A Darkling Plain
March 18th 2007 12:10
'A Darkling Plain' is the fourth and final book in the speculative teen science-fiction series by Philip Reeve that has come to be known as 'The Hungry City Chronicles'. Strangely, this final installment seems to have been given a minimal release in Australia (the other three novels in the series were given a prominent push by local bookstores over the last two years or so), so I had to get it ordered in. Hopefully it will be released properly over here when it becomes available in paperback. Anyway, before I continue with the review, here are links to my reviews of the previous three novels...
Predator's Gold
Infernal Devices
The events of this book pick up some six months or so after 'Internal Devices'. All the heroic (and, in Pennyroyal's case, less-than-heroic) characters have moved on throughout the much-changed landscape of the distant future. Wren and her father, Tom, have taken to the Bird Roads, travelling and trading... Tom's heart has become weak and his life is coming to an end, and Wren misses her one-time boyfriend Theo. Theo has gone back to his home in Africa, a stately static settlement that is fiercely anti-tractionist. He pines for Wren and no longer feels sympathetic for the violent movement known as the Green Storm. Tom's estranged wife, Hester, has become the Black Angel, a much-feared bounty hunter who traverses the African desert with her faithful companion, the stalker Shrike. Meanwhile, the shy and pacifist scientist Oenone has married General Naga, leader of the Green Storm, and has caused rifts within the organisation with her peaceful influence. The loveably despicable Professor Pennyroyal is lounging amongst the Traktionstadtsgesellschaft, an alliance of traction cities dedicated to destroying the Green Storm, and continues to attract fame and fortune with his exaggerated tales of adventure and daring. And little Fishcake, the former Lost Boy left alone at the end of 'Infernal Devices', has rebuilt the Stalker Fang... which could spell doom and destruction for one and all.
As you can see from the previous paragraph, there are a lot of seperate storylines and characters here. And these are just the major characters returning from previous novels... throw in a shifty and intriguing rogue tractionist named Wolf Kobold, who pilots the burrowing suburb Harrowbarrow, and a range of other supporting characters new and old, and you have an intricate series of intertwined subplots that help flesh this novel out to twice the size of any of the previous installments in the series. Not only does 'A Darkling Plain' act as a direct sequel to 'Infernal Devices', but it also links directly back to 'Mortal Engines' with it's satisfying big surprise twist (which I won't spoil here) - helping to give some closure to this epic saga of traction-mounted cities, warring factions, colourful characters and undead cyborgs.
Reeve certainly has his work cut out for him, opting to include so many recurring characters... I'd recommend this book only to those familiar with the others in the series, and you might need to refresh your memory on the previous books to ensure you can keep track of who is who while you're at it too. I think he may have stretched himself with electing to involve so many different characters, Pennyroyal and Fishcake in particular seem only vaguely neccessary to the plot. Also, with stretching the story over so many different characters and subplots, we don't get to see anywhere near as much of Hester and Shrike as we might've liked... they're pretty much my favourite characters, easily the most original of an impressive bunch, and I wished I got to see far more of them in the book.
Reeves has a pretty big canvas to work with though and he doesn't disappoint. He gives us big battles, devastating treachery, heartwarming acts of bravery and various other exciting turns of events that you certainly don't see coming at any point. The ending works very well and rounds off the quartet with a certain degree of finality, and the final scenes are remarkably elegiac and memorable. Reeves certainly achieves a worthy wrap up to this wonderful series and it annoys me a fair bit that these books aren't more popular in Australia... they're involving, full of scares, laughs and adventure, and damn well more original than, say, 'Harry Potter' or 'Eragon'. If you're looking for a good piece of speculative fiction with elements of science fiction, fantasy and high adventure, then I implore you to go to your nearest bookstore and grab a copy each of 'Mortal Engines' and 'Predator's Gold'... if you're not hooked after those then I dare say we aren't even remotely on the same wavelength!
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