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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
A highly-imaginative futuristic book, set in a world where cities can move about and essentially act as large predators, fueling themselves by eating other cities. Focuses on several young people who gradually find out the truth about the City of London and those who run it. I really enjoyed it and will be looking for the rest of the series. I was surprised by the amount of death in the book.
***
I was never wowed by the writing of this one, but the premise and characterisation were so interesting that I was willing to give that a pass. Tom Natsworthy, third class apprentice to the Guild of Historians in the great Traction City of London, believes everything is as usual: London is pursuing the smaller cities it preys on, the Historians are boring. But there are more things going on under the surface than he is aware of and eventually they begin to come to light. (Jan 2010)
***
I was never wowed by the writing of this one, but the premise and characterisation were so interesting that I was willing to give that a pass. Tom Natsworthy, third class apprentice to the Guild of Historians in the great Traction City of London, believes everything is as usual: London is pursuing the smaller cities it preys on, the Historians are boring. But there are more things going on under the surface than he is aware of and eventually they begin to come to light. (Jan 2010)
So do they hand out those literary prizes for anything now? Second bad review in the same week, but I have to be honest. I read this book because my boyfriend read it when he was a kid/teen and he said he remembered it as awesome. Well, I guess we look at things differently when we're kids.
And yet - I know a lot of kids books that have brilliant writing, good story-building and don't need to be dumbed down.
Let me just put it in the form of a nice list. The good:
- good morals underneath
- nice idea about the way the world works, the hungry cities
- the ending did absolve it a little bit
- for a YA book, it wasn't overburdened with love triangles or worse (as is usually the case)
That would be about it.
The bad?
- it never gets anywhere until you reach 50%
- stuff just happens in a jumble, never leading up to anything for half the book either
- stuff is just too damn predictable
- the writing is kind of bad
- more than half the important characters are killed off at 95%. Seriously? Were you going for some drama here?
- it feels unfinished. Or was I reading a first draft? Sure felt like it.
There was one more point, and to be honest, I am having trouble figuring out if it should go with the good or the bad things. This would work as a movie. It's written like a movie. But not one of those cinematic books. More like a book that really wanted to be a movie, but couldn't. So it's only half a book.
To sum it up, no - it's not a bad book. Maybe not if you're 12. But I still feel that kids' books CAN and should be better than that. You can make it a kids book without writing it poorly.
Sometimes I wonder if maybe I should write a book someday too. But then I read something like this and get scared that I'll just write one like that too. Then I think, maybe it's best not to try.
And yet - I know a lot of kids books that have brilliant writing, good story-building and don't need to be dumbed down.
Let me just put it in the form of a nice list. The good:
- good morals underneath
- nice idea about the way the world works, the hungry cities
- the ending did absolve it a little bit
- for a YA book, it wasn't overburdened with love triangles or worse (as is usually the case)
That would be about it.
The bad?
- it never gets anywhere until you reach 50%
- stuff just happens in a jumble, never leading up to anything for half the book either
- stuff is just too damn predictable
- the writing is kind of bad
- more than half the important characters are killed off at 95%. Seriously? Were you going for some drama here?
- it feels unfinished. Or was I reading a first draft? Sure felt like it.
There was one more point, and to be honest, I am having trouble figuring out if it should go with the good or the bad things. This would work as a movie. It's written like a movie. But not one of those cinematic books. More like a book that really wanted to be a movie, but couldn't. So it's only half a book.
To sum it up, no - it's not a bad book. Maybe not if you're 12. But I still feel that kids' books CAN and should be better than that. You can make it a kids book without writing it poorly.
Sometimes I wonder if maybe I should write a book someday too. But then I read something like this and get scared that I'll just write one like that too. Then I think, maybe it's best not to try.
4.5 stars. This is such an interesting concept. I really enjoyed exploring this world and getting to know the characters. This was a very vivid read for me. My imagination was going crazy as I read page after page. The thing I really appreciated was the female characters were not useless. They weren't the stereotypical damsels in distress. Thank goodness! :)
This book is very creative and fun and originally I thought it was just gonna be some light reading for fun. But then, *SPOILER ALERT* everybody dies!!!! Anna and DOG!! And the entirety of London oh my god. And it was surprisingly violent.
I really enjoyed it though and am looking forward to seeing where the rest of the series goes.
I really enjoyed it though and am looking forward to seeing where the rest of the series goes.
This was passed to me by my sometimes reluctant to pick up a book younger son with the words ‘you should read this, it is very good’. I concur. It is the first intalment in a quartet of novels focusing on a futuristic, steampunk version of our world.
The story is set in a post apocalyptic Earth, ravaged by a Sixty-Minute War which caused massive geological upheaval. To escape the earthquakes, volcanoes, and other instabilities, communities were established on Traction Cities which move around on huge engines and wheels. These behemoths attack and dismantle other cities for resources, citing what is known as Municipal Darwinism as necessary for survival. Although the world has since become stable, Municipal Darwinism has spread. Much technological knowledge was lost during the war. Because scientific progress has almost completely halted, Old Tech is highly prized and recovered by scavengers. Europe, some of Asia, North Africa, Antarctica and the Arctic are dominated by Traction Cities. North America was so ravaged by the war that it is often identified as the dead continent. The rest of the world is the stronghold of the Anti-Traction League which seeks to establish land based settlements and thus stop the intense consumption of the planet’s remaining resources.
The tale opens on London where a young apprentice historian, Tom Natsworthy, abandons his tasks in the Natural History Museum to watch his city chase and capture the town of Salthook. Amongst the captives of this place is a badly disfigured girl, Hester Shaw, who attempts to assassinate a highly regarded senior member of London’s ruling Guilds, Thaddeus Valentine, who is Tom’s hero. In an attempt to impress both Valentine and his beautiful daughter, Katherine, Tom attempts to detain Hester when she flees. This results in both young people being ejected from the city and left for dead in the barren wastelands over which the city chase occured.
Hester is determined to return to London and kill Valentine, whatever this takes. Tom, having never before left the moving city, has little choice but to travel with her. Gradually he learns what happened to her and why she is seeking revenge. He begins to examine the tenets on which he has been raised.
The pair find themselves embarking on a series of daring adventures during which they are captured to be sold off as slaves, rescued by the pilot of an airship, hitch a ride with pirates, and visit land based settlements where Tom comes face to face with the barbarians he has been taught wish to destroy his progressive culture. Throughout they are pursued by a deadly, mechanised creature intent on Hester’s demise.
Back on London, Katherine is trying to piece together the mystery of why a young girl would wish to kill her beloved hero father. What she discovers causes her to question everything she has thus far known.
The action has many imaginative twists and turns involving a fabulous cast of characters. There are numerous amusing references to our contemporary world alongside traits of human nature which have not changed. The writing is polished and engaging, with sufficient depth to avoid moralising or schmaltz. The author is not afraid to kill his darlings.
An imaginative page-turner and worthy recipient of its many accolades. Recommended for competent readers of any age.
The story is set in a post apocalyptic Earth, ravaged by a Sixty-Minute War which caused massive geological upheaval. To escape the earthquakes, volcanoes, and other instabilities, communities were established on Traction Cities which move around on huge engines and wheels. These behemoths attack and dismantle other cities for resources, citing what is known as Municipal Darwinism as necessary for survival. Although the world has since become stable, Municipal Darwinism has spread. Much technological knowledge was lost during the war. Because scientific progress has almost completely halted, Old Tech is highly prized and recovered by scavengers. Europe, some of Asia, North Africa, Antarctica and the Arctic are dominated by Traction Cities. North America was so ravaged by the war that it is often identified as the dead continent. The rest of the world is the stronghold of the Anti-Traction League which seeks to establish land based settlements and thus stop the intense consumption of the planet’s remaining resources.
The tale opens on London where a young apprentice historian, Tom Natsworthy, abandons his tasks in the Natural History Museum to watch his city chase and capture the town of Salthook. Amongst the captives of this place is a badly disfigured girl, Hester Shaw, who attempts to assassinate a highly regarded senior member of London’s ruling Guilds, Thaddeus Valentine, who is Tom’s hero. In an attempt to impress both Valentine and his beautiful daughter, Katherine, Tom attempts to detain Hester when she flees. This results in both young people being ejected from the city and left for dead in the barren wastelands over which the city chase occured.
Hester is determined to return to London and kill Valentine, whatever this takes. Tom, having never before left the moving city, has little choice but to travel with her. Gradually he learns what happened to her and why she is seeking revenge. He begins to examine the tenets on which he has been raised.
The pair find themselves embarking on a series of daring adventures during which they are captured to be sold off as slaves, rescued by the pilot of an airship, hitch a ride with pirates, and visit land based settlements where Tom comes face to face with the barbarians he has been taught wish to destroy his progressive culture. Throughout they are pursued by a deadly, mechanised creature intent on Hester’s demise.
Back on London, Katherine is trying to piece together the mystery of why a young girl would wish to kill her beloved hero father. What she discovers causes her to question everything she has thus far known.
The action has many imaginative twists and turns involving a fabulous cast of characters. There are numerous amusing references to our contemporary world alongside traits of human nature which have not changed. The writing is polished and engaging, with sufficient depth to avoid moralising or schmaltz. The author is not afraid to kill his darlings.
An imaginative page-turner and worthy recipient of its many accolades. Recommended for competent readers of any age.
I really enjoyed this. The character development all around was really good and engaging and I really appreciated how much of the world was explored. It was a fun experience.
Enjoyable book. Good characters, good story. Looks like the movie is going to be great, which is why I read this, though definitely different. Looking forward to seeing it and reading the rest of the quartet.
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That was a good ending.
I really liked the ending.
I loved that no one was two dimensional.
It had some issues with using coincidences as get out of jail free cards it that's forgivable in this age of book.
Tom and Hester grew up so much!!
That was a good ending.
I really liked the ending.
I loved that no one was two dimensional.
It had some issues with using coincidences as get out of jail free cards it that's forgivable in this age of book.
Tom and Hester grew up so much!!