Fever Crumb (the Fever Crumb Trilogy, Book 1): Volume 1

For 14 years, Fever Crumb has been raised as the only female member of the Order of Engineers in London. She is used to science and thinking and behaving rationally. One day, she is assigned to leave the building where the Engineers live and work to help an archeologist with a new find. The assignment is supposed to last a month but, of course, things change drastically. Fever is not only introduced to a strange world of emotions and different people and customs, but she is also led to question her very identity. Philip Reeve has created a future world a thousand years distant in which the technology of today is mostly artifact and shrouded in mystery, and civilization has reverted to that much more like the 17th or 18th centuries. Reeve's way of weaving in bits of culture from today is fascinating. Those references, however, are merely ancillary to the core of the story, a plot that is intricate and engrossing, with perfectly paced action and empathetic characters. This is the first in a series of books that are prequels to "The Hungry City Chronicles," and if they are as good as this, a trip to the library is now in order for me. Reviewed by Cathy Carmode Lim

Young Fever Crumb was abandoned at an early age. Taken in by the Order of Engineers, Fever was apprenticed to be the first female engineer within the organization. She has learned many things under the tutelage of Dr. Crumb, and now a request has been made. A notable archaeologist, Kit Solent, has sought out Fever to help him dispel a myth. He has found a possible treasure trove of information, but the key to unlocking the secret lies within Fever's memories. Fever will be used as a tool to uncover the mysteries of Auric Godshawk - a prominent technomancer who was also a Scriven. The Scriven came to power once they discovered their genetic abnormalities. Someone believes that Fever is a Scriven and will do anything to eliminate her. Fever's logic and rationalism will be tested, and the one thing that she fought so hard to control will bubble to the surface. FEVER CRUMB, a prequel to the HUNGRY CITY CHRONICLES, is an excellent novel that stands well on its own. Readers who are familiar with the "steampunk" genre will appreciate this novel, and how technology, or rather the lack thereof, is used throughout the story. I especially liked the main character, Fever. She is a no-nonsense type of gal - logical, straightforward, and unwilling to allow her emotions get the better of her; however, her façade does crack a bit as the story progresses. My hope is that Reeve will attempt to tie these books together, and then further develop the story of Fever. I will wait patiently for sequels! Reviewed by: LadyJay

A juicy read, bulging at the seams with creative ideas and interesting personages, set in Reeve's future England! Fever Crumb was taken in the by Order of the Engineers as a babe--the only female Engineer, in fact, since girls and women are known to lack the mental capacity for the job. While with the Engineers, Fever learns to live a life ruled by logic--until circumstances push her out into the world at large. Set in a damaged England in the distant and indistinct future, Reeve has created an enthralling world, at times vaguely familiar, often a bit threatening, but delightfully inventive at every twist and turn. Readers who race through this book (it's the type to keep you up all night reading) will want to delve into Mortal Engines next (assuming, that is, that they haven't read it already.)

When does a prequel then extend an original series, ( in this instance the Mortal Engines Quartet ), and when is it just a stand-alone companion? Well, I don't know, although I do think of the Quartet now a Quintet I also take other reviewers' points that it is really on its Todd. Ok, minor muse/digression over, this is a great book. Philip Reeve brings a serious story to you in such a delightfully light, witty style, it is almost a paradox. You can be still on the dregs of a worthy chuckle when next thing someone is dead. But, I do stress. this is not a comedy as such. The story involves a foundling, a baby named Fever, who grows up with the most practical of all breeds, the Order of Engineers. This is set in London, eons, ( well, centuries but eons sounds better ) before the main stories of the Quartet. But there are similarities as it is still well beyond our own time and cities are at least isolated grand fortresses even if not to the degree later on. We are brought into the tale not too long after a civil uprising rids the city of its tyrannical rulers, the Scriven, these are a highly intelligent race who do not believe themselves to be human as we are, Homo Superior they jokingly refer to themselves. But their tyranny finally sees something snap and they were duly despatched by otherwise ordinary Londoners, who rise up and reclaim their city. But, and I know not everyone likes these too much in books ( myself I don't care a jot as long as it's still a good read ), the use of many flashbacks for certain characters let's us in on the time of Scriven rule, thus allowing greater understanding of current events. I won't relate specifics, the book is too new to inadvertently introduce class one spoilers, but, I will say this, Fever, due to being brought up by the Engineers who of course come with a Spock-like devotion to reason and logic, goes through childhood and adolescence void of all emotions, either squashed out of her or due to it being ( almost . . . ) totally absent in her paradoxically caring but cold clinical guardians. Mr Reeve, after reading this, is for my money, the best family-cum-kids author on the planet, just edging out the other Philip of Lyra fame and of course, JK. His writing style, is quite simply, fantastic, so much so it can make a long long tale seem like a breeze ( actually, none of his books are that long on their own, but I read the Quartet without breaks so it seemed like a mammoth single book. ) His humour comes in two main forms, he either makes you chuckle through bringing you the foibles of life in a delightfully whimsical style, mainly in dialogue but in the narrative on the odd occasion ( wait till you read the lines about the Londoners shouting who they want for their new leader ), or, he shoots you with a humorous buckshot, made of a literary alloy of in-jokes and references to our own culture here and now. Wait until you read who the LA style mantra-bleating zealots actually proclaim, I really did ch

This is a strong fourth book in an already delightful series. I couldn't wait for the North American release so I had a copy shipped from the UK, and it was well worth the effort. What Philip Reeve is really good at is working fresh and inventive ideas into a well-known genre, so that while I'm drawn to the post-high-tech-apocalypse setting for its own sake, I'm constantly grinning at his artistry. He has some just wild standalone hi-tech ideas (e.g. the paperboys), but is also able to make clichéd scenarios all new: wait until you read the "car chase" scene. As in the previous three books, he does not shirk from creating morally difficult characters, which is unusual in books for teens period, let alone science fiction. He is also not afraid to let characters die, not necessarily heroically. It adds a heap of satisfying intellectual and emotional reality to an already believable and seductive storyline. This is a prequel, and there's a certain amount of it dedicated to backstory that sheds light on characters and events in the other books, but not in a domineering way, and you could read this book first without having read the others, no problem. If you liked the first three, you'll love this, and if you didn't like the first three, nothing will convince you.