ages 15 and up.

Few cities are mounted on enormous traction wheels and set rolling across the arctic ice cap in search of pray. Equally few sequels are able to exceed their originals, but "Predator's Gold" does. The story opens two years after the events in "Mortal Engines", with Tom and Hester living a precarious existence as freelance air traders among the mobile cities of the North. Unbeknownst to them, other forces are at work which will soon throw their world into chaos. For the moment, though, their attention is consumed by Professor Pennyroyal, a globe-trotting adventurer with fantastic tales about his explorations across the dead continent.

Philip Reeve packs "Predator's Gold" with as many fanciful inventions and discoveries as his first novel. The characters will explore not just new cities, but underwater domains and remote islands where a vicious band of rebels plots a new world order. The creativity never stops coming throughout the book's three hundred pages, and neither do the surprises. There is literally not a single chapter that doesn't pack a wallop at the end.

But despite the fearce action and high adventure, the true treat in "Predator's Gold" is the people. Tom and Hester have been forced to grow up fast amid the extrordinary world of mobile cities, yet for all that they are still children as the novel opens, and they make childish mistakes. Two of these occur near the start, and the consequences will continue playing out for years to come. Newcomer characters are equally lifelike and important in the fate of Anchorage and other cities. Freya Rassmussen is very believable, but it's Professor Pennyroyal who takes the cake with his loudmouth antics and sometimes disgusting personal habits. Yet beneath that exterior, he has personal strength, and a role to play in the events to follow.

"Predator's Gold" is everything you could want and more from the sequel to "Mortal Engines". I would heartily recommend not only this book, but all the books in the series for anyone between the ages of ten and a hundred ten.

Great Book to Read

This book is the exciting sequel to the novel "Mortal Engines.'' Or, if you prefer, "Predator's Gold.''
Tom and Hester are off once again on the Jenny Haniver, a ship they accommodated after the death of their friend,
Anna Fang.
Their lives were in danger so they decided to settle for the time in a town called Anchorage. Seeing as how these great town moved the margravine made the choice to move the town to the dead continent of America. America had been dead for many years due to the Sixty-Minute War.
Some of the Old-Tech remains such as MEDUSA had destroyed it beyond restoration. Now, Heather embarks on a journey to revive Toms love and save the corruption of people betraying one another. And thus, begins their journey to the so-called dead continent of America.
I liked this book because it just had that sense of adventure in it that made you want to know exactly what happened next. Most of the book was rather exciting although the author could have spiced up some of the less enthusiastic parts of the book.
Reasons why I disliked the book were that one, half the book revolved around Heather and the other half was just them running away from Stalkers and predator cities.

For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what year it was supposed to be. Somewhere around the Year 5000. Way back in the 21st or 22nd Century, we had pretty much annihilated ourselves in the 60 Second War. Some centuries later, the technologically challenged offspring survivors have managed to mobilize their cities, thank Quirke (humankind's savior).

There's an orphan boy who idolizes the swashbuckling Valentine, there's an orphan girl disfigured by said Valentine, and there's a lot of big mobile cities gobbling up smaller mobile cities for their resources (Municiple Darwinism).

The books are a bit dark, kind of like Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. I'd recommend them for anyone 12 and up. There's a bit too much violence for the younger set.

This is the 2nd in a series of 5 novels (counting a prequel) set in the far distant future, where gigantic mobile cities roam a devastated earth, consuming one another for raw materials, supplies and slaves. This particular adventure of the only two survivors of the first book in the series drags a bit through its first half, but offers almost continuous action in the final half. The focus here is on the mobile city of Anchorage, which is off on an almost certainly fruitless search for a habitable, fertile region said to exist in the far north of North America, otherwise a barren desert. Anchorage is being chased by the monstrous predator city Arkangel. Meanwhile we learn of a secret organization of thieves, the Lost Boys, who manage to remain unseen and unsuspected whilst raiding the cities for supplies and valuables, and of a terrorist organization which is taking over the already terroristic Anti-Traction League, and pushing it towards even more extreme atrocities. As if that weren't enough a character killed off in the first novel has been revived as a kill-crazy zombie. Needless to say, teenage readers and adults will be kept on the edges of their seats as all the plot-threads converge and it appears the two survivors of the first book are cut down to just one.

I enjoyed this so much I immediately picked up Reeve's LARKLIGHT series, which is aimed at much younger readers and thus cuts way down on violence, but offers equally imaginative settings, lovable characters, and incredible adventures.

The book is a great, with awesome characters and a rich story line. To get the full effect you must read "Mortal Engines" the first book in the series. Philip Reeve just gets better and better. Book arrived in half the time I expected. I will definitely order the rest of the series from Amazon. Thanks!

Back from the death. With these main theme, the sequel of Mortal Engines rises up, better than before.

After the destruction of London, Tom and Hester built their own business on air. But that is before they meet Prof. Pennyroyal, the famous adventurer and writer. Everything starts to go astray and they end up at Anchorage, an almost decayed traction city ruled by a spoilt Margravine.

While Tom is dealing the ghosts on Anchorage and Hester is burned by jealousy, an extremest group tried to ressurect their dead heroine and an unknown net of information is unfolding. With Anchorage going to the Death Continent, it is 'almost' true that "Nobody returns from the Sunless Country, Mr Scabious." But a body sure can be returned... although without its soul...

Anyway, It is better to read it from Mortal Engines to grasp the whole thing. Next, Internal Devices.