Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve

Posted on the 18 September 2021 by Booksocial

A whole new meaning to meals on wheels – I review teen classic Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve

Mortal Engines – the blurb

In a dangerous future, huge motorized cities hunt, attack and fight each other for survival.

As London pursues a small town, young apprentice Tom is flung out into the wastelands, where a terrifying cyborg begins to hunt him down...

Meals on Wheels

Can you believe this book is 20 years old already? Reading it for the first time it still feels fresh and modern. It’s the second book in a row for me where the world is dying and drastic measures have had to be taken for humans to survive. Take note people – bad things will happen if we continue as is!

The visual imagery Reeve creates with his London on wheels is fab. I found the world building here spot on although did find the differing perspectives slightly off putting (omniscient third person narrator for the majority but not all apparently!) The cyborg chase reminded me of Fahrenheit 451 and HELLO! – High Eyries, honey cakes, The Wall – been reading some good teen fiction Mr Martin???

There was surprisingly a lot of deaths. Of course both sets of parents for Tom and Hester and a mother for Katherine HAD to have died before the book started. But despite this being one of my pet hates I really enjoyed the book. It’s a fab one to discuss at book club as initial perceptions changed and characters were revealed to be not all bad/good. There are strong themes of class, the destructive nature of humans and of course climate change. It is the first in a quartet. Pass me number 2!