Reviews tagging 'War'

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve

10 reviews

breamfish1138's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Started reading this because I wanted a nostalgia hit, thinking it would be a blast back to my childhood. Ended up questioning everything at 1:15 at night. Highly recommended if you like grimdark/dystopia.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Abandonment, Animal death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Violence, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Classism, Genocide, Gore, Murder, Misogyny, Gun violence, Mental illness, War, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Self harm, Racism, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts

This is bleak AF, particularly

the ending, which is heartbreaking and feels downright apocalyptic.

brittburkard's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Violence, War, Trafficking, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Minor: Death of parent

add_a_little_spook's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gore, Excrement, War, Xenophobia, Classism, Child death, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Slavery and Kidnapping

Minor: Gaslighting

ursa_arlo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Positives. I knew before starting this book that the worldbuilding would be top-notch but it defied my expectations. The worldbuilding (as it should be) is not only done at the societal level, such as the way 'city Darwinism' functions and the divide between the 'tractionists' and 'anti-tractionists', but it is also pushed through in the minute details of everyday life; from the way letter paper has been recycled so much that it has gained a rough texture to the commodification of artefacts as status symbols. It is brilliant! 

I also enjoy how this novel flipped the script on the relationship between Tom and Katherine, who you feel might get together in the end as a hero/heroine couple. Instead, they don't interact after the first murder attempt on Valentine, and they grow closer to other main characters. 

Lastly, I must warn you about how horrifically dark this novel gets. Because it is YA sci-fi, you might get lured into a false sense that this will be a fun, lighthearted, sci-fi adventure.  But don't be fooled, you'll be met with a harrowing tale of war in which no side (not the good, nor the bad) has a clean slate, and in which life-saving decisions may take away more than is gained. 

Negatives. I think the book could have benefitted from some more vibrant descriptions and colourful word usage. The scenes and worldbuilding were fantastic- the language didn't measure up. I highly suspect this is a translation issue so I will not judge the book to harshly for that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Death

Moderate: Trafficking, Slavery, and Murder

momewrath's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Body shaming

Moderate: Classism, Colonisation, War, Death, Bullying, Death of parent, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Slavery

librariancollections's review

adventurous funny sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, War, Animal death, and Violence

jayecard's review

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

The world was really cool and well described, but sadly I felt that the characters were incredibly bland. There was a lot of detail when it came to places and environments that I loved, but when it came to characters' thoughts and feelings, it suddenly was incredibly simplistic. Tom, the main character, is just sorta there for most of the plot and does virtually nothing, nor does he have a lot of interesting thoughts or emotions about it all. It didn't help that the ending felt incredibly dissatisfying.

Bonus points for letting a major female character be way outside of beauty standards though. The fact that Hester's face is described without trying to pretty up her scars and disfigurements was something I genuinely appreciated.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Excrement

Moderate: Violence, Murder, War, Death of parent, Gun violence, and Child death

Minor: Slavery

k_galloway's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, War, Emotional abuse, Classism, Kidnapping, Xenophobia, Violence, Death, Death of parent, and Blood

Minor: Slavery

directorpurry's review

adventurous dark fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Trafficking, Child death, Animal death, Death, and Colonisation

Moderate: Death of parent

laurine_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Colonisation, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, War, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Death, and Murder