Mortal Engines Quartet
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| Mortal Engines Quartet | |
 Original cover designs for the Mortal Engines Quartet |
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| Author | Philip Reeve |
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| Cover artist | David Frankland |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science Fiction Steampunk |
| Publisher | Scholastic |
| Publication date | 2001 - 2006 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
The Mortal Engines Quartet is the UK and original title of a series of four novels, Mortal Engines, Predator's Gold, Infernal Devices, and A Darkling Plain, written by the British author Philip Reeve. It is known in the US as the Hungry City Chronicles.
Contents |
[edit] The World of the Mortal Engines Quartet
The Quartet is set in the distant future, in an age known as the Traction Era. Earth has been reduced to wasteland by a devastating conflict, known as the Sixty Minute War. Nations no longer exist, except in the lands of the Anti-Traction League; Traction Cities - entire cities mounted on caterpillar tracks for mobility - are fiercely independent city-states, using giant jaws to devour one another for resources. Trade is mostly accomplished by airship, though sometimes cities of roughly equal size (unable to devour each other) will stop to trade. Old-Tech (technology from before the Traction Era, some of which is from the 21st century) is the most sought-after commodity.
- The Great Hunting Ground - Consists of Europe and Northern Asia, and is the domain of the Traction Cities. It is a muddy wasteland, as the constant movement of the cities has destroyed all vegetation. The land is referred to by city-dwellers as the "Out-Country."
- The Ice Wastes - New name for the Arctic, which is also home to Traction Cities who use iron runners to skate across the ice.
- Africa - Africa is split between the Sahara Desert, which is a land of Traction Cities, and the southern regions, run by Anti-Tractionists. Areas of the southern continent include the static cities of Zagwa and Tibetsi, and the highland area known as the Mountains of the Moon.
- The Dead Continent - North America, reduced to an irradiated wasteland by the Sixty Minute War. Rumours abound as to whether it is completely dead or not, which provide much of the focus of Predator's Gold.
- Asia - The stronghold of the Anti-Traction League. Eastern China is evidently irradiated from the Sixty Minute War, and the Himalayas are now the centre of civilisation (the mountainous terrain makes it impossible for cities to approach).
- Nuevo Maya - New name for South America, which was severed from North America when "slow bombs" destroyed Central America during the Sixty Minute War. Like Africa and Eurasia, South America is split: static settlements rule the Andes, but the lowlands are filled with ziggurat Traction Cities. Tom and Hester visit Nuevo Maya in the gap between the first two books, but it is never visited in the series itself.
- Antarctica - Mentioned only once, and is evidently the domain of oil-drilling Traction Cities. Tom and Hester visit Antarctica in the gap between the first two books, but, again, it is never visited in the series itself.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Names
A few of the people in the books are named after places in Devon, where Reeve lives. Miss Plym and Chudleigh Pomeroy are both in the Guild of Historians, and Tamarton Foliot is an "Alternative" historian.
Friends of Phillip Reeve are also occasionally mentioned in the books; for instance 'Poskitt' is included as a god, clearly referring to Kjartan Poskitt, friend and author of books that Reeve has illustrated in the past.
[edit] Airship Names
Airships in the quartet carry unusual or quirky names sometimes reminiscent of the style of the names of ships in Iain Banks' Culture novels.
- 13th Floor Elevator - from the band of similar name
- Jenny Haniver - a dried-out skate or ray resembling a demon
- Invisible Worm - a reference to William Blake's poem, The Sick Rose
- Aerymouse - archaic name for a bat
- Idiot Wind - reference to a Bob Dylan song on the album Blood on the Tracks
- My Shirona - bowdlerization of My Sharona, hit single by The Knack
- Mokele Mbembe - a cryptozoological creature of the Congo Basin
- Garden Aeroplane Trap - a surrealist painting by Max Ernst
- Zainab - various women in Islamic history
[edit] External links
- Official Website
- [1] - Urbivore, a short story written by Reeve in the 1990s, which became the basis for the Chronicles
[edit] References
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