''Mortal Engines'' is a
young adult
In medicine and the social sciences, a young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence, sometimes with some overlap. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages ...
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
novel 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 ...
, published by
Scholastic UK in 2001. The book focuses on a futuristic,
steampunk
Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and Applied arts, aesthetics inspired by, but not limited to, 19th-century Industrial Revolution, industrial steam engine, steam-powered machinery. Steampun ...
version of
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, now a giant machine striving to survive on a world that is running out of resources.
''Mortal Engines'' is the first book of a series, the ''
Mortal Engines Quartet
The ''Mortal Engines Quartet'' (''Hungry City Chronicles'' in the United States), also known as the ''Predator Cities Quartet'', is a series of epic young adult science fiction novels by the English novelist and illustrator Philip Reeve. He b ...
'', published from 2001 to 2006.
It has been adapted as a
2018 feature film.
The book won a
Nestlé Smarties Book Prize
The Nestlé Children's Book Prize, and Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for a time, was a set of annual awards for British children's books that ran from 1985 to 2007. It was administered by BookTrust, an independent charity that promotes books and r ...
and the 2003
Blue Peter Book Award
The Blue Peter Book Awards were a set of literary awards for children's books conferred by the BBC television programme ''Blue Peter''. They were inaugurated in 2000 for books published in 1999 and 2000. The awards were managed by reading charity ...
. It was shortlisted for the 2002
Whitbread Award
The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...
, the 2004
ALA's Notable Books for Children award and the 2020 Blue Peter Awards 20th anniversary prize.
Summary
Setting
The book is set in a
post-apocalyptic
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronom ...
world, ravaged by the "Sixty Minute War", a global conflict so violent it caused massive geological upheaval. To escape earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and other natural threats, a Nomad leader called Nikola Quercus (known throughout the Quartet as Nicholas Quirke, and revered as a deity) installed massive engines and wheels on London, enabling it to dismantle (or eat) other cities for resources. The technology rapidly spread and evolved into what is known as "Municipal Darwinism". Although the planet has since become stable, Municipal Darwinism has spread worldwide. Because scientific progress has almost completely halted and much technological and scientific knowledge was lost during the war, "Old Tech" is highly prized and recovered by scavengers and archaeologists. Europe, some of Asia, North Africa, South America,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, and the
Arctic
The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...
are dominated by Traction Cities. In contrast, North America - often identified as "the dead continent" due to the extensive destruction it suffered during the war - and the rest of the world is the stronghold of the Anti-Traction League, which seeks to keep cities from moving and thus stop the intense consumption of the planet's remaining resources.
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
is the principal Traction City in the novel, which has returned to a Victorian-era society. London's society is divided into four major and several minor
Guild
A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...
s. The Engineers are responsible for maintaining the machines necessary for the survival of London, many of which are found by the Guild of Historians. The Historians are in charge of collecting and preserving highly prized, often dangerous artifacts. The Navigators are responsible for steering and plotting the course of London. The Merchants are in charge of running London's economy. London is officially ruled by an elected
Mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...
. The
Lord Mayor
Lord mayor is a title of a mayor of what is usually a major city in a Commonwealth realm, with special recognition bestowed by the sovereign. However, the title or an equivalent is present in other countries, including forms such as "high mayor". A ...
is Magnus Crome, who is also the head of the Guild of Engineers. Like most Traction Cities, London is built on a series of tiers. This encourages the system of
social classes
A social class or social stratum is a grouping of people into a set of hierarchical social categories, the most common being the working class and the capitalist class. Membership of a social class can for example be dependent on education, ...
, with the wealthier nobles at the top of the city and the lower classes further down, closer to the noise and pollution of the city's massive engines. Atop the whole of London sits
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...
: the only building known to have survived the Sixty Minute War.
Plot
The book starts with the traction city of London chasing and catching a small mining town called Salthook. Tom Natsworthy, a teenage Apprentice Historian, is sent, as punishment for skipping a chore, to the "Gut" of London, where captured Traction cities or towns are stripped of resources. Tom incidentally meets the Head of the Guild of Historians, Thaddeus Valentine, along with his daughter, Katherine. One of Salthook's residents, teenager Hester Shaw, attempts to assassinate Valentine, but Tom interferes and chases her. She reveals a disfiguring scar on her face and claims Valentine caused it, before escaping the London police through a chute. When Tom informs Valentine of her name, Valentine pushes him down into the chute. Tom and Hester recover outside of London within the Hunting Ground and, after an argument, they start following the city's tracks to reboard it.
The pair eventually boards a small town called Speedwell, where the owner Orme Wreyland drugs them and plans to sell the pair as slaves for profit at a trading cluster. Tom and Hester escape from Wreyland, meeting a friendly airship pilot called Anna Fang, who takes them in her airship the ''Jenny Haniver'' to the neutral flying city of Airhaven where they can find passage to London. At Airhaven, they are then attacked by a
cyborg
A cyborg (, a portmanteau of ''cybernetics, cybernetic'' and ''organism'') is a being with both Organic matter, organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.[St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...]
. The Cathedral's dome splits open to reveal MEDUSA, which is then used to destroy a much larger city pursuing London.
Tom and Hester are rescued by Fang, who is revealed to be an Anti-Traction League agent and takes them to the Shield Wall of Batmunkh Gompa which protects the nation-state of the League. Fang suspects that the weapon that London has reassembled will be used to destroy the Shield Wall, and warns League Governor Khan of MEDUSA. Khan is skeptical that London will attack, but Fang insists that they should bomb London to destroy the weapon. Convinced that the League will kill innocent people and angry at the idea of destroying his home, Tom storms out and discovers Valentine has infiltrated Batmunkh Gompa as a monk. Tom raises the alarm, but Valentine successfully cripples the League's northern fleet of airships. Valentine duels and kills Fang by stabbing her in the neck, before escaping in his own airship the ''13th Floor Elevator''. Tom and Hester take the ''Jenny Haniver'' and fly it back to London in the hope of stopping Valentine and MEDUSA themselves.
With MEDUSA finally launched, Crome begins guiding London east towards the Anti-Traction League's base behind the Shield Wall of Batmunkh Gompa to destroy their defenses and devour all of their settlements. After Valentine returns, Katherine learns that MEDUSA was originally found by Hester's mother, Pandora and that he had killed her to steal it for London. He also admits that Katherine was likely Hester's half-sister. Disillusioned, and horrified by the destructive power of the weapon, Katherine and Bevis conspire to plant a bomb to destroy MEDUSA but are caught in their attempt.
The Guild of Historians, led by Tom's boss Chudleigh Pomeroy, come to their aid, and battle with the Engineers. Katherine travels up to the Top Tier to Saint Paul's Cathedral, with Bevis disguised as her captor. Tom and Hester arrive, and Hester attempts to fight her way to Valentine to avenge her parents. Tom is attacked by the ''13th Floor Elevator'' above London and shoots it down. Bevis is killed when the airship crushes him, but Katherine is able to reach Saint Paul's Cathedral. Inside, she sees Hester brought before Valentine. When he attempts to kill her, Katherine jumps in her father's way and is fatally wounded. She falls onto a keyboard, interrupting the firing sequence of MEDUSA, and causing it to malfunction. Valentine and Hester, briefly putting aside their differences, try to take Katherine to Tom to get help, but she dies before they can reach him.
Hester leaves with Tom in the airship, while Valentine chooses to stay behind in London. MEDUSA finally misfires, obliterating most of the city and killing Valentine. Hester tries to comfort a grief-stricken Tom as they fly away in the ''Jenny Haniver'', apparently the only survivors of the incident, and make their way to the Bird Roads.
Characters
A few of the people in ''Mortal Engines'' are named after places in
Devon
Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...
, where Reeve lives, including
Chudleigh
Chudleigh () is an ancient wool town located within the Teignbridge District Council area of Devon, England; it is sited between Newton Abbot and Exeter. The electoral ward with the same name had a population of 5,919 at the 2021 United Kingdo ...
,
Tamerton Foliot
Tamerton Foliot is a village and former civil parish situated in the north of Plymouth, in the Plymouth district, in the ceremonial county of Devon, England. It also lends its name to the ecclesiastical parish of the same name.
Situated near t ...
and the
River Plym
The River Plym is a river in Devon, England. It runs from Dartmoor in the centre of the county southwest to meet the River Meavy, then south towards Plymouth Sound. The river is popular with canoeists, and the Plym Valley Railway runs alongside ...
. In the quartet, Miss Plym and Chudleigh Pomeroy are both in the Guild of Historians, and Tamarton Foliot is an "Alternative" historian. Both Shrike and Smew are named after birds, and Pennyroyal is named after a flower.
*Tom Natsworthy, a 15-year-old boy who is a Third-Class Apprentice Historian who is unwittingly brought along with Hester.
*
Hester Shaw, a 15-year-old short-tempered assassin whose parents were murdered by Valentine and seeks vengeance.
*Anna Fang, a friendly but deadly aviatrix and Anti-Tractionist agent who rescues Hester and Tom from being sold into slavery.
*Thaddeus Valentine, the dashing and handsome famous archaeologist and Head of the Guild of Historians on London, formerly a scavenger, and father to Katherine.
*Katherine Valentine, Thaddeus Valentine's daughter who begins to become suspicious about her father's activities.
*Bevis Pod, an Apprentice Engineer who assists Katherine in her investigations.
*Shrike (also known in the American release of the series as Grike), an ancient Stalker who raised Hester after her parents were killed and seeks to turn her into a Stalker so she can be with him forever.
*Magnus Crome, the Lord Mayor of London and the Head of the Guild of Engineers, who seeks to make London the greatest traction city in the world by using a mysterious superweapon called MEDUSA.
*Chrysler Peavey, the ambitious pirate mayor of Tunbridge Wheels, who Hester knew before she left Shrike.
*Chudleigh Pomeroy, the Deputy Head of the Guild of Historians and Tom's overzealous boss, who assists Katherine.
Title
The title references Act III, Scene iii of
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's play ''
Othello
''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulat ...
'' ("Othello: And O you mortall Engines, whose rude throats / Th'immortal Jove's dread clamors, counterfet, / Farewell: Othello's Occupation's gone" – line 352).
In the novel, it refers to the fact that the society of Municipal Darwinism is not
sustainable living
Sustainable living describes a lifestyle (sociology), lifestyle that attempts to reduce the use of Earth's natural resources by an individual or society. Its practitioners often attempt to reduce their ecological footprint (including their carbo ...
and that the cities' engines are indeed
mortal.
Development
Philip Reeve has stated that his plans to write a science fiction novel were laid in the late 1980s.
The original drafts were intended to be an adult novel but after several rejections, Scholastic said they might be interested in ''Mortal Engines'' as a children's story. In the refactoring the story was simplified, removing several characters and much content such as the city politics that Reeve thought would not be interesting to children.
The Mortal Engines world was originally written as an
alternative universe set in the early 1900s, but Reeve has stated this turned out to require just too much explaining as how and where history could have diverged. He was inspired to start then due to ''
The War of the Worlds
''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897, and serialised in '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US in 1897. The full novel was ...
''.
Critical reception
At
Goodreads
Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and readi ...
, ''Mortal Engines'' has a score of 3.92 out of 5.
''
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
'' praised the book, calling it "staggering feat of engineering ...
hat
A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...
... offers new wonders at every turn".
Adaptation
A film adaptation by
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand filmmaker. He is best known as the director, writer, and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy (2012–2014), both of which ar ...
was announced in 2009. In October 2016, Jackson announced that the film would be his next project as producer and co-writer, alongside long-time collaborators
Fran Walsh
Dame Frances Rosemary Walsh (born 10 January 1959) is a New Zealand screenwriter and film producer.
The partner of filmmaker Peter Jackson, Walsh has contributed to all of their films since 1989: as co-writer since ''Meet the Feebles'', and a ...
(also his wife) and
Philippa Boyens.
The film was directed by Jackson's long-time collaborator
Christian Rivers.
On 18 November 2020, upon asked whether ''Mortal Engines'' would be
rebooted
''Rebooted'' is the third season of the animated television series ''Ninjago (TV series), Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu'' (titled ''Ninjago'' from the eleventh season onward). The series was created by Michael Hegner and Tommy Andreasen. The seaso ...
for television, Reeve responded that, while that would be nice, it seemed unlikely.
Legacy
Critics have suggested that the 2019
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...
series ''
Carnival Row
''Carnival Row'' is an American fantasy television series created by René Echevarria and Travis Beacham, based on Beacham's unproduced film spec script, ''A Killing on Carnival Row''. The series stars Orlando Bloom, Cara Delevingne, Simon M ...
'' is influenced by the ''Mortal Engines'' series of novels, amongst other influences.
See also
* ''
Mortal Engines Quartet
The ''Mortal Engines Quartet'' (''Hungry City Chronicles'' in the United States), also known as the ''Predator Cities Quartet'', is a series of epic young adult science fiction novels by the English novelist and illustrator Philip Reeve. He b ...
''
References
;Citations
*
External links
Official websiteGoodreadsReading Matters review
{{Authority control
2001 debut novels
2001 British novels
2001 science fiction novels
Debut science fiction novels
post-apocalyptic
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronom ...
British post-apocalyptic novels
British steampunk novels
British bildungsromans
British children's books
British young adult novels
Children's science fiction novels
Young adult science fiction novels
Novels set in London
Mecha in literature
British novels adapted into films
Science fiction novels adapted into films
Mortal Engines
Predator Cities
Novels by Philip Reeve
Scholastic Corporation books