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maddy707's review against another edition
adventurous
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
2.5
I wish I loved this as much as I loved the first 2 Fever Crumb books. I was finding this series to be so much more enjoyable then Mortal Engines. But this book just didn’t live up to the first 2.
There were too many characters and towards the end everything just felt complicated and clunky. I couldn’t follow along with what was happening. It wasn’t until Wavey died that the book even piqued my interest. But there were just so many different threads of this book that were left unfinished. For example, Dr Crumb’s writing just felt so out of character. I didn’t like it at all.
Something I did like about this book was the writing of Charlie Shallow. The sociopathic nature of him came across very well. I also enjoyed the whole bisexual arc Fever went through. I wasn’t expecting it and I found it endearing. Especially considering how much I liked Fever and Arlo together. The audiobook performance in this one was the best it’s ever been. Each character had a unique voice and it added a lot to being able to picture the characters.
Overall, I would say this book just feels unfinished with too much happening in it and some poor writing choices.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Grief
Moderate: War and Violence
Minor: Animal death and Racism
telly_in_town's review
5.0
SHES GAY AND SHE HAS A GIRLFRIEND AND THWH LIVE TOGETHER IN A LITTLE TENT AHFJJFJDJDNDBDJJD
callmecat's review
2.0
Wow I really disliked the ending of this book. All of it including what happened to the city and Dr. Crumb. And I'm not happy with Fever's love interest. I miss Arlo let's go back to book 2. :( But it is nice to finally have some more back story on how this world came about.
zenithharpink's review against another edition
3.0
This was both somewhat better than I expected, and also exactly what I was expecting. As usually, I got sucked into this book against my better judgement.
Reeve can't write a likable character to save his life, I don't like anybody in any of these books, and it made it tough to care too much about the outcome. The redeeming quality of these (and this) books is the richness of the world Reeve has created, that's what hooked me and kept me reading the series.
Fever was a tiny bit more sympathetic, and her relationship in this book didn't ring true - it felt like Reeve was unwilling to commit, and also, what about Arlo? Between the last book and this, one, there is a complete change in direction - the second book may as well not have happened, and literally nothing would have changed in the third book.
I can't really recommend this book, or the series. It's an interesting idea, but it never quite worked for me - mostly due to the terrible characters.
Reeve can't write a likable character to save his life, I don't like anybody in any of these books, and it made it tough to care too much about the outcome. The redeeming quality of these (and this) books is the richness of the world Reeve has created, that's what hooked me and kept me reading the series.
Fever was a tiny bit more sympathetic, and her relationship in this book didn't ring true - it felt like Reeve was unwilling to commit, and also, what about Arlo? Between the last book and this, one, there is a complete change in direction - the second book may as well not have happened, and literally nothing would have changed in the third book.
I can't really recommend this book, or the series. It's an interesting idea, but it never quite worked for me - mostly due to the terrible characters.
aimeesbookishlife's review against another edition
3.0
The problem with prequels is that you already know so much of the ending (for instance, we know that London becomes a moving city) and that takes a lot of the jeopardy out of the situation. This wasn't a bad ending, just not as good as the original series.
zenithharpink's review against another edition
3.0
This was both somewhat better than I expected, and also exactly what I was expecting. As usually, I got sucked into this book against my better judgement.
Reeve can't write a likable character to save his life, I don't like anybody in any of these books, and it made it tough to care too much about the outcome. The redeeming quality of these (and this) books is the richness of the world Reeve has created, that's what hooked me and kept me reading the series.
Fever was a tiny bit more sympathetic, and her relationship in this book didn't ring true - it felt like Reeve was unwilling to commit, and also, what about Arlo? Between the last book and this, one, there is a complete change in direction - the second book may as well not have happened, and literally nothing would have changed in the third book.
I can't really recommend this book, or the series. It's an interesting idea, but it never quite worked for me - mostly due to the terrible characters.
Reeve can't write a likable character to save his life, I don't like anybody in any of these books, and it made it tough to care too much about the outcome. The redeeming quality of these (and this) books is the richness of the world Reeve has created, that's what hooked me and kept me reading the series.
Fever was a tiny bit more sympathetic, and her relationship in this book didn't ring true - it felt like Reeve was unwilling to commit, and also, what about Arlo? Between the last book and this, one, there is a complete change in direction - the second book may as well not have happened, and literally nothing would have changed in the third book.
I can't really recommend this book, or the series. It's an interesting idea, but it never quite worked for me - mostly due to the terrible characters.
timburbage's review against another edition
5.0
So this is the finale to the Fever Crumb prequel trilogy, and it is fantastic.
We spend a lot of time in the Northern Wastes, and Fever finds out a lot more about the world. The pyramid is really interesting, and Cluny is one of my favourite side characters.
London finally gets moving, and Dr Crumb becomes an almost-villain as he takes hte logic of the Engineers to the next level. Charley Shallow is a great antagonist, as his selfish goals always take precedent over the greater good, but he isn't unrealistically evil.
We are in a war, and the battle lines are shifting and changing, but we are always focussing on Fever and her friends.
In terms of the trilogy as a whole, this finale shows how pointless the second book was. We never see any of those characters again, and Arlo only gets mentioned a handful of times. It was a sidequest, and I think you can almost miss it completely. The easter eggs didn't lead anywhere and were superfluous. This was my favourite of this trilogy, and this one felt much more like Mortal Engines.
Overall, I really liked this trilogy, but the Mortal Engines Quartet is still up there for one of my favourite series of all time.
We spend a lot of time in the Northern Wastes, and Fever finds out a lot more about the world. The pyramid is really interesting, and Cluny is one of my favourite side characters.
London finally gets moving, and Dr Crumb becomes an almost-villain as he takes hte logic of the Engineers to the next level. Charley Shallow is a great antagonist, as his selfish goals always take precedent over the greater good, but he isn't unrealistically evil.
We are in a war, and the battle lines are shifting and changing, but we are always focussing on Fever and her friends.
In terms of the trilogy as a whole, this finale shows how pointless the second book was. We never see any of those characters again, and Arlo only gets mentioned a handful of times. It was a sidequest, and I think you can almost miss it completely. The easter eggs didn't lead anywhere and were superfluous. This was my favourite of this trilogy, and this one felt much more like Mortal Engines.
Overall, I really liked this trilogy, but the Mortal Engines Quartet is still up there for one of my favourite series of all time.
booksnorkel's review against another edition
4.0
I haven't read the other books in the series in a good long while, and I think that this was a problem for me. I didn't really remember a lot of what has happened, and the little side plots, and all that. So This book for me was a bit confusing so I think I have to go back and read everything from beginning to end, then go back later and read it in chronological order and not publishing order just to see how it all shakes out.
Fever is with her mother and father as London is being disassembled put back together as a giant moving city. She leaves with her mother to go north to giant black pyramids that could house the secrets to the stalker brain. They could make more and London would be safe from the northern nomad barbarians who want to destroy it because a young girl from their tribe has been having visions of London mobile not understanding that she has the same technology in her that Fever has.
I think that there will be at least one more in this series, just to make the circle complete mostly because the first set of books had the most perfect ending, it's in my top five just one of those that are perfect. And since this is the prequel set it does have big ole' shoes to fill.
Fever is with her mother and father as London is being disassembled put back together as a giant moving city. She leaves with her mother to go north to giant black pyramids that could house the secrets to the stalker brain. They could make more and London would be safe from the northern nomad barbarians who want to destroy it because a young girl from their tribe has been having visions of London mobile not understanding that she has the same technology in her that Fever has.
I think that there will be at least one more in this series, just to make the circle complete mostly because the first set of books had the most perfect ending, it's in my top five just one of those that are perfect. And since this is the prequel set it does have big ole' shoes to fill.
jonnyh9's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-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
I was worried when I started this series, as I had heard that it was planned as a Quartet and Reeve got bored, so I thought it might end on a cliffhanger.
As is, there are still questions I wish had been answered, but it also serves as a fine ending for Fever and as a book is probably the best in the trilogy.
As is, there are still questions I wish had been answered, but it also serves as a fine ending for Fever and as a book is probably the best in the trilogy.