Mortal Engines

I didn't actively dislike this book, but I might well have done, as it's a pretty miserable story.The protagonist, Tom, has a lousy time for most of the story, and almost all of the characters we meet die during the course of it (do not volunteer to be a character in a book written by this author!).Nor do the few survivors get a really happy ending.The scenario is a world in which moving cities roam around, trying to capture and break each other up for parts. I read plenty of sf and fantasy, but this seems far-fetched to me. I don't think moving cities would be economical, the costs of moving them around would be excessive, and the people don't seem to have access to futuristic technology that might lower the costs.I was intrigued to encounter in this story the name Shrike, which I had seen before only in [b:Hyperion 77566 Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #1) Dan Simmons https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405546838l/77566.SY75.jpg 1383900]. However, Wikipedia tells me it's been used in quite a variety of fiction, going back at least as far as a play in 1952; and it's also the name of an ordinary bird.