Tom Natsworthy, a teenage Apprentice Historian, is sent to the " Gut" of London, where towns are stripped for resources, after he skips a chore. Mortal Engines is a young-adult science fiction novel by Philip Reeve, published by Scholastic UK in 2001. Shrike closed in on the duo not far from the Rustwater Marshes soon afterward, only to get run over by by two Traction towns in quick succession just as he was about to catch them. In the "gut" of London, where towns are stripped for resources, Tom Natsworthy, a teenage Apprentice Historian, meets Thaddeus Valentine, the Head of the Guild of Historians, and his daughter Katherine. The title is a quotation from Act III, Scene iii of William Shakespeare's play Othello ("Othello: And O you mortal engines whose rude throats/Th'immortal Jove's dread clamors counterfeit.

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve Plot Summary | LitCharts Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve Plot Summary | LitCharts

On 18 November 2020, upon being asked whether Mortal Engines would be rebooted for television, Reeve responded that "it would be nice, but it seems unlikely".

The Traction Codex has only been published in a digital format, as it was originally available only for the digital version of the Mortal Engines Quartet. At that time, he has stated that he originally thought of the idea of traction cities when people where complaining about the growth of a city that threatened to engulf smaller towns. A lot of the material that has been reduced or excised has likely been cut down to keep the film to a sensible length, but sadly while it beautifully realises many iconic locations and concepts from the book, the alterations that have been made have had the inadvertent effect of removing motivations and reducing the characterization of many characters.

Shrike | Mortal Engines Wiki | Fandom Shrike | Mortal Engines Wiki | Fandom

This, as well as the Stalker minds found among Old-Tech (and Shrike), seems to prove that robots had, by the time of the Sixty Minute War, achieved sentience. The series is set thousands of years in the future in a time known as the Traction Era, in which Earth has been reduced to a wasteland by a devastating conflict known as the Sixty Minute War.Hester Shaw, a 15-year-old short-tempered assassin whose parents were murdered by Valentine and seeks vengeance.