''Larklight, or the Revenge of the White Spiders! or to Saturn's Rings and Back!'' is a middle grade novel written by

Philip Reeve Philip Reeve (born 28 February 1966) is an English author and illustrator of children's books, primarily known for the 2001 book '' Mortal Engines'' and its sequels (the 2001 to 2006 '' Mortal Engines Quartet''). His 2007 novel, '' Here Lies Ar ...

and illustrated by David Wyatt. It is the first book in the

Larklight Trilogy The ''Larklight'' trilogy is a trilogy of middle grade novels by Philip Reeve, entitled '' Larklight'', ''Starcross'', and ''Mothstorm''. These books are all illustrated by David Wyatt. Setting Th''Larklight'' trilogyis set in an alternative ...

. ''Larklight'' is a

space opera Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes Space warfare in science fiction, space warfare, with use of melodramatic, risk-taking space adventures, relationships, and chivalric romance. Set mainly or entirely in outer space, i ...

set in an alternative

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

, in which mankind has been exploring the

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...

for at least a century, and wherein most of the planets are inhabitable. Protagonist Art Mumby narrates an attack on the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

and the Solar System at large by an ancient,

arachnid Arachnids are arthropods in the Class (biology), class Arachnida () of the subphylum Chelicerata. Arachnida includes, among others, spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, opiliones, harvestmen, Solifugae, camel spiders, Amblypygi, wh ...

-like extraterrestrial race, against which he and his family play a central role, aided by the pirate Jack Havock and his crew.

Plot summary

The story begins at Larklight, a house that orbits Earth's

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

, where the Mumbys receive a visitor from the Royal Xenological Society, a Mr. Webster, who is revealed to be an extra-terrestrial resembling an enormous white

spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...

. Art and his sister Myrtle escape; but their father is captured and presumed dead. Art and Myrtle leave in an escape pod and crash-land on the Moon, where they are encased with predatory larvae of the Potter Moth and freed by pirate Jack Havock and his crew. Art is shocked to find that Jack is only fifteen years old, and that he is the only human in his crew, while Myrtle is distressed at being in the company of a pirate and demands that Jack take them to the Moon's British residence, Fort George. ''En route'' aboard the pirates' ship ''Sophronia'', a ship of the British Navy comes alongside and orders Jack to surrender or have his ship destroyed. Jack distracts the officers by pretending to hold Art and Myrtle hostage, giving Ssillissa, the ship's alchemist, time to activate the ship's engines and fly the ''Sophronia'' to safety. They conceal themselves on

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

, Jack Havock's old home, where Jack tells Art and Myrtle that the colonists there, including his parents and brother, were changed into

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

s by a sudden

pollination Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma (botany), stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, for example bees, beetles or bu ...

. The white spiders take Myrtle to the Martian home of industrialist Sir Waverly Rain, whose factories cover Phobos and

Deimos Deimos, a Greek word for ''dread'', may refer to: In general * Deimos (deity), one of the sons of Ares and Aphrodite in Greek mythology * Deimos (moon), the smaller and outermost of Mars' two natural satellites Fictional characters * Deimos (comi ...

. She escapes with a Martian maid named Ulla and her husband,

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

, with whom she learns that Sir Waverly Rain had been captured by the spiders and replaced with a spider-controlled automaton; believing the spiders might manufacture something much more sinister, they race to London. Jack and Art visit

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

's moon Io, descending into Jupiter's

atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

to ask aid of the Thunderhead, who tells them to protect the key to Larklight. Not knowing what this is, they attempt to leave Jupiter, but are abandoned by their ferryman and escape to a broken-down harpoon ship attached to a native organism. They are rescued by the ''Sophronia's'' crew. Jack discovers that Myrtle's locket (now in Art's possession) is the key to Larklight, in that it can activate a set of complex engines capable of transforming the solar system, and leads his crew to the spiders' home on the

Rings of Saturn Saturn has the most extensive and complex ring system of any planet in the Solar System. The rings consist of particles in orbit around the planet made almost entirely of water ice, with a trace component of Rock (geology), rocky material. Parti ...

to exchange it for Myrtle's safe return. Upon arriving at the spiders' home, most of the crew are captured. Art is later taken before Professor Phineas Ptarmigan, formerly of the Royal Xenological Institute where Jack was imprisoned until he was twelve, who reveals that he wishes to use Larklight to destroy the

, leaving the remains to the spiders whose ancestors had colonized the

planetesimal Planetesimals () are solid objects thought to exist in protoplanetary disks and debris disks. Believed to have formed in the Solar System about 4.6 billion years ago, they aid study of its formation. Formation A widely accepted theory of pla ...

s. Meanwhile, Ssillissa and her crewmate Yarg free the captured crew and two additional prisoners, Sir Waverly and Art's mother Emily. Having freed Larklight from the spiders, the protagonists visit

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

, where a gigantic mechanical spider is attacking London. There, Myrtle takes control of the machine and uses it to kill Mr. Webster, and later re-unites with her family and Jack. The

epilogue An epilogue or epilog (from Greek ἐπίλογος ''epílogos'', "conclusion" from ἐπί ''epi'', "in addition" and λόγος ''logos'', "word") is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring closure to the ...

reveals that the race of white spiders has not been exterminated, but subdued, and that Ptarmigan has been placed in an

insane asylum The lunatic asylum, insane asylum or mental asylum was an institution where people with mental illness were confined. It was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital. Modern psychiatric hospitals evolved from and eventually replace ...

. The Mumby family return to live at Larklight, which they deprive of its otherworldly machinery.

Film adaptation

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

bought the rights to ''Larklight'' in 2006. In April 2008,

Shekhar Kapur Shekhar Kulbhushan Kapur (born 6 December 1945) is an Indian filmmaker. Born into the Anand-Sahni family, Kapur is the recipient of several accolades, including a BAFTA Award, a National Film Award, a National Board of Review Award and three F ...

announced that he was to direct, and that he and

Steven Knight Steven Knight (born 5 August 1959) is a British screenwriter, producer, and director for film and television. He wrote the screenplays for the films ''Closed Circuit (2013 film), Closed Circuit'', ''Dirty Pretty Things (film), Dirty Pretty Thi ...

had been working on the screenplay for three months. He said that it would have a budget of $200 million and would be his most expensive movie. Alison Greenspan and Di Novi were to produce. The film was to be released on 1 January 2010, but after the death of the director

Anthony Minghella Anthony Minghella (6 January 195418 March 2008) was a British film director, playwright, and screenwriter. He was chairman of the board of Governors at the British Film Institute between 2003 and 2007. He directed ''Truly, Madly, Deeply (film), ...

in 2008, Kapur took over his unfinished movie ''

New York, I Love You ''New York, I Love You'' is a 2008 American romantic comedy-drama anthology film consisting of eleven short films, each by a different director. The shorts all relate in some way to the subject of love and are set among the five boroughs of Ne ...

'', and postponed ''Larklight''.

Footnotes

External links

*
Review at Kidsreads.com
{{Philip Reeve 2006 British novels 2006 science fiction novels 2006 children's books British science fiction novels British alternative history novels British steampunk novels British children's novels British young adult novels Children's science fiction novels Young adult science fiction novels Space opera novels Novels set on the Moon Children's books set on the Moon Novels set on Venus Children's books set on Venus Novels set on Mars Children's books set on Mars Fiction set on Mars' moons Novels set on Jupiter Novels set on Io (moon) Novels set on Saturn Rings of Saturn in fiction Novels about spiders Children's books about spiders Novels about extraterrestrial life Children's books about transport Larklight trilogy Novels by Philip Reeve Bloomsbury Publishing books

Plot summary

Film adaptation

See also

Footnotes

External links