Predator's Gold

Rating:
Summary: One of My Favorite Books Ever!
Review: This book was everything I'd hoped for and more! I read it as quickly as I could, for it was very hard to put down. (You should've seen me when I first got it, I was jumping up and down and screaming, people were starting to stare at me...)
This is a great example of a sequel that does not fall flat on its face, but builds upon and enhances what was begun in the first book. I really enjoyed the character developement in this one, I felt like I ended up knowing the characters a lot better than before. I especially LOVE Hester, she's like an anti-heroine, but so perfect for what these books are trying to do. All the new characters are top-notch, and I'm so glad that they didn't ALL die this time, like at the end of Mortal Engines. The Anna Fang Stalker was particularly chilling, that whole plot line definately leaves a lot of room for a third book.
This book is still as gruesome as the first one and can be more than a little scary for the faint of heart. I for one was shaking in my shoes, heart pumping and practically hyperventilating! But that's what makes this series what it is, it has the power to evoke these sharp emotions, making you feel you are actually in the book. Absolutely amazing, I'd give it 100 stars if I could. Another great classic, courtesy of Philip Reeve!

Rating:
Summary: just as good as the last
Review: "She turned to look out of the galley porthole while she cleaned her teeth-anything rather than face her own reflection in the mirror above the basin. The sky was the color of packet custard, streaked with rhubarb cloud. Three small black specks hung in the center of the view. Flecks of dirt on the glass, thought Hester, but when she tried to rub them away with her cuff, she saw that she was wrong. She frowned, then fetched her telescope and studied the specks for a while. Frowned some more."

I'm more than half way already and I'm hooked! this book is just as good as the fist one, and if not then better. I just don't want it to end.

Rating:
Summary: MORTAL ENGINES was one of my favorites, and this one is even
Review: In this fast-moving, action-packed sequel to *MORTAL ENGINES-filled with intrigue, treachery, romance, duplicity, and humor-set in a distant future where cities move about devouring other cities, Tom and Hester land their damaged airship on the nonpredator city of Anchorage, whose petulant, young ruler decides to go the "Dead Continent" of old America. (M/H) MORTAL ENGINES was one of my favorites, and this one is even better!


Rating:
Summary: Icy and Cold
Review: After reading Mortal Engines, I had very high hopes for a sequel in a seemingly unlimited landscape that the author had painted for himself. And even though he killed off almost every character at the end of the last installment, there were still a lot of possibilities for the sequel. Predator's Gold is an engaging and entertaining book, but I was still disappointed simply because it doesn't do service to Mortal Engine's grand scope and scale. Hester and Tom's adventures do take an interesting turn in the frozen wastes of the north, which is perfect for this book's plot as it seems to slow down and freeze in the middle sections. The depiction of the evil cities of Arkangel and Wolverinehampton was an interesting twist to the tale, but I wanted more from an incredible world which Reeve has yet to take advantage of. I hope to see the author fill his own shoes in the next installment.

Rating:
Summary: The action-packed second book in the Hungry City chronicles
Review: PREDATOR'S GOLD is the second book in the Hungry City Chronicles, an action-packed series set in a "city-eat-city" world. Philip Reeve introduced "Municipal Darwinism" in his first book MORTAL ENGINES, in which traction cities roll about the earth looking for smaller, weaker cities to devour. He also introduced the series' protagonists: Hester, a scavenger who has lived her life largely outside the bounds of the enormous rolling cities, and Tom, an apprentice historian.

PREDATOR'S GOLD follows the continuing adventures of Hester and Tom, who have taken charge of the Jenny Haniver, an airship belonging to legendary aeronaut Anna Fang. They have spent the past few years traveling the "birdroads," taking on passengers and cargo to earn their living.

Their peace is short-lived when a new, radical wing of the Anti-Traction League (a rebel group dedicated to the idea that cities should become stationary again) tries to reclaim the airship for their own uses. Shot down and desperately in need of repairs, Hester and Tom land on the sparsely populated city of Anchorage, which is under the new leadership of Freya, a spoiled margravine whose parents died in an engineered plague. Freya, enamored of the tales of a lush, green paradise, as reported in the preposterous books of Prof. Pennyroyal, has directed her city towards the Dead Continent, across the uncharted ice of the arctic.

Things take a turn for the disastrous when Hester, jealous of Tom's affection for Anchorage and the beautiful, plump margravine, commits an act of betrayal that sets off an explosive series of events. Murder, intrigue and resurrection of the dead steer the book toward an exciting conclusion.

Those who enjoyed MORTAL ENGINES will not be disappointed. Having established "Municipal Darwinism" in his first book, Reeve is now free to explore and expand upon the idea. There is less violence in PREDATOR'S GOLD, but the book remains full of action and has several new imaginative twists. Among them are the "Lost Boys," a group of parasitic thieves who attach themselves to unsuspecting cities and plunder them in secret. Despite a name that suggests Peter Pan's Neverland, the Lost Boys and their greedy Uncle have more in common with Fagin's gang of boy thieves in Oliver Twist, and are ruled by manipulation and cruelty.

Also reappearing are the Resurrection Men, machines made using the bodies of the dead. While these horrifying machine men, and the fact that most cities are dependent upon poorly treated slaves, would suggest a moral agenda, one of the most fascinating aspects of the Hungry City Chronicles is that Reeve does not involve his main characters in politics or rebellion. Hester and Tom find themselves involved in their adventures accidentally, or because of personal reasons. Where most authors would be likely to be sympathetic toward the aims and ends of the Anti-Traction League, Reeve has instead created the militant Green Storm, who will stoop to terrorism to achieve their ends.

The Hungry City Chronicles contains a lot of moral ambiguity and offers some excellent chances to explore the pros and cons of technology, and societal structures. The ending of PREDATOR'S GOLD leaves some intriguing possibilities for the following book in the series, already titled INFERNAL MACHINES. It is set for release in the UK next spring. Sadly, those of us living on the Dead Continent will have to wait another year before we find out what happens next.

--- Reviewed by Sarah A. Wood


Rating:
Summary: Fab
Review: This book is fab and I cant begin to tell you how great this book is. You thought the first one was fab, just read this one! Although, that cover must be the American cover. The British one is much different and it isn't called 'the hungry ciry chronicles' either. But hey! This book is crawling with love, jeolisy and betrayel and leave you laughing and crying at the same time.

Did you know that Philip Reeve was born in the and raised in the same town where I was raised, and now he lives in Devon which is where I now live?