Mortal Engines / Hungry City Chronicles Books In Order

Publication Order of Hungry City Chronicles Books

Publication Order of Fever Crumb Books

Publication Order of Hungry City Chronicles Non-Fiction Books

Mortal Engines, alternatively known as The Hungry City Chronicles especially in America and formerly called Mortal Engines Quartet, is the title of a quartet of futuristic books authored by quinquagenarian British writer Philip Reeve. This is a thought-provoking and descriptive series of books which revolves around a ‘what if’ scenario of a disastrous worldwide nuclear war. It shows the toe-curling human suffering, desperation, cut-throat competition for basic needs and survival against odds, and the possible annihilation which would ably follow hard on mankind’s heels in the wake of an all-out international thermonuclear warfare.

Possessing the knowledge needed to produce nuclear weapons and ward off a possible nuclear attack is currently the benchmark of regional, continental or global military supremacy, and the gateway to the coveted title of world superpower. As such, this has witnessed arms race among various neighboring and far-flung nations. What if, let’s say, a nation with nuclear arsenal declared war against another equally powerful one and the allied forces jumped into the fray? Anything and everything can happen.

Some of the impacts of such a war or, better still, a nuclear holocaust, might include a nuclear winter, rampant cases of radiation sickness due to exposure to radioactive materials, damnable firestorms, and millions of deaths. The world could be affected geologically, geographically, and environmentally. There would be socio-economic impacts. From a technology perspective, it would spell doom because of the associated electromagnetic disturbance. All in all, our modern civilization as we know it could be paralyzed or devastated. The Mortal Engines quartet offers fictionalized accounts of such scenarios and mankind’s quest for surviving during such a nuclear war or in the aftermath.

The first edition of the earliest book in the Mortal Engines series was initially published in November 2001 and goes by the title Mortal Engines as well (this is because it was originally meant to be a standalone book). The categories in which this series is shelved ranges from science fiction, including apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic, steampunk, and dystopia sub-genres, to fantasy genres.

Tom Natsworthy and Hester Shaw are the featured protagonists in the Mortal Engines series written by Philp Reeve. By the time we first meet Natsworthy, he is a mere cabin boy of an airship, with a desire for globetrotting; the young boy has been inspired by his role model, Valentine, to be a hero but is prevented by his social background; he gets a chance to prove his mettle when he tries to nab Hester in vain. By and by, he destroys his idol’s airship but feels remorseful. Hester Shaw is an orphaned character who, in her formative years, survived Valentine’s aggression but has an ugly scar as a pointer. In a world where it is literally survival of the fittest, where there is a fierce scramble for scant resources, and the survivors have nihilistic tendencies, the in-thing is coming up with ingenious ways to counter the earth’s instabilities and whimsical heartless competitors.

Mortal Engines: Awards
Author Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines has clinched exalted literary awards or been nominated for other notable ones. For instance, in 2002, the Mortal Engines clinched a Gold Award of the then Nestle Smarties Book Prize, in the 9-11 age bracket. By the same token, Reeve was also a shortlistee for the Whitbread Children’s Book Award. In 2003, Mortal Engines was nominated for the North East Teenage Book Award. In 2006, Mortal Engines was among the nominees for the Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award; similarly, it was nominated for the Rhode Island Teen Book Award.

Mortal Engines: TV Shows and Movies
The Mortal Engines series has been earmarked for film adaptation. Film rights were optioned in 2009 by filmmaker and director Peter Jackson. This film, which is being produced by WingNut Films, is slated for shooting on early 2017. It is slated for release on December 2018.

Best Mortal Engines Books
Public opinion shows that two of the best books in the Mortal Engines series are, one, Mortal Engines and, two, Predator’s Gold. This book called Mortal Engines, as it has been stated previously, takes place in the wake of a nuclear holocaust and the ensuing aggressive and cut-throat survival efforts. Geographical regions, almost equivalent to the present-day regional blocs, are set up; for instance, Northern Asia and Europe make up The Great Hunting Ground, North America is The Dead Continent, Arctic region is now The Ice Wastes while South America is Nuevo Maya.

This 2001 book titled Predator’s Gold, which is the second in the Mortal Engines series, paints a vivid image of the fierce competition. Incidentally, mobile metropolitan regions (called the Traction Cities) have replaced the destroyed brick and mortar cities. There are also nations which are called Anti-Traction League, notably the areas south of Sahara Desert, Africa. Nevertheless, there is fierce in-fighting in the quest for depleted resources, with the Traction Cities being fitted with mechanical parts which disassemble other cities to get resources. Trading is done via airships or carried out by cities with equivalent sizes and strength, something which renders reciprocity safe.

Other Series You May Like
People who enjoyed reading the Mortal Engines series also looked out for the following series of books. One of them is The Burn Cycle series that is authored by Tim Akers. Hereby, the plot revolves around a prehistoric city called Veridon. The protagonist, who hails from a noble background, has since been declared a social outcast and is also an outlaw. What he soon experiences compels him to have a sober reflection on his life, neighborhood, and suchlike things which he associated with.

The second one is titled New Amsterdam series and is penned by Elizabeth Bear. This revolves around a thousand-year-old creature which has since forgotten its birthday, birth place, identity, and suchlike personal information. Now its future holds something new. Another notable series of book is titled The Bookman Histories and is written by Lavie Tidhar. This is a trilogy and about contemporary crime; this whodunit series revolves around a terrorist named The Bookman, amid an upcoming Mars expedition; other aspects covered include discreet government agents, a conspiracy, airships, and gargantuan lizards.