Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve

Wildcard #8 ~ “A book that has recently been adapted for cinema or television.”

mortal engines

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

My opinion in three sentences:

My thoughts on this were definitely split – there was intrigue to grab the reader’s attention from the get-go, but equally nothing really got going until halfway through. I remember the hype when the series was first launched, and, whilst the plot and characterisation were good, they didn’t quite prove to be the exceptional I was expecting. Plus (and it may be it worked better in written format than audio), the book jumped around characters and locations quite a bit, which did leave me a little lost at times.

(Without spoiling anything) the best bit:

It is, without a doubt, quite an original plotline, and Reeve creates the world well. Throw in the subtly-crafted social commentary and puns on local geography, and you have both a vibrant and humorous setting that I felt translated quite well from word to imagination (especially given how removed it is from our contemporary ideas of urban geography!) I can certainly see how something so different captured the attention of many and (eventually) ended up being adapted for the screen.

A warning for the book:

At its time, Mortal Engines was something so different and acceptably well-wrtiten that it warranted such hype. Now, several sub-genres it falls into have seen a surge of diversity and creativity that large elements of it have lost their uniqueness, and as such it feels slightly dated – Reeve himself has adapted to this growth in his subsequent works, and you can especially see this difference between this and his Railhead trilogy. That’s not to say it’s not enjoyable, but to appreciate the full wonder it’s often lauded with, I would say you need to take the book as a product of its time.

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