Mortal Engines
Ratings144
Average rating3.6
London is a city on wheels - a future city like you've never known before. In the terrible aftermath of the Sixty Minute War, cities which survived the apocalypse became predators, chasing and feeding on smaller towns. Now London is hunting down its prey, getting ready to feed. But as the chase begins, Tom uncovers a secret - a secret full of deadly consequences. Soon he is plunged into a world of unkillable enemies, threatened by a weapon that will tear his life apart... Winner of the Nestle Gold Award and the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award, this is a book to devour again and again.
Series
Featured Series
5 primary books7 released booksMortal Engines Quartet
Mortal Engines Quartet is a 7-book series with 5 primary works first released in 2001 with contributions by Philip Reeve, Chris Priestley, and Jeremy Levett.
Reviews
Popular Reviews
Reviews with the most likes.
This is a fun adventure story set in a weird future in which cities such as London are mobile, rolling around the countryside and consuming smaller settlements in what is wonderfully called Municipal Darwinism . So you can read this on the level of crazy YA adventure, or you can read this as a very scathing pun-filled commentary on modern urban capitalism.
Oh, and it's got airship adventures. Airships are always good :-)
Overall, I found the book silly. The concept of traction cities, while interesting, feels not completely thought out. How do cities grow? If they can't grow, where do the extra population go from cities that have been gobbled up? How do airships find a city if it's constantly moving? Where do they get their fuel? The plot and characters felt cookie-cutter, as well.
This is a fun imaginative book. I enjoyed it and grew to love the characters. I haven't seen the movie yet so I'm not sure how it compares.
