Mortal Engines
The Hungry City Chronicles  
By Philip Reeve

     Several millennia into Earth's future, cities are no longer stationary. Built on large tractors, they move about the earth looking for smaller cities to devour. When a city spots a smaller one, they chase them down, dismantling them for spare parts and slaves. They take everything of value and recycle what they can't use.

     Now, however, Municipal Darwinism is beginning to fail. Prey is scarce in the European hunting ground. London has not moved for fear of being eaten by a larger metropolis. But supplies are getting scarce, so the city begins to hunt. They catch up with Salthook and eat it. Now they're moving east at a rapid clip. The Lord Mayor of London, Magnus Crome, has something planned. He intends to use an Old Tech machine called MEDUSA to enrich London and make her superior to all other Traction Cities.

    However, something is wrong with his plan. His chief historian, Thaddeus Valentine, who originally brought him MEDUSA, narrowly avoids an assassination attempt by a girl named Hester Shaw. Third Class Apprentice Historian, Thomas Natsworthy, saves Valentine's life. Unfortunately, when he tells Valentine that he knows the name of his assassin, Valentine pushed Natsworthy down the same chute Hester Shaw jumped into. He finds himself in the Out Country alone with Valentine's would-be assassin. Little did he know that he would soon learn to hate Valentine with as much passion as he had previously loved him.

    Mortal Engines is Philip Reeve's first novel and a fine debut it is. It is written for young adults, and shows the consequences of the violence that people do to each other. If you want to give your teenager a moral lesson in what violence actually does to people, this is a good book for that purpose. On top of that, it's a thoroughly entertaining story that I enjoyed reading. Pick up a copy and enjoy.