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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A very interesting take on our "post apocalypse" culture. I enjoyed the references that carried through, even though the people saying them didn't understand. I like Fever and her rational take on everything, I look forward to book 2.
Better than I anticipated, Fever Crumb is a dystopian steampunk adventure set in a futuristic London society. Fever Crumb is the only female engineer, who gets involved in trying to uncover a hidden chamber sealed by the city's past mutant human-like (and much maligned) ruling class. It's very dark and gruesome, with interesting technology interspersed with the drama. Crumb is an admirable heroine, devoted to so-called "rationality" yet plumbing the depths of her underused humanity and emotion. Reeve himself narrates the audiobook, lending great inflection and pacing.
I found this book hard to read at first. It just didn't grab my attention right away. So what I got is that this is in the future and our world has fallen and became the Ancient world. The new civilization has basically gone backwards and can't work any of our awesome technology. So they are almost back in medival times. The Order of engineers tries to understand our technologies and make new things out of them. Like paper boys. Paper boys? Why? I will never understand.
The world use to be world be scriven (this was interesting) they were like human mutations with dark marks on their skin that people believed were marked there by the Great Scriven and id read correctly talk about some profercy or something. The leader of the Scriven was Godshawk and he was murdered. I won't tell anymore about the book even though I am tempted very much.
Fever Crumb ends up being connected to a bunch of different people. I like how the author did this, connecting the people. I thought it was very interesting. I can't wait to see the next book and waht Fever decides to do with her life now that she no longer has Godshawk's memories and knows who her parents are.
The world use to be world be scriven (this was interesting) they were like human mutations with dark marks on their skin that people believed were marked there by the Great Scriven and id read correctly talk about some profercy or something. The leader of the Scriven was Godshawk and he was murdered. I won't tell anymore about the book even though I am tempted very much.
Fever Crumb ends up being connected to a bunch of different people. I like how the author did this, connecting the people. I thought it was very interesting. I can't wait to see the next book and waht Fever decides to do with her life now that she no longer has Godshawk's memories and knows who her parents are.
I listened to this in the course of a single day (that may be an audiobook first for me). And honestly, I think my laundry got done and the bedroom got cleaned only because I just wanted to keep going on the book. I liked Fever...a kick-hiney girl is always a winning start for me. Reeve's small nods to modern pop culture (e.g., the cult worshipping Harry Potter) were delightful. Reeve is a good narrator. And by the end, I was invested in the story, and looking forward to the rest of the series. I don't see wanting to stalk Reeve the way I want to stalk Derek Landy, but I'm invested and can definitely talk this up to my students.
I read Phillip Reeve's Mortal Engines series some years ago while I was a school librarian. I absolutely loved it even though it made me cry in several places. I have been meaning to revisit this series when I got a recommendation to read Fever Crumb, set a long time before Mortal Engines. I absolutely loved it, there are tell tale clues within in the plot to where we are in Mortal Engines, the beginnings of an idea to set a city free on a nomadic journey collecting the spoils from other cities who could not put up any resistance. I also loved the silly place names, like Hamster Heath. The little in-jokes with the names that made me smile a lot. There is a sense of the macabre about Fever Crumb, the creation of paper dolls that attack, the creation of stalkers with dead bodies, one in particular, Shrike, who has a soft spot for small children; we meet Shrike again in Mortal Engines. Overall, a damn good read, and I can't wait to start the next.
So I've wanted to read this book for, like, forever. Thank goodness I've finally read it though, because I loved it. It was definitely one of a kind, and I loved the setting (which added to the one-of-a-kind-ness).
It's kind of an off day for me today, I don't know why, so this review will be pretty short. Sorry.
Anyways, it's a really good book and it kind of reminded me of the Bone Season by Samantha Shannon, along with maybe The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle MQuerry. At first I wasn't really sure how this book could have a sequel, but now I'm super excited for it. I guess there is a lot to wrap up and I can't wait!
It's kind of an off day for me today, I don't know why, so this review will be pretty short. Sorry.
Anyways, it's a really good book and it kind of reminded me of the Bone Season by Samantha Shannon, along with maybe The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle MQuerry. At first I wasn't really sure how this book could have a sequel, but now I'm super excited for it. I guess there is a lot to wrap up and I can't wait!
I enjoyed this book enough to start the second one, but there were some bits I was disappointed by:
>Women have been stuffed back into their powerless holes and deemed too stupid to learn or work.
>Women are back to wearing large, useless dresses [though this might just be Scriveners, as I don't know if any "human" women were ever described].
>It seemed a bit odd that despite having loads of books, people of the future were unable to figure out what technology of the past did and instead used it for whatever purpose. Perhaps the desire to learn was lost along the way?
Far into the future, technology has failed and London has regressed to that of an almost steampunkish 1800s time [after some Googling, yes, this is apparently a prequel of sorts to Reeve's futuristic steampunk series]. There's unrest in the city, and different parties are preparing their next steps. Fever Crumb, unaware of much of the city outside of the giant head she lives in with a group of male engineers, is chosen to go with an archeologist, Kit, who specifically requested her presence. During this time, an orphaned boy, Charlie, is working as a bar owner's servant, and is sent off with a famous Scrivener-murderer named Bagman Creech. though he's with the man for little time, he feels intensely loyal to him because Charlie finally has been shown some compassion. He helps Creech pursue Fever, who is thought to be the last Scrivener based off of her heterochromia iridium [two different colored eyes]. Fever Crumb has a few revelations about her mind and family history, and helps to get into the secret laboratory that Godshawk [whose head statue the engineers reside inside] kept secret for the last 14 years.
>Women have been stuffed back into their powerless holes and deemed too stupid to learn or work.
>Women are back to wearing large, useless dresses [though this might just be Scriveners, as I don't know if any "human" women were ever described].
>It seemed a bit odd that despite having loads of books, people of the future were unable to figure out what technology of the past did and instead used it for whatever purpose. Perhaps the desire to learn was lost along the way?
Far into the future, technology has failed and London has regressed to that of an almost steampunkish 1800s time [after some Googling, yes, this is apparently a prequel of sorts to Reeve's futuristic steampunk series]. There's unrest in the city, and different parties are preparing their next steps. Fever Crumb, unaware of much of the city outside of the giant head she lives in with a group of male engineers, is chosen to go with an archeologist, Kit, who specifically requested her presence. During this time, an orphaned boy, Charlie, is working as a bar owner's servant, and is sent off with a famous Scrivener-murderer named Bagman Creech. though he's with the man for little time, he feels intensely loyal to him because Charlie finally has been shown some compassion. He helps Creech pursue Fever, who is thought to be the last Scrivener based off of her heterochromia iridium [two different colored eyes]. Fever Crumb has a few revelations about her mind and family history, and helps to get into the secret laboratory that Godshawk [whose head statue the engineers reside inside] kept secret for the last 14 years.
Fever Crumb, child apprentice to Dr. Crumb of the Order of Engineers, begins her journey in a giant metal head that serves as a home. She is asked to help on an archaeological dig during which she discovers the outside world and a whole inner world she had no idea she possessed.
I really really really really like Philip Reeve's stuff. It's steam punk and sci fi and always has the most interesting characters - a bar owner/gladiator/mayor of London, a former punk rock head of a riot group, and a whole group of Engineers who have decided that both hair and emotions are irrational and must be removed from their lives. Philip Reeve reads this audiobook himself and his voice is soft, English and totally delightful. Two thumbs WAY up.
I really really really really like Philip Reeve's stuff. It's steam punk and sci fi and always has the most interesting characters - a bar owner/gladiator/mayor of London, a former punk rock head of a riot group, and a whole group of Engineers who have decided that both hair and emotions are irrational and must be removed from their lives. Philip Reeve reads this audiobook himself and his voice is soft, English and totally delightful. Two thumbs WAY up.
My favorite aspect of this world Reeve created was that it was the future after some great plague and the people are using old technology that they don't understand anymore. But that technology is beyond what we have now. I also loved the slang that had evolved (googling meant looking for someone in a crowd) and the way they used obsolete objects (tiling the floor with old computer board keys). Fascinating.