Web of Air by Philip Reeve (Fever Crumb book 2); young adult, steampunk; 304 pagesI LOVED Fever Crumb, but hadn't really expected a sequel (well, not a sequel about her; I knew about the Hungry City series). So I was pleasantly surprised to stumble across this: Two years after fleeing London, Fever finds herself in the company of a traveling theatrical troop. Her journey bringers to Mayda-on-the-Sea, where Arlo Thursday, the possibly-mad grandson of a famous shipbuilder, is attempting to construct a flying machine. But there are other forces at work within the city, and as Fever becomes involved in Arlo's project, it may put both their lives at risk.
There was so much to love in this book: Fever's older now, and a little more mature, but this book still shows her coming to grips with the real world in a lot of ways (including her first crush!). There's danger and excitement and adventure, as well as all the expected steampunk trappings: flying machines, pirates, and lots of cool gadgets. One of my favorite things about Fever's world is that it's our world, thousands of years in the future; I love seeing how the world has changed, and how some of the things we've left behind have been interpreted! I also love seeing how other things have evolved. In this case, I'm talking about the angels--mutant seagulls with rudimentary hands and a sort of basic, child-like intelligence. Creepy.
The ending is sadder than I expected, but it fits the tone of these books. And now that I know I can expect more (Reeve's third Fever Crumb book, Scrivener's Moon, came out in the UK last fall), I'm not quite so broken up about the way this one leaves us. I don't think I can wait another year for my next installment--I may have to order a UK copy of book three, as there's still no US publication date on Amazon.
No comments:
Post a Comment