Crumb by Crumb - Rufus Wainwright

Fever Crumb
The Hungry City Chronicles Prequel, Book 1

Author: Philip Reeve
Genre: fantasy, young adult
Pages: 325

Brief Summary:
Fever Crumb is not an ordinary sixteen year old girl. For one thing, she is an engineer, the only female one in London. She is also an orphan, raised by the engineers (thus her status). She focuses on rationality first, wasting no time on sense, sensibility or sexy boys. Which is probably good, since she is bald and her eyes are two different colors (which is seen as a really bad thing in this futuristic London). Her first job as an engineer forces her to face life, in all of its chaos and disorder. Fever learns that there are some situations it is hard to approach reasonably and she starts to wonder just who Fever Crumb is.

Review:
Fever Crumb is a prequel to Reeve's Hungry City series, of which I have read the first book. Although Fever Crumb is well written and quite clever, I did not enjoy it nearly as much as I did Mortal Engines. The problem for me was that Fever is exceedingly difficult to relate to, which, admittedly, is as intended. Still, her own calm kept me from getting drawn into the story and really feeling for her predicament. This was one of those books where I simply didn't care how everything ended up, even when Fever was in serious danger. However, I did appreciate Fever's struggle to remain rational and emotionless in the face of whatever came her way (Yay! Spock reference!).

The best parts (for me) were the nifty references thrown into the future world Reeve has created. Early on, there is a mention of religious nuts worshiping their lord, Hari Potter. Now there is a religion I could really get behind. Haha. The British city of Battersea is spelled B@ersea. Little goodies like this are so delightful. They also force you to pay attention so that no hilarious little jokes pass you by.

And, though this may not be a huge plus for everyone, Philip Reeve is delightfully British. Check out this interview with him (also note the fantastic bookshelves behind him, which sport Catching Fire and HP!) He is adorable!

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you're all celebrating the holiday with good friends and family (and hopefully some good books)!

"Suddenly I'm not myself
Behind the facade is a lonely fountain"