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cat1586's review against another edition
1.0
Ugh. That's pretty much it. I wanted so badly to love this series, and to be honest, I do appreciate the world Mr. Reeve creates. I appreciate his clean and experienced writing style as well.
It’s his insistence on having all of the "good" characters constantly walking around as naive as they can possibly be that is killing me. It seems that with this series, it doesn't matter what kind of experiences the characters go through, they are either permanently naive and bumbling around depending on other characters to save them, or they are all of the other characters, which somehow all seem to be ruthless and always seconds away from murdering anyone that crosses their path at the wrong angle.
This isn't how real people function for goodness sake! Maybe one or two...here and there... And I suppose that's all well and good, but maybe it would be best not to create a series, four books deep, based on these poor shallow ‘good is good and bad is bad’ depictions of black and white, two dimensional, people.
I'm committed to finishing the series now. I'm on the last one, but my goodness. I'm just sad. I could understand the characters in the first book. And even in the second. But not only are we in the third and fourth books, but its almost 20 years since the first one. WHY IS TOM STILL EXACTLY THE SAME?!? How has he not grown at least a little weary? I appreciate that he hasn't let the events of the first two books taint the goodness that is at his core, but I can't swallow that he would still be bumbling around as empty headed and naive as he was in the very first few chapters of book one. You can grow to be aware of the world, without having it run you over and ruin your 'goodness'.
But seriously now, the guy has had news that he is going to die, and it’s all because Nimrod Pennyroyal flipping shot him point blank in the chest and damaged his heart. Tom KNOWS this! So instead of wanting to do anything about it at all, nope, lets just calmly have breakfast with the murderer and I guess we’re all chummy again. Never mind Wren and her willingness to forget that she was a SLAVE to the guy who she knows shot her father and left him for dead. She was also nearly abandoned by him when they were attacked. But it’s cool guys. This world doesn’t play by “fool me once” rules.
I think more than anything I’m just so sad for Hester, who I think Mr. Reeve has done an even greater injustice to. This woman has gone through so much in her life that Tom could never have caught up in the first place. But instead of expanding on what an amazing idea it was to have Tom grow to love Hester in spite of everything, all that you ever get is that Tom knows she’s ugly and he seems to like her anyway. Clearly not enough to keep him from wishing that she wasn't as ugly as she is, or to stop him from kissing another girl at some point, or to even take the time in the 16 years they haven't been running for their lives to, you know, maybe get to know this woman who is harboring an intense self-hatred, because while she was away...well when she ran away because Tom kissed another girl....she found out she was the daughter of the man that killed her mom and she’s spent most of her life hating, but hey, I guess Tom loves her. He lives with her anyway, and in the third book they even have a kid....Another Tom. Only her name is Wren, and she’s exactly as naive as Tom, oh yeah, and she’s an asshole to her mom. She literally says at one point in the fourth book “motherless not fatherless”. Like give me a beak you asshole, Hester did a bad thing. That doesn’t erase all the good things she’s done in the meantime, and it wasn’t even to Wren personally.
The kicker about Wren and her dynamic with Hester, is that Mr. Reeve has so obviously set this up on the foundation of Wren knowing her mother is ugly. Like WHAT THE EVER LOVING SH*T IS THAT? He talks about how Hester and Wren use to get along before she got old enough to realize the way other people in town looked at Hester. After that, Wrens whole attitude with her mother changed. I’m sorry, but what a shitty thing to do to this character. To both of them.
So here Hester is, undervalued, still an outcast, in love with an absolute, but 'good', moron, and Mr. Reeve, instead of using all of this to catapult Hester into a character that is going to come out of all of this finally unburdened, and valued, has decided to just do his best to make her despicable. Why exactly? That's my question. Why was there no other way to write this character? She could have been amazing and now she’s cliché. I mean really ‘That’s Hester Shaw and she kills people’.
It's this element in this series alone that has kept me struggling for the last 3 months to just finish it. Every single time I pick it up and try to plow on ahead, I’m blasted in the face by this character injustice. Every single time I read a chapter from Wren all I want to do is slap the silly spoiled assholeness out of her. And I’m not there yet, but I have a feeling she, and her now ailing and still so impossibly naive father, are going to save the rags of what is left of this world. *biggest eye roll ever*
The thing is, Reeve can do better than this. Oenone Zero is proof of this. Built innumerable stalkers yet did her best to destroy the Stalker Fang. This characters seems to be displayed in all of the complexity of an actual human, so where on earth was the same effort when it comes to the main cast?!
I’m going to finish this series. Even if it hurts my heart, I will get to the end, just to see how far he carries this blatant protest against realistic characters. I loved the idea of this world. It was new, it was unique, and it was set up to be visually breathtaking, maybe not beautiful, but breathtaking. But people aren’t black and white. I’m sorry. You can do one bad thing and still be a good person, especially if that bad thing was inspired by being hurt. Just like doing one good thing doesn’t make you a good person. The idea that Pennyroyal; a liar, a cheater, a murderer, and a flipping con artist, is still running around on top of the world and repeatedly welcomed back into the fold by Wren and Tom, all while Hester is outcast and forgotten about is just too much.
It’s his insistence on having all of the "good" characters constantly walking around as naive as they can possibly be that is killing me. It seems that with this series, it doesn't matter what kind of experiences the characters go through, they are either permanently naive and bumbling around depending on other characters to save them, or they are all of the other characters, which somehow all seem to be ruthless and always seconds away from murdering anyone that crosses their path at the wrong angle.
This isn't how real people function for goodness sake! Maybe one or two...here and there... And I suppose that's all well and good, but maybe it would be best not to create a series, four books deep, based on these poor shallow ‘good is good and bad is bad’ depictions of black and white, two dimensional, people.
I'm committed to finishing the series now. I'm on the last one, but my goodness. I'm just sad. I could understand the characters in the first book. And even in the second. But not only are we in the third and fourth books, but its almost 20 years since the first one. WHY IS TOM STILL EXACTLY THE SAME?!? How has he not grown at least a little weary? I appreciate that he hasn't let the events of the first two books taint the goodness that is at his core, but I can't swallow that he would still be bumbling around as empty headed and naive as he was in the very first few chapters of book one. You can grow to be aware of the world, without having it run you over and ruin your 'goodness'.
But seriously now, the guy has had news that he is going to die, and it’s all because Nimrod Pennyroyal flipping shot him point blank in the chest and damaged his heart. Tom KNOWS this! So instead of wanting to do anything about it at all, nope, lets just calmly have breakfast with the murderer and I guess we’re all chummy again. Never mind Wren and her willingness to forget that she was a SLAVE to the guy who she knows shot her father and left him for dead. She was also nearly abandoned by him when they were attacked. But it’s cool guys. This world doesn’t play by “fool me once” rules.
I think more than anything I’m just so sad for Hester, who I think Mr. Reeve has done an even greater injustice to. This woman has gone through so much in her life that Tom could never have caught up in the first place. But instead of expanding on what an amazing idea it was to have Tom grow to love Hester in spite of everything, all that you ever get is that Tom knows she’s ugly and he seems to like her anyway. Clearly not enough to keep him from wishing that she wasn't as ugly as she is, or to stop him from kissing another girl at some point, or to even take the time in the 16 years they haven't been running for their lives to, you know, maybe get to know this woman who is harboring an intense self-hatred, because while she was away...well when she ran away because Tom kissed another girl....she found out she was the daughter of the man that killed her mom and she’s spent most of her life hating, but hey, I guess Tom loves her. He lives with her anyway, and in the third book they even have a kid....Another Tom. Only her name is Wren, and she’s exactly as naive as Tom, oh yeah, and she’s an asshole to her mom. She literally says at one point in the fourth book “motherless not fatherless”. Like give me a beak you asshole, Hester did a bad thing. That doesn’t erase all the good things she’s done in the meantime, and it wasn’t even to Wren personally.
The kicker about Wren and her dynamic with Hester, is that Mr. Reeve has so obviously set this up on the foundation of Wren knowing her mother is ugly. Like WHAT THE EVER LOVING SH*T IS THAT? He talks about how Hester and Wren use to get along before she got old enough to realize the way other people in town looked at Hester. After that, Wrens whole attitude with her mother changed. I’m sorry, but what a shitty thing to do to this character. To both of them.
So here Hester is, undervalued, still an outcast, in love with an absolute, but 'good', moron, and Mr. Reeve, instead of using all of this to catapult Hester into a character that is going to come out of all of this finally unburdened, and valued, has decided to just do his best to make her despicable. Why exactly? That's my question. Why was there no other way to write this character? She could have been amazing and now she’s cliché. I mean really ‘That’s Hester Shaw and she kills people’.
It's this element in this series alone that has kept me struggling for the last 3 months to just finish it. Every single time I pick it up and try to plow on ahead, I’m blasted in the face by this character injustice. Every single time I read a chapter from Wren all I want to do is slap the silly spoiled assholeness out of her. And I’m not there yet, but I have a feeling she, and her now ailing and still so impossibly naive father, are going to save the rags of what is left of this world. *biggest eye roll ever*
The thing is, Reeve can do better than this. Oenone Zero is proof of this. Built innumerable stalkers yet did her best to destroy the Stalker Fang. This characters seems to be displayed in all of the complexity of an actual human, so where on earth was the same effort when it comes to the main cast?!
I’m going to finish this series. Even if it hurts my heart, I will get to the end, just to see how far he carries this blatant protest against realistic characters. I loved the idea of this world. It was new, it was unique, and it was set up to be visually breathtaking, maybe not beautiful, but breathtaking. But people aren’t black and white. I’m sorry. You can do one bad thing and still be a good person, especially if that bad thing was inspired by being hurt. Just like doing one good thing doesn’t make you a good person. The idea that Pennyroyal; a liar, a cheater, a murderer, and a flipping con artist, is still running around on top of the world and repeatedly welcomed back into the fold by Wren and Tom, all while Hester is outcast and forgotten about is just too much.
toosuto's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
inkjet_knight's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
wookieeatemyshoe's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
evie5120's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
i_grace_e's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
PHILIP REEVE YOU CAN PAY FOR MY THERAPY I AM SOBBING
vortimer's review against another edition
2.0
A bleak conclusion to a bleak series, full of unsympathetic characters.
trienekata's review against another edition
adventurous
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
benjclyde's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
A very good ending to the Mortal Engines quadrilogy. Taken as a whole the 4 books tell a brilliant heartfelt exciting story that stretch from space to the all the continents of earth.
stephaniekrmr's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
After being disappointed by the first three books I didn’t expect it would be any different with this one 🫣 to my own surprise I have to admit - it was. Actually, I liked it. It was by no means perfect and far away from being a masterpiece, but I had fun and enjoyed the read. At that point that’s what counts and I‘m happy I sticked with it to the end.