Book 11 - Nomnom Machines

Title: Mortal Engines (Mortal Engines #1) Author: Philip Reeve Genre: Rollicking steampunk

Steampunk! Steampunk!

STEAMPUNK.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this ride of a book. I heard a bit of the audio book and was not at all into it. I thought it sounded like it was trying way too hard to be British and edgy, and that with it's over-the-top characters it was completely missing the mark.

Not the case!

Sure, some of the characters were a bit much, and at times the plot was executed on a close to unbelievably large scale but, you know what, it worked in the same way that I find anime works. Sure, it's ridiculous and over the top. No, it's not exactly realistic. But is it still engaging and ultimately believable within the context - HECK YES.

Imagine this:

Howl's Castle traipsing across a post-apocalyptic desert wasteland, the Out-Country, running down smaller versions of itself and feasting on their parts.

There's an edge to the book that I wasn't expecting, and it also journeys to the other side of the spectrum with equal ease; for example, there are some pretty big deaths, but also people may or may not eat recycled poo. There is also the chuckle-worthy inclusion of relics from the past, i.e. our present, like shiny round seedies (CDs...lol), an airship called My Shirona, and the old saying, a rolling city grows no moss.

Also, this book led me to the discovery of a genre I had never heard about: Bildungsroman - a novel dealing with one person's formative years or spiritual education. Cool!

Rating: 💿💿💿💿/5

#steampunk