"The great traction city London has been skulking in the hills to avoid the bigger, faster, hungrier cities loose in the Great Hunting Ground. But now, the sinister plans of Lord Mayor Mangus Crome can finally unfold.
Thaddeus Valentine, London's Head Historian and adored famous archaeologist, and his lovely daughter, Katherine, are down in The Gut when the young assassin with the black scarf strikes toward his heart, saved by the quick intervention of Tom, a lowly third-class apprentice. Racing after the fleeing girl, Tom suddenly glimpses her hideous face: scarred from forehead to jaw, nose a smashed stump, a single eye glaring back at him. "Look at what your Valentine did to me!" she screams. "Ask him! Ask him what he did to Hester Shaw!" And with that she jumps down the waste chute to her death. Minutes later Tom finds himself tumbling down the same chute and stranded in the Out-Country, a sea of mud scored by the huge caterpillar tracks of cities like the one now steaming off over the horizon."
My review-
Up until 75% of the book, I was sure that this was going to be a 1-star review. The beginning of the book bored me to death, and I found the characters very unlikeable. The POVs of some side characters were dull, and the book could have done without them. The ending was slightly better, though. It was sad and tragic and everyone died and we finally got to see some action. But overall, I didn't enjoy the book too much.
There were inconsistencies in the book, and some parts of it didn't make sense. I get that it's a dystopia, and some things have been left to the imagination, but the descriptions of the traction cities felt incomplete and half-hearted. Most of them were only described as large, ugly bulks of metal. The Top Tiers of London were said to be beautiful and bright, with rich villas, yet when Tom looks at it from his aircraft, he is surprised by how gross London is.
I could not make sense of the cities' sizes either. I thought they were almost as big as actual cities, since they supported so many houses and families. But when Tom and Hester were roaming in the marshes, an entire city whizzed by in a matter of seconds. Also, all races of people seemed to be living everywhere, and everybody had a different complexion and manner of speech.
I cannot tell you much about what happened in the book. The beginning was boring and dragged on and on and on and on and on and on until something finally happened in the end. By that time, though, I was too bored to do more than skim through the pages, so I cannot say much about the climax either. It was unfortunate that many people had to die, but I liked that they were killed realistically, and not left alive for the sake of being important characters. Most of the events made sense, and the main characters didn't always get their way.
I liked the writing in this book. I had expected as much from the author, and it was nice how he found unimaginable links between objects and used them as metaphors. The plot was lacking, however, and the pretty language could only keep me hooked for so long. I was soon tired of the unnecessarily long descriptions of people's surroundings. Thankfully Shrike did not have too many POVs, but even the few ones I skimmed looked terribly dull.
I don't get why Northmen are always depicted as wearing furs. Shouldn't they be the ones not wearing winter clothes, since they're used to the cold up north and will find anyplace else hot? And even if furry clothes are the only things they own, I refuse to believe that they chose to wear layers of coats with hoods in a crowded tavern.
Hester and Tom's friendship was nice. The enemies-ish-to-friends transition was good, and seemed plausible. I also liked how Tom thought he had feelings for Katherine because she was pretty, only after meeting her for a few minutes, and how later he came to like Hester despite her scars. Valentine's arc was decent too, and I'd say the characters were well-written. We weren't told much about them and granted, I found most of them annoying, but they fit into the story well.
Alright, enough praise. I don't think I'll be reading the next book. The way the plot ended in this book is satisfying enough, and having to read another slow beginning won't be worth it.
Thank you for reading my review!
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