From School Library Journal
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Starred Review. Grade 5–7—Reeve's "Hungry City Quartet"
(HarperCollins) remains a landmark of visionary steampunk
imagination, with a future where traction cities roll about
chasing down smaller cities, which they devour for parts in an
exercise called Municipal Darwinism. Returning to this future,
Reeve gives readers a story that takes place decades before the
rise of the traction cities and examines the social and political
milieu that led to that major societal change. Fever Crumb is the
adopted daughter of Dr. Crumb, and the only female member of the
Order of Engineers. Taken from the safety of the Order into the
streets of London, Fever discovers a world where bands of
Skinners have virtually exterminated a mutant race of people with
speckled skin known as the Scriven. Suspected of being a Scriven
herself, Fever must elude capture while she searches to find out
who she really is. The answers she finds have far-reaching
implications for the future of the world. Reeve is not just an
excellent writer, but a creator with a wildly imaginative mind.
The future London setting of this story is well imagined and
feels like a place Charles Dickens might have described had he
been a science-fiction writer. Plot details such as the origin
story of the resurrected cyborg Stalker Shrike will resonate with
fans of the earlier titles, but this book can also be read
independently by those who are new to Reeve's work. A must for
any fantasy collection.—Tim Wadham, St. Louis County Library, MO
(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned
subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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*Starred Review* Set some centuries before the Hungry City
Chronicles, yet still well into the future, this prequel series
opener stars young Fever Crumb, reared by the Order of Engineers
in the massive head of an unfinished statue, to operate with a
slavish devotion to logic. (In one delightful scene, a group of
engineers pours out of the head’s nostril door “like a highly
educated sneeze”). Uncertain of her heritage, as well as the
source of the memories invading her mind, Fever embarks on a
rather typical quest of discovery with anything-but-typical
trimmings. London is a nearly medieval backwater, where relics of
ancient technology hint at a time thousands of years ago when
people still understood how to make circuit boards and
microchips. Reeve’s captivating flights of imagination play as
vital a role in the story as his endearing heroine, hissworthy
villains, and nifty array of supporting characters. Although
there’s all manner of foundation work to gratify readers familiar
with the world introduced in 2003’s Mortal Engines (including the
genesis of Municipal Darwinism and the origins of a very familiar
figure), Reeve has crafted a swiftly paced story worthy of
standing alone, both in terms of where Fever’s adventure may lead
her next as well as the connections to the Hungry City
Chronicles. It may not be possible for Reeve to ever fully
explore this world, but that shouldn’t keep him from trying,
hopefully in many books to come. Grades 6-9. --Ian Chipman
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