The Mortal Engines

Mortal Engines

Based on the movie trailer for this book, I had a feeling the book would be better. So, I dived into the book whole-heartedly, and I wasn’t too in love with the story, but I didn’t hate it. I admired the personification used to describe the machines that drive the world while also being a symbol for its place in the animal kingdom. The machines in Mortal Engines are giant vehicles made up of cities, towns, or small villages. The main character lives on London, which is basically all of London city on giant wheels and the largest mobile city. There are still some towns and villages rooted on the ground which are called static civilizations. They are easy prey for large cities to demolish and consume. With big machines comes a great amount of supplies for the people and the engines. Like water in the desert so are spare parts to the people in this world. The big cities must consumer other cities to survive. This is identical to how the animal kingdom functions which is what made this world so unique and creative. Reeves described the scene of a city consuming another town that same way a lioness hunts and eats its prey.

The main character Tom did irritate me because he had a major crush on a girl named Katherine who was the daughter of his most admired idol/villain, Valentine. His whole goal throughout the story was to get back to London, after being thrown out of the city by Valentine, and be with Katherine. Yet, once he met Hester, Valentine’s greatest threat, he slowly lost feelings for Katherine and developed new emotions for Hester. I get that feelings can change but it was so convincing that Tom almost loved Katherine, yet as time went on and the further his feelings for her started to fade. Plus, Tom was repulsed by Hester’s physical features which was a gaping scar slashed across her face and her demeanor as a tomboy.

Meanwhile, Hester was two sided. She couldn’t decide if she felt nothing but hate and anger for Valentine and the world or if she was just extremely upset. There were moments where Hester exposed her feminine side and it didn’t suit her. She’s a physically and mentally tough girl, so why not make her emotionally tough as well? She basically swore to avenge her mother who was killed by Valentine, yet her path is muddled when Tom shows up. Her relationship with Tom needed to stay as a friendship. It was too convenient for the two of them to develop feelings for one another when they had nothing in common except an enemy.

It’s assumed that Tom is the main character because he was where the story started. However, his only goal was to get back to London, yet it changed as he realized that he wanted to help Hester on her goal which was to destroy Valentine and a machine that could destroy an entire city. Tom became more of an aid to Hester and the story basically followed Hester on her journey rather than Tom’s. Really Hester should have been the main character because it would still continue with or without Tom’s help.

After the way this book ended, I’m indifferent about reading the sequel. At the same time, I should continue to see if the series gets better or worse. It’s like watching a really bad movie and hoping it gets better by the end. It was a successful enough series to adapt it into a film, but it’s not a series that is a priority for me to add to my TBR list.