Tom and Hester have been thrown together. Truly-thrown out of a city on wheels that's left them stranded and starving in the middle of nowhere while it hares off after its prey. Hester is desperate for revenge, and Tom is only desperate to get back on board his beloved London. This is a stunning literary debut from Philip Reeve. A novel that defies easy categorisation, it is a gripping adventure story set in an inspired fantasy world, where moving cities trawl the globe. Peopled with convincing and utterly likeable characters, this story is a magical and unique read.
Mortal Engines (Predator Cities)
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"Wildly imaginative, full of marvelous details, humor, and grand adventures." -- KLIATT
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
28 of 28 people found the following review helpful
By nic
Format:Paperback
This book grabbed me with its opening sentence, as good books will, and it had me gripped right to the end. It's a wonderful story wonderfully told, packed with clever conceits and vividly depicted characters and set in a fascinating and imperfect future which recalls Victorian England in some ways and Mad Max in others. Readers who have enjoyed Philip Pullman's fiction are likely to fall for Mortal Engines hard and fast. Not only are the characters thoroughly beguiling, not only is the plot fast-paced and twisty, but there are *layers* here - just as the moving cities are built of layer upon layer. Reeve is also a wordsmith of no mean skill - there are phrases that leap off the page and force a person to pause and re-read and savour. Lovely.
Appropriate for readers aged 11ish upwards, I'd say, who are prepared to read something with more moral ambiguity than Harry Potter.
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In this unique and innovative novel, set a thousand years in the future, the surface of Earth has been corrupted beyond all recognition, and cities have been forced to mount themselves in order to catch ‘prey’ (smaller, weaker cities), which they digest, after a fashion, to help them survive. Tom Natsworthy, a young apprentice in London’s Guild of Engineers, yearns to go on adventures of the sort that his idol Thaddeus Valentine goes on all the time. However when a young disfigured assassin, Hester Shaw, tries to kill Valentine, Tom’s world is really turned on its head. He is forced to live on the ‘Bare Earth’, an idea totally alien to him, and he comes to learn more about his hero than he would have wanted. Though this may seem formulaic, Reeve injects a very welcome style of arch and knowing humour, to prevent any cloying sentimentality from creeping in. There are references to our culture today, however they are obscured by time; for example people in Mortal Engines believe that Mickey and Pluto are the animal-headed gods of America, much in the same way that we think of Anubis and Horus as gods of Egypt!
In Mortal Engines, Philip Reeve has created something startlingly original. The universe of ‘Municipal Darwinism’ seems fully formed within Reeve’s head, and its realisation is brilliant. For examples the concept of ‘Anti-Tractionism’ seems totally real within this universe, as do all the prejudices felt towards it by those who live on Traction Towns. Reeve has even created new terms e.g. ‘urbivore’, ‘scavenger suburb’ and ‘static settlement’ (what we would know today as normal houses). This is all played through with a brilliantly dry sense of humour (e.g. Tunbridge ‘Wheels’, as opposed to ‘Wells’), and turn of phrase akin to that of Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams. Certainly the innovation is of the same standard. It would be quite easy for me to rave all day about the idiosyncrasies and invention that abounds in Mortal Engines, however that would ruin the delight and relish that can be taken in reading this exceptional work for the first time.
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By Physics Geek
Format:Paperback
This is a thumping good read. It's got everything that you need: High adventure, romance, revenge. For god's sake, it's even got Pirates!
Like so many of the other reviewers, I stubled upon this, without meaning to. I had been given book tokens, and was left with a pound to spend. The lovely man in the shop suggested this, and his selection was far superior to my own.
The writing is brilliant (if you like that sort of thing) with exactly the right word slipped in without you noticing so that the visuals are spectacular.
And the story leads you on it's not so merry dance through the crazy upside down world that Reeve has invented, sucking you in so that you hang on every plot twist and cliff hanger.
I am going to get the next one tomorrow. If you don't already have this, then go and get it.
Now!
Like so many of the other reviewers, I stubled upon this, without meaning to. I had been given book tokens, and was left with a pound to spend. The lovely man in the shop suggested this, and his selection was far superior to my own.
The writing is brilliant (if you like that sort of thing) with exactly the right word slipped in without you noticing so that the visuals are spectacular.
And the story leads you on it's not so merry dance through the crazy upside down world that Reeve has invented, sucking you in so that you hang on every plot twist and cliff hanger.
I am going to get the next one tomorrow. If you don't already have this, then go and get it.
Now!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
took a while to get going
And then finished to quickly.
Interesting concepts in there, and Painted a picture of a very interesting world but the ending came to fast.
Interesting concepts in there, and Painted a picture of a very interesting world but the ending came to fast.
Published 27 days ago by D.I Richardson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book
Phillip Reeves' world of Predator Cities is an interesting and enthralling experience. Would fully recommend to anyone who has not yet read it.
Published 1 month ago by Ross Cleary
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastical
I read this as part of my degree, and was hooked immediately! It is an unusual story of cities that now travel around on wheels or tracks. Read more
Published 4 months ago by R. J. Thomas
4.0 out of 5 stars
Starts well
Starts well, with characters that have some depth and history, on the whole I thought it was an interesting and enjoyable story, however, the coincidences allowing the two main... Read more
Published 5 months ago by A.Craig
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cannot wait for more!
My son, who is 14 was recommended this book by one of his mates. He has loved it and wants to read the other three books in the quartet. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Neil W
5.0 out of 5 stars
Are you sitting quietly? then we'll begin...
Good grief. I read this over a period of a few weeks as a bed time story for my nine year old son, listened into by my seven year old daughter. What can I say? Read more
Published 8 months ago by Andy Boyle
5.0 out of 5 stars
Read this Book as its one of the best ever!!!
I am 12 and I don't normally read books like this as I prefer books that I know the author, the reason I decided to read it in the end is because I like boys books(like The Enemy... Read more
Published 9 months ago by S
4.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliantly imagined
Mortal Engines is both an inspiringly unique read, while it also reminded me of one of my favourite PS games: Final Fantasy VII. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Laura
4.0 out of 5 stars
Vary good and unique story
Its three thousand years in the future and the world was changed after a sixty minute (nuclear war). Read more
Published 15 months ago by Traffic
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sensational!
Thinking it was originally a non-fiction book by Charles Dickens about Victorian machines, it took me a while to finally read this, but when on holiday in Italy with nothing to... Read more
Published 17 months ago by .
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