The world is there to be consumed, right? If I can use it, I’ll take it and make it mine.
This is the basic idea behind the world of Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines. Well, as I see it anyway. Reeve has taken the idea of the rich and powerful taking and consuming what they want, from whoever they want, and labelled it ‘Municipal Darwinism’. This ‘delightful’ idea is set in a post apocalyptic/dystopian world where engineers have placed their cities on wheels and which now roam the planet eating smaller towns and villages in order to make use of their consumables.
“It’s a town eat town world out there.”
A staggering idea, perfectly executed.
You can see it all happening, right before you on the page, right before us in the future. A world where city life means never setting a foot on the filthy, muddy earth like the savages in the few static towns and cities.
Throw into this world an adventure that involves a number of teenagers, murder, conspiracy, pirates, the fate of thousands of people, and a whole lot of ideological conflict and you’ve got one hell of a story!
I kept picturing the whole thing as if it was a Studio Ghibli animation, and that suited me just fine! I have seen that it’s on IMDB but I’m sure it’s not Studio Ghibli and it’s only “in development” so who knows when it will be turned into a movie, and what that will be like.
In any event, this is a brilliant book! And I can’t wait to read the rest of the series (when I find the time! There’s now 7 books all up!)
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