Book Of The Month: A Web Of Air

The latest welcome addition to Philip Reeve's wonderful World Of Mortal Engines oeuvre is A Web Of Air, a direct sequel to his 2009 masterpiece, Fever Crumb.

Opening two years after the teenaged protagonist Fever left London with a group of traveling performers, this book takes the young Engineer to the 'edge of the (known) world', the island-city of Mayda (which I suspect is analogous to our Madeira, off the coast of Portugal).

Even from its cover, in through every page, A Web Of Air has a very different tone to other works in this cycle. Where the others have exuded a sense of dark, oppressive, steampunky, claustrophobia, this story is very bright and airy - centred, as it is, around an eccentric scientist's obsession with rediscovering the secret of manned-flight after thousands of years.

The other five World Of Mortal Engines books - to date - are grand epics at moments of immense turmoil, while A Web Of Air is a smaller, more intimate tale about two people chasing a dream.

But the change in focus and style doesn't detract from the importance of the story in the unfolding mythology of this post-apocalyptic world and Fever's ultimate sacrifice, her betrayal of her own beliefs 'for the greater good', is as tragic as anything you will find in Shakespeare or Emily Brontë.

This is Philip Reeve's Empire Strikes Back to the Star Wars of Fever Crumb.

There are, of course, moments of action and excitement throughout the tale - a particularly picturesque one being a rooftop chase along a row of funicular buildings going up and down the side of the crater in which Mayda sits - and a mysterious assassin whose identity isn't that hard to second guess, but whose motivation will catch fans of the series by surprise.

Observant readers will also pick up on a number of Easter Eggs, foreshadowing key features of the later (chronologically) Mortal Engines books that this is a prequel to. One in particular, the name of a certain boat, got my mind spinning like a candyfloss machine with the possibilities of how it tied in with the future history of this world.

As with the great 'origin story' at the end of Fever Crumb for one of the central characters in the first run of tales, these moments don't distract from the flow of the narrative if you are not up to speed with Reeve's other work, but certainly add to the experience if you can appreciate their importance.

While I am wary of giving too much away of the plot, because I want everyone to read this - and the other World Of Mortal Engines books - it's safe to say that A Web Of Air took me, and its adorable, quirky central figure, in directions I wasn't expecting and moved me in ways I haven't been moved by a book for long time.

* Look out on Sunday for my Six Of The Best interview with Philip Reeve.