Mortal Engines

The Hungry City Chronicles Mortal Engines Quartet, #1

by Philip Reeve

Paperback, 326 pages

English language

Published Sept. 1, 2004 by Harper Collins US UK.

ISBN:: 978-0-06-008209-3

(51 reviews)

"It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea."

The great traction city London has been skulking in the hills to avoid the bigger, faster, hungrier cities loose in the Great Hunting Ground. But now, the sinister plans of Lord Mayor Mangus Crome can finally unfold.

"It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea."

Thaddeus Valentine, London's Head Historian and adored famous archaeologist, and his lovely daughter, Katherine, are down in The Gut when the young assassin with the black scarf strikes toward his heart, saved by the quick intervention of Tom, a lowly third-class apprentice. Racing after the fleeing girl, Tom suddenly glimpses her hideous face: scarred from forehead to jaw, nose a smashed stump, a single eye glaring back at him. "Look at what your Valentine did to me!" she screams. "Ask him! Ask him what he did to Hester Shaw!" And with that she jumps down the waste chute to her death. Minutes later Tom finds himself tumbling down the same chute and stranded in the Out-Country, a sea of mud scored by the huge caterpillar tracks of cities like the one now steaming off over the horizon.

In a stunning literary debut, Philip Reeve has created a painful dangerous unforgettable adventure story of surprises, set in a dark and utterly original world fueled by Municipal Darwinism -- and betrayal.

3 editions

Scott reviewed Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve (Mortal Engines Quartet, #1)

Great world buidling

4 stars

I saw the movie first. And wanting more in that world. And no sequel in sight, I decided to start up the series. And come out with no clear winner. One has strengths over the other.

In both, they build a world that is like no other I have seen. After an apocalypse or two, cities became structures that roll on treads. And hunt other cities. That is how they gain resources. The book really explores this concept of "municipal Darwinism". But human-wise, it looks at the story of 3 young adults. Two stewing in the privilege of a big city, and discovering the thorns it hides. And one that long knew about them, but only cares about revenge.

I will say, Shrike's story is better done in the movie. But the book and movie has somewhat different endings. Neither the better, imo. One is more kind, the other more …

I saw the movie first. And wanting more in that world. And no sequel in sight, I decided to start up the series. And come out with no clear winner. One has strengths over the other.

I will say, Shrike's story is better done in the movie. But the book and movie has somewhat different endings. Neither the better, imo. One is more kind, the other more brutal. I was better able to emotionally connect with the characters in the movie. But that improved in the book midway thru.

I very much enjoyed this book. And look forward to more in the series.

Odin Halvorson reviewed Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve (Mortal Engines Quartet, #1)

One of the best series I've ever read

5 stars

There are plenty of far-future stories set long after the demise of the world we know, but few as delightful, provocative, stirring, and clever as Mortal Engines. Centered on two young people, one gripped by a desire for revenge, the other swept up in her wake, the tale takes place in a fantastical landscape of moving cities that is somehow completely believable and easy to imagine. There's adventure, terror, joy, and woe: and the tale always moves in the most unexpected of ways.

Sergeant Cat reviewed Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve (Mortal Engines Quartet, #1)

Review of 'Mortal Engines (The Hungry City Chronicles)' on 'GoodReads'

3 stars

Not bad. Some of the characters and themes were a little cliche, but the messaging is interesting. I think you could sum the book up with: "Just because you can, it doesn't mean you should." An overall fun read.

Coalford reviewed Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve (Mortal Engines Quartet, #1)

Review of 'Mortal Engines' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

A pretty good YA romp.

Nice, quick pace. Fun, dystopian world. Great for what it is.

Chungledown Bim reviewed Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve (Mortal Engines Quartet, #1)

Review of 'Mortal Engines' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Good quick YA read with a cool steampunk premise & a proper good crying bit. Got nothing on the His Dark Materials series, but not so bad.

tivasyk reviewed Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve (Mortal Engines Quartet, #1)

Review of 'Mortal Engines (The Hungry City Chronicles)' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

не так вже й погано, як на підліткове пригодницьке чтиво.

fiainros reviewed Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve (Mortal Engines Quartet, #1)

Review of 'Mortal Engines' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

To be honest, I got 60% of the way into this book and did not want to waste another hour of estimated reading time finishing it. I read every word of the first 2 chapters, then skimmed until chapter 23. It's not worth it.

I added this book to my TBR wishlist when I first heard about the movie. I saw the trailer and thought it looked interesting and had friends who were pretty excited about the movie. Then I heard the movie was bad. I thought maybe it was fans of the book who were disappointed in the translation. The movie does take some liberties, some of which are good and some of which are bad. Overall, the movie isn't a good movie, but when it's based on a bad book, I'm not sure what people expected. It's also based on a book written in 2001. This smacks of a film company trying to get the Hunger Games or Harry Potter audience without understanding that those were good books.

The premise of Mortal Engines has major flaws. The world building is terrible. The writing isn't good and the book has several sexist scenes. It could just be sexist. It's definitely bad. I should have known better because I was reading tons of books in 2000-2005, many based upon a large and varied reader community. If I did not hear of this book until I saw a movie trailer in 2018, that says something.

Overall, don't waste your time.

urbaer reviewed Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve (Mortal Engines Quartet, #1)

Review of 'Mortal Engines (The Hungry City Chronicles)' on 'GoodReads'

3 stars

A fairly decent romp in a far flung future where cities have been turned mobile and eating each other for so long that they've started to starve, having sucked all the resources that they could from other cities.

There are pirates, zombie cyborg ninjas, vague and light political intrigue, sacrifice, questioning your parents or just losing them altogether. So pretty much like Katamari Damacy I guess.

It's generally a light punchy read where two of the main characters journey around the world, bouncing from one situation to the next.

The parts where the novel decided to go I to present tense rather than past tense are painful, though I'm not sure why. These tend to be scenes that the younger characters are not aware of and it seems jarring.

It's a pretty inoffensive steampunky romp.

state_electrician reviewed Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve (Mortal Engines Quartet, #1)

Review of 'Mortal Engines' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

When I saw the ads for the upcoming movie I decided to bump this book up to the top of my TBR pile. It's a very quick and easy read. I feel like a lot of books could benefit from tighter editing, but this is not one of those books. A lot happens and it happens fast.

What I did like is the general idea of cities on tracks and wheels. It just seems absurd and yet intriguing. Also the "municipal darwinism" that the people of London live by. Unfortunately all that didn't translate into a book I could enjoy. A lot of other people did, so that's good. It's just not a book for me. The characters were so-so. Because of the breakneck pace of the book there wasn't much room for development. The story was a bit crazy at times. After I decided that I will not continue the series, I read the plot summaries for the remaining three books in this tetralogy and was glad I didn't spend any more time with them.

As the ratings so far show many people enjoy this book, I just didn't. I'll still go see the movie, though. Looks like fun.

On a side note, from what I've seen so far they made Hester Shaw not suffer the same kind of disfigurement as in the book. That'll make some people mad.