Infernal Devices

Infernal Devices by Philip Reeve

I reviewed the first two books in this series, Mortal Engines, HERE and Predator's Gold, HERE. If you wish for these books to remain unspoiled, I recommend not reading this review. 

I would like to stop for a moment and talk a little about my impression of the series so far.

I have utterly enjoyed reading this series so far. I have emotionally responded to every character I've come across, there have been delightful amounts of everything eventually tying back into the story. As I mentioned in my last review, I find that the series has plot driven action, rather than action driving the plot. To me, it feels that the characters are very interwoven with their ambitions, goals, and their growth while remaining to the roots of their character has been very nice to read. I've enjoyed watching Hester and Tom grow up in a fashion and I've loved to watch the world they interact with change as well. I'm glad to see that Hester and Tom aren't the primary force that shapes the world, but the world has gone on without them to do things. As much as I enjoyed the darwinism in the first book, I surprisingly enjoyed the peace of Anchorage much more in the second book but it still had the element of being chased. I'm getting hard pressed to think of one thing I didn't like about the series, and that's just so good.

The series ends with A Darkling Plain, but I'm finding the book almost impossible to find. I will keep on it as this is a series I would love to see how this all finishes.

Let's get back to Infernal Devices with an amazon summary, "Nearly twenty years after the city of Anchorage settled down on the shores of the Dead Continent of America, Tom and Hester are leading quiet, peaceful lives. Their wild adventures happened so long ago that they seem like little more than stories told to children -- children such as their own daughter, Wren, who is so exquisitely bored that she'd welcome any sort of excitement. . . .

So when a trio of Lost Boys asks her to steal the mysterious and deadly Tin Book of Anchorage, Wren is only too happy to help. But the theft goes wrong, and the Lost Boys steal Wren, too, leaving Tom and Hester no choice: They must abandon their peaceful life and rescue their daughter. Their search will reunite them with enemies they thought they'd left behind forever, will ask of them sacrifices that no parent can make, and will cost one of them everything that matters most." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

Tom and Hester have settled down in the rooted city of Anchorage where it crashed in America. Anchorage has managed to turn itself into a static settlement and the people have grown older and wiser in the almost twenty years since the events of Predator's Gold. Tom and Hester have had a child, Wren, who longs for adventure. One night, Wren is out and about when she sees Caul have an exchange with someone new who's appeared in Anchorage. She hides in the tall grasses and kind of overhears their conversation, but the stranger calls her out into the open. Wren approaches him and it's Gargle; he asks her to bring him the Tin Book of Anchorage. Wren is suspicious at first but fancies it to be an adventure so she agrees, but only if he'll take her away from Anchorage.

After that, we see more of what Anchorage has become and what has happened to the beloved characters from the the previous books. Wren manages to find and acquire the Tin Book with the unknowing help of Freya. She takes it back to Gargle but Caul sounds the alarm. Hester charges to get Wren and kills Gargle and his cohort Remora but Fishcake manages to get Wren and the Tin Book into the Screw Worm and heads off.

They hear a signal from a town of Brighton who say the parents of the Lost Boys know they're out there and want their children to come home. Fishcake it taken in by it and Wren goes along with it in the hopes that she'll be able to go back home. It's a trap. Brighton scoops them up and packages them to be slaves.

Meanwhile, Hester and Tom rally with Caul to set off to Grimsby where they assume the Lost Boy (Fishcake) would take Wren to Uncle.

...if you've read the other two books, this is a great third installment in the series. I'm halting myself from going into spoiler land.

I'm going to get my hands on that fourth book, hopefully soon.

Happy reading!