Yet again, another jaw-dropping sci-fi book from me. 😉 You’re welcome. This one is also by Philip Reeve, the author of Larklight, so it’s sure to be awesome. The whole gist of the story is moving cities! Aptly named Traction cities are crawling towns, hamlets, and villages that are frantically devouring other towns that are smaller than they are! It’s a truly amazing story. And it’s all about a boy named Tom upon wherein his life changes when he meets a girl.
Spirituality:
People decided to imitate the romans and make a dead famous person, Quirke, a “God”. The former mayor is on London’s currency, and they have temples to him and everything, but they’re all about as serious about it as scientology followers. The air traders, however, usually are pretty reverent to the “air gods” which they regard with “rub-buddhas-belly-for-luck” kinda reverence, usually accompanied with a few coins at a tiny altar.
Sex:
This was a really good book in that regard. Mostly just mild attraction. With a kiss. And two characters cellibately survival-sleep together (to not die) during a journey.
Language:
I believe there was a D–n, but I think it was around two or three. At least not enough for me to remember. And I don’t believe there were any other words.
Drugs/Drinking:
There’s a couple taverns where people congregate and share a few steins of…whatever they drink in the future. And the main characters are drugged with a sleeping mixture. (Why does anyone care?)
Violence:
I AM STALKER GRIKE. The Stalkers are robotic beings that are constructed from ancient technology and…dead bodies. Yep. They lop off all the extremities, replace them with claws, and encase the whole mess in an armored body. Then they go and kill people. Everywhere. The Stalker are virtually unkillable, and unstoppable. And singlehandedly, Grike the Stalker is responsible for almost all the violence in the book. People are blown apart, drowned, shot, and impaled (not all necessarily by Grike). I think there are a few moments where surgical procedures are carried out, and last moments are quite plentiful.
Misc. other harmful elements:
Lots of people die. And there’s some…I dunno…location-specific hate groups? The Traction Cities hate the guts of the people who live in “static”, or ground settlements.
Decent elements:
Heroism galore! People sacrifice themselves, manners are used, and ladies are defended. Also, includes some mild AWESOME which makes you wanna read it. For instance, excellent plot twists. But that’s all I’ll say.
Buy Mortal Engines on Amazon.com!
Rating: 9.5/10.0
This was an incredible book! It has a great story (if a little sad, but hopeful) and made me cry. I hope you really enjoy it as much as I did.
In Review 