Something like 1984, The Difference Engine and Dark Materials all rolled into one tidy package.
I am in the middle (well near the end) of Mortal Engines after I noticed Waterstones had a special edition printed for them at the knock-down price of 99p ! It has previously attracted my attention and I guess the price is a hook into the other three in the series.
It comes over a lot like Pullman's Subtle Knife, but a little shorter and faster paced. Main characters are Tom (apprentice historian, standard innocent, think Pip from Great Expectations), Hettie (mutilated revengatrix, think Terminator in a
little girl package) and Katherine (hmm...rich girl and secondary innocent). Setting is the future London of a ruined earth
(Moorcock+Orwell) where cities prowl around on tracks and wheels a bit like a gargantuan Mad Max, in fact rather a lot like Mad Max.
Throw in some swash-buckling air-ships and a steam-punk slant on the technology and you have the full picture.
The only fly in the ointment is the dead-pan approach to the frequent character deaths and a tendency to be a little graphic in the descriptions of the relevant slicings/prongings/slashings as they come to their ends - I see this as a bit of Pullman emulation.
Overall a cracking book...at a cracking price.
I am in the middle (well near the end) of Mortal Engines after I noticed Waterstones had a special edition printed for them at the knock-down price of 99p ! It has previously attracted my attention and I guess the price is a hook into the other three in the series.
It comes over a lot like Pullman's Subtle Knife, but a little shorter and faster paced. Main characters are Tom (apprentice historian, standard innocent, think Pip from Great Expectations), Hettie (mutilated revengatrix, think Terminator in a
little girl package) and Katherine (hmm...rich girl and secondary innocent). Setting is the future London of a ruined earth
(Moorcock+Orwell) where cities prowl around on tracks and wheels a bit like a gargantuan Mad Max, in fact rather a lot like Mad Max.
Throw in some swash-buckling air-ships and a steam-punk slant on the technology and you have the full picture.
The only fly in the ointment is the dead-pan approach to the frequent character deaths and a tendency to be a little graphic in the descriptions of the relevant slicings/prongings/slashings as they come to their ends - I see this as a bit of Pullman emulation.
Overall a cracking book...at a cracking price.
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