Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve

Review

Sooooo… I don’t really know how I feel about this book. I loved the idea of the novel and enjoyed the story quite a bit; however this book is super violent, a little creepy and a bit scary as well… So, read at your own risk?

This book is about a time after the great Sixty-Minute War where all the great cities are now on engines rumbling along trying to find new supplies to keep fueling it. Tom has lived on London his whole life and has always loved and cherished it. But when a girl with a horrible scar tries to kill one of his heros, Tom stops her and gets throw from his beloved city in the process. Now he and Hester Shaw are on a mission to get back to London before it can unleash a terrible weapon that could destroy their world all over again… But with Stalkers hunting them, cities trying to kill them and pirates trying to sell them, they will have to work together to make it out alive…

This book was really interesting. The plot line was fantastic, the characters were very well written and the book overall is pretty good! I would say this is for teens 16 and up, but be warned this book is full of action and violence…

In sci-fi books, there can be weird, sometimes creepy violence and this novel was no exception. The cites in the book are kind-of horrible. They have disgusting living conditions where criminals work in human waste to help the recycling, and some of them drown and die there… There are cities that run over people. People get shot, stabbed through the back, the neck, heads come off! As well as weird zombie people called Stalkers who died and were “resurrected” and now can’t quite live… There are explosions, people burn to death, fall out of the sky from ships, drown at sea… And the violence isn’t gory, however some of it is described and I had to put the book down several times out of disgust and fear… (Note to self, do not read this book at night…)

Overall, though this book was very interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed the plot line, it was a bit TERRIFYING! ( I don’t do zombies. If you are dead, stay dead unless God tells you otherwise. Only God should deal with resurrecting people!) I wouldn’t really suggest this book. If you want to read it, then read it; but I am going to keep book 1 and not read the rest of the series. (No matter how pretty the covers are, it’s not worth it!) Also, I am not watching the movie… Thank you and good bye. -The Young Llama Reader.