Tom Natsworthy works under the London Museum. London is now a predator town in a post-apocalyptic world where towns have been put on wheels and roll around the continents in search of “prey” or smaller towns. These mortal engines strip the small towns of their resources and take their citizens as slaves working in the dangerous conditions of the underbelly. Tom goes down to the underbelly one day to meet his lifelong hero Thaddeus Valentine, but their meeting is crashed by a girl named Hester Shaw. Hester tries to stab Valentine and fails, Tom overhears their violent conversation, Hester escapes down onto the ground below the town, and thinking that Tom knows too much, Valentine throws him down with her. Tom and Hester argue at first but eventually become friends while venturing the world for answers about its past, their past, and what Valentine is up to.
This book made me feel apprehensive about our future as the human race. Some parts felt out of reach, yet uncannily accurate. Future civilizations would probably think that we worshipped Mickey Mouse and the Minions. It was nice reading about a world seeming so far away, escaping reality for a moment through the pages of a book, but at the same time, this book filled me with a sense of helplessness. Because this would likely be our future if nothing changed. A nuclear wasteland plagued by bandits, rogues, and corruption.
This book was an overall amazing read, if you don’t mind crippling existential dread. It changes your view on wrong and right and has heavy situational nuance. The book itself is a warning for what humans can become in the future if we are not careful. It tells us to be educated, because in a future where nearly none are educated, the world runs on false ideals and superstitions instead of logic and fact. It warns us that no matter how ready we think we are for the future, it is still undecided. It could be as dystopian as this world, a complete utopia, nothingness, or anything in between. My advice to readers when reading this particular book is to keep an open mind. Rethink your opinions and what you can and can’t do. And don’t eat Inkies.
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