Fever Crumb
Fever Crumb has been adopted and raised by Dr. Crumb, a member of the Order of Engineers, where she serves as an apprentice. At a time when women are not seen as reasonable creatures, Fever is an anomaly, the only girl to serve in the Order. Soon, though, she must say good-bye to Dr. Crumb to assist archaeologist Kit Solent with a top secret project.
The assignment involves a mysterious room that once belonged to Auric Godshawk, the last of the Scriven overlords, and Fever must help unlock it. The Scriven, not human, ruled the city some years ago but were hunted down and killed in a victorious uprising by the people.
As Fever’s work begins, she is plagued by memories that are not her own, and Kit seems to have a particular interest in finding out what they are. All Fever knows is what she’s been told: She is an orphan. But whose memories does she hold? And why are there people chasing her, intent on eliminating her? Is Fever the key to unlocking the terrible secret of the past?
Haunting, arresting, and astonishingly original, Fever Crumb will delight and surprise listeners at every fast-paced, breathless turn.
Great book, but not the best,
And I think that’s probably the most disappointing part of the book. The others in the series are named Mortal Engines (taken from Othello), Predators Gold, Infernal Devices and A Darkling Plain (from a Matthew Arnold poem) which I believe are all great titles, yet Fever Crumb sounds a bit silly when compared.
However, as this is not a direct prequel and more just a book set in the same world I don’t suppose it matters that much.
Fever Crumb is the main character in the book and it is her quest to find out who she really is. Along the way she will meet murderous Skinners (a group who helped over throw the previous dictatorship of the ‘patchskins’) insane Stalkers (cyborg soldiers) and the first of the Traction Cities.
Fast paced and full of action Fever Crumb is not a book that is easy to put down, but truth be told you probably wont need to put it down as it is sadly quite short. Fever is likeable, as are the other good characters, whilst the baddies are suitably frightening, but I cant help but feel its aimed at a slightly younger audience than the previous 4.
All in all this is a fun and exciting book which, although not as good as the other 4, is still a worthy addition to the series.
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|hopefully just the start of Fevers adventures 😛,
having said that the book is a great read and almost up to the other books standards, the characters are great and its amazing to learn some of the back stories to London in the books and some of the characters we already know, it’s funny, dark and addictive but if i have one complaint its this, i find it funny when in the books things and places from our time are said wrong e.g st pickleel circus instead of picadilli or st kylie but he did go a bit overboard in this book, oh and at first i thought the title was stupid but once you know what it means it makes sense =S
its all good though and i hope this is just the start of a new mortal engines series based on Fever Crumb and i hope we dont have to wait long for the next 😀
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|A worthy next step in the Mortal Engines world!,
As a prequel this book starts to explain how the world of the traction cities came about and to bridge the gap between the world we know and that distant future the author has created. As usual Philip Reeve has created characters who are engaging and through them he unfolds the story in a way that keeps one interested through to the last page. The clever and sometimes subtle nods to our world are amusing and remind us that just as the past has been lost and distorted by the passage of time so what we take for granted now will also be lost in the future. What will people make in the future of our cultural references!
There were a few aspects that were not as clear as they might have been; the plot got a bit convoluted. For that I have only given 4 stars but still a good read.
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