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hayleynoellereads 's review for:
Infernal Devices
by Philip Reeve
Infernal Devices is the third book in The Hungry City Chronicles. Where are the Hungry Cities you may ask? Good question, because I don't know. We begin sixteen years after the boggling cliff hanger ending of Predator's Gold that left us knowing Hester Shaw was pregnant with Tom's baby! So clearly, despite our disappointing with Predator's Gold after the great world-building and mediocre but still enjoyable characters in Mortal Engines, we continued on with the series and headed to Infernal Devices..
Sixteen years have passed, Hester and Tom are living with their fifteen year old daughter, Wren, in Anchorage. Neither Hester or Tom or Wren have been in the sky or on a traction city in years! They are boring now. But let the adventure commence!
But let me make something clear...I really liked Mortal Engines. I enjoyed the characters and the story line and the world building was wonderful. I bought the rest of the series (regrettably) after I finished. But these books do not get better as the series goes on. They just don't.
My reasons for giving this book two stars are as follows:
1. WORLD BUILDING.
One star is for world building. The world is just too cool not to enjoy. A whole world of traction cities that fucking eat each other and become bigger and better? Yes, please. The different cultures and races and lands in the sky? Yes, yes, yes! But this world is diluted because the story is just so all over the place purely because of the character's story lines.
2. CHARACTERS.
Hester Shaw in Mortal Engines was a young girl, disfigured but badass and out to avenge the deaths of her parents and get revenge! She knows she is broken but she doesn't like it deter her from getting what she wants. In this book however, Hester Shaw acts as if she needs to kill just for the enjoyment of it. She laughs and has a good time while she mentions the fact that the people she is killing have families back home. She hardly cares about her missing daughter. What was Hester doing for fifteen years anyways?
Tom is just a useless character. He's the hero! He's the good guy! He sees something in Hester, enough to make a baby with her, enough to stay with her for fifteen years without a mean thought. Aaaannnddd that's about it. Tom's a good guy. The End.
Wren Natsworthy is Tom and Hester's daughter who is kidnapped which strikes the characters into action. She too is a very flat character. She seems to hate her ugly, horrible mother, though we don't get a sense as to why. She seems to be a smart girl but we don't know much else about her.
Now, there is a massive cast of extra characters with bizarre names and backgrounds that we are apparently supposed to keep straight. Here's a few.
Freya Rasmussen -- girl from second book? Do we need her in this book at all? She was pretty and nice and opposite from Hester.
Gargle -- a Lost Boy.
Remora -- zero idea who this person is.
Fishcake -- a Lost Boy
Nimrod Pennyroyal -- Mayor and a crook and a knock-off Gilderoy Lockhart.
Grimsby -- nope, no idea.
The Stalker Fang -- character from second book, not really sure why we still care about her. Flew the Jenny Hanover.
Nabisco Skhin -- slaver
Caul -- guy who likes Freya.
The Stalker Shrike -- he's still around? He was cool in the first book but characters who die and come back and die and come back and die and come back are...repetitive.
Dr. Oenone Zero -- I think she is a smart tech type girl involved with
Theo Ngoni -- slave who is a coward but cute.
Cynthia Twite -- slave and friend of Wren
And Boo-Boo -- married to Nimrod. Nimrod and Boo-Boo...NIMROD AND BOO BOO!
I am all for having side characters have back stories, but do we need to hear about all of them? The whole book becomes a cluster-fuck of where are they, who are they, and what is even happening?
Sixteen years have passed, Hester and Tom are living with their fifteen year old daughter, Wren, in Anchorage. Neither Hester or Tom or Wren have been in the sky or on a traction city in years! They are boring now. But let the adventure commence!
But let me make something clear...I really liked Mortal Engines. I enjoyed the characters and the story line and the world building was wonderful. I bought the rest of the series (regrettably) after I finished. But these books do not get better as the series goes on. They just don't.
My reasons for giving this book two stars are as follows:
1. WORLD BUILDING.
One star is for world building. The world is just too cool not to enjoy. A whole world of traction cities that fucking eat each other and become bigger and better? Yes, please. The different cultures and races and lands in the sky? Yes, yes, yes! But this world is diluted because the story is just so all over the place purely because of the character's story lines.
2. CHARACTERS.
Hester Shaw in Mortal Engines was a young girl, disfigured but badass and out to avenge the deaths of her parents and get revenge! She knows she is broken but she doesn't like it deter her from getting what she wants. In this book however, Hester Shaw acts as if she needs to kill just for the enjoyment of it. She laughs and has a good time while she mentions the fact that the people she is killing have families back home. She hardly cares about her missing daughter. What was Hester doing for fifteen years anyways?
Tom is just a useless character. He's the hero! He's the good guy! He sees something in Hester, enough to make a baby with her, enough to stay with her for fifteen years without a mean thought. Aaaannnddd that's about it. Tom's a good guy. The End.
Wren Natsworthy is Tom and Hester's daughter who is kidnapped which strikes the characters into action. She too is a very flat character. She seems to hate her ugly, horrible mother, though we don't get a sense as to why. She seems to be a smart girl but we don't know much else about her.
Now, there is a massive cast of extra characters with bizarre names and backgrounds that we are apparently supposed to keep straight. Here's a few.
Freya Rasmussen -- girl from second book? Do we need her in this book at all? She was pretty and nice and opposite from Hester.
Gargle -- a Lost Boy.
Remora -- zero idea who this person is.
Fishcake -- a Lost Boy
Nimrod Pennyroyal -- Mayor and a crook and a knock-off Gilderoy Lockhart.
Grimsby -- nope, no idea.
The Stalker Fang -- character from second book, not really sure why we still care about her. Flew the Jenny Hanover.
Nabisco Skhin -- slaver
Caul -- guy who likes Freya.
The Stalker Shrike -- he's still around? He was cool in the first book but characters who die and come back and die and come back and die and come back are...repetitive.
Dr. Oenone Zero -- I think she is a smart tech type girl involved with
Theo Ngoni -- slave who is a coward but cute.
Cynthia Twite -- slave and friend of Wren
And Boo-Boo -- married to Nimrod. Nimrod and Boo-Boo...NIMROD AND BOO BOO!
I am all for having side characters have back stories, but do we need to hear about all of them? The whole book becomes a cluster-fuck of where are they, who are they, and what is even happening?