Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve
Originally Posted to GoodReads: November 8, 2021
Just not that into it
Okay, first, I couldn’t really connect with any of the main characters, so that’s a big part of my problem. Second, there’s just so much crammed in here. It feels like the book was longer just because of how much happened that wasn’t even that integral to the plot. Third, the world building was alright, but again, there was just so much crammed in and then never actually explained. Fourth, the villains were crap. Kind of built up to be more than they were. And then they seem to be foiled in the end by… machine malfunctions. I’m confused as to what actually happened. Of course, jumping between points of view at that point really wasn’t helping either.
Really just not a fan of this. Wasn’t any one thing, just a whole lot that kind of petered out with more of a whimper than it probably meant to.
A fantastic and beautiful look at an exhibition most of us will tragically never get to see. The art, most of it my Jim Kay, is beautiful. I particularly loved looking at the old illuminated manuscript pages. The bits of unused writing from Rowling's drafts made me smile and gave me a nice reminder that even the best books start out needing some work.
Honestly, I probably won't reread this. Might look through from time to time just to look at the images. It's not really a book you read, if that makes sense.
Also, if, for some strange reason, you decide to pick up this book without reading the Harry Potter series first (what's wrong with you, go read them!), there are spoilers for the series.
Really awesome. Loved all the interconnectedness of everything. Loved the multiple narrators. Loved the fleshing out of the different cultures, as well as could be done in a first book. Loved the representation of non-heteronormativity.
My only real critique would be that the publishers needed to pay attention to where gaps in the text should be. There were several spots where I was confused due to a lack of spacing between paragraphs during a perspective jump.
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