Mortal Engines

Mortal Engines, Book 1

By: Philip Reeve

Narrated by: Barnaby Edwards

Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Welcome to the astounding world of Predator Cities!

Emerging from its hiding place in the hills, the great Traction City is chasing a terrified little town across the wastelands. Soon, London will feed.

In the attack, Tom Natsworthy is flung from the speeding city with a murderous scar-faced girl. They must run for their lives through the wreckage - and face a terrifying new weapon that threatens the future of the world.

©2001 Philip Reeve (P)2017 Scholastic Inc.

Good Book.

A nice easy Book, I do recommend. The Movie - I Don't recommend. Enjoyed this.

Wednesday December 16, 2020

When I watched this movie, I saw it was based on a book so I had to hear it. Of course the book is more detailed and the movie didn't show everything as written but its not that bad. This story is kinda slow in the beginning, in my opinion but it ends alright.

Fun.

Enjoyed the book well enough. The narrator did a great job at injecting personality into the characters.

Better than the movie

I really hope you are deciding to listen to this before you watch the movie. It’s by far more enjoyable and the 9 hours you spend here won’t feel like wasted time like watching the movie.

Fast paced, fun book

It really is a 4.5 but I rounded up. the narrator was good and did a great job with the different voices. the story is geared towards a YA or teen, but was still able to keep my intrest. The storyline was very interesting and I actually look forward to the film. Very original take on the future.

A novel world

What did you love best about Mortal Engines?

The traction cities and city Darwinism were quite interesting. The image of a huge tracked city, or small wheeled town running across wind swept fields or through dense bogs was very evocative.

Would you be willing to try another book from Philip Reeve? Why or why not?

I'd be tempted just to see if Reeve evolved in his career. His world was good, story ok.. but his characters left something to be desired.

What aspect of Barnaby Edwards’s performance would you have changed?

His female narrative voice could be quite grating at times.

Any additional comments?

There is perhaps too much a star wars taint to this property. Many scenes feel as if they were lifted from a property now owned by the mouse.

Entertaining but simple.

Overall this was an entertaining listen. It is most definitely targeted at young adults. would recommend to someone younger.

I love this book and I love the narration

I travel a lot so audio books are a must. This book is so good. The story is engaging, the narration is so good that I've exclaimed out loud. I really love Barnaby Edwards. Listening to this book is the adult equivalent of a loved one reading to you before bed.

Amazing

Creative language and story which should prove to light anyones imagination. To put it simply, it was inspirational.

Clearly re-written to suit a YA audience

While I did enjoy the story, it's unfortunately necessary to make some minor adjustments in your head as to how you view the characters in order to see the story as it was originally intended. Beyond the first several chapters, it becomes glaringly obvious that the story was never intended to be aimed at a YA audience. The main characters must have absolutely been several years older. Descriptive texts about the workings and goings-on of the world have, with no question, been removed, like a poorly edited theatrical cut. While a good deal of sudden and horrific deaths and gore still remains, you can easily pick out where parts were modified or removed to turn this toward a younger audience. The lack of harshness where it should be, no lewd humor, cursing, etc. is almost distracting in several parts- it's like you accidently skipped a paragraph here and there. Several childish and completely unnecessary characters seem to have been forceably inserted, especially in the first half. It's sad to see the story suffer where it could have shined. It's almost like I can hear the publisher now, "no, no, no, I know it's mostly about genocide and murderous revenge but make it more like Harry Potter or we won't sell any copies." If you can put it aside and bear through the awkwardness of the beginning, the core of the story is fun and engaging. It certainly makes your mind run amock with curiosity, but it leaves you craving explanation.
Narrator is VERY good, easy to understand, has consistent and distinct voices for every character- one of the best I've heard.