“It was a dark, blustery afternoon... and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea.” Welcome to a rollicking adventure yarn where sensible citizens live in mobile cities, and where the rule of law has been replaced by “kill or be killed”. This book is aimed at younger teens, and the emphasis is on adventure rather than believable science. The genre is steam punk (see also my Leviathan review) and I suspect that a suspension of realistic hard science has been accepted as normal for this genre. He has the entire city of London moving over difficult terrain at 80 kilometres an hour on caterpillar tracks!
We meet Tom, an earnest young apprentice to the all powerful Engineers guild. Tom witnesses an attack on Valentine, the heroic Explorer by an apparently deranged girl Hester. All is not what it seems, and slowly the terrible truth about Valentine and the other rulers of London comes to light. Tom is thrown out of London, and has to survive in a wilderness criss-crossed by the gouges of the mobile cities. He meets other outcasts, and survives challenges to his life and freedom.
Don’t read this if you are looking for solid and mentally stimulating science fiction. It is ultimately an adventure story placed in an “alternative future”. Like the science, Tom’s adventures are rather far fetched. Still, I was interested to see how the book would finish and skimmed through to the dramatic conclusion.
I would see this as a read for younger teens keen for “adventure on the high seas” in SciFi form. Some of the fighting is gruesome, and there are scary characters and moments, so it would not be ideal for younger students.
Andrew Lack
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