Picking up roughly two years after <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Mortal Engines ended, Reeve's second adventure, nearly as impressive as the first, continues to explore a future world in which cities navigate on wheels and prowl the surface of the earth, devouring other cities. Heroes Tom and Hester, who joined forces (and forged romantic ties) in the previous book, now live as traders aboard the airship they inherited from the great adventurer Anna Fang. Damage to the ship forces them to take refuge in the city of Anchorage. The city's matriarch, Freya, wants to steer the town back to America—which long ago was nicknamed "the Dead Continent" for the wasteland it had become. Meanwhile, the Green Storm, a radical environmental group, introduced in the previous book as groupies of Anna Fang, wants their airship. Complicating matters are a trio of burglars hiding within Anchorage; Dr. Popjoy makes another appearance, reviving Fang as a stalker much like Hester's beloved Grike in the first book; and Hester's impression of a blossoming love between Freya and Tom brings out her darkest inclinations (let's just say that the title is the name given for payment to one who betrays a city's whereabouts to a predatory entity). The stock character of Professor Pennyroyal (an author and world-traveling blowhard with endless tales of his brave exploits but no truth or skills to back them up) is the only disappointment in a novel that continues to invent original settings and characters, and to deepen the connections between those introduced previously. Fans of the first book will not be disappointed. Ages 12-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Sept.)

Reeve ratchets up the action and the violence in the sequel to Mortal Engines (2003) as Tom and Hester, now in possession of the airship Jenny Haniver , which once belonged to an agent of the Anti-Traction League, find themselves being pursued by League forces. Scrambling to escape, they head north and land on the city of Anchorage, a small, nonpredator city that traces its name back to old America. Anchorage's young ruler has decided that the wheeled city will make its way over the frozen wastes back to the Dead Continent, and the vicious predator city Arkangel is following along right behind. Add to that a gang of Lost Boys, recruited and trained to infiltrate and burgle cities while its leader, Uncle, foments more nefarious plans. Despite Reeve's frequent flipping back and forth to tell the stories of various characters, this vividly told novel, the second in the Hungry City Chronicles, is still easy to follow; it's also gripping enough to leave readers anxious to find out what's to come.

In Mortal Engines Reeve unveiled a futuristic society of "traction cities" that roam the post-Apocalyptic earth. This sequel follows lovers Tom Natsworthy and Hester Shaw on their airship exploits to the traction city of Anchorage. The technological wizardry will gratify young sci-fi gearheads, while the intense emotions drive the thrilling plot at top speed until the battle-royale finish.

<p>Readers thrilled by the titanic mobile cities savagely preying on one another across a ravaged post-holocaust Earth in Mortal Engines (2003) will find more of the same in this even better sequela"along with plenty of intrigue, danger, spying, violence, and romance. The spotlight shines on disfigured young Hester Shaw who, with her lover, apprentice historian Tom Natsworthy, must land their airship on Anchorage, a nearly depopulated city. Their reception is a little too friendly, and when Tom's head is turned by Anchorage's lonely, attractive young Margrave, Hester flies off in a huff to report the city's course to Archangel, a raving "urbivore." Happily, Hester repents in time to return for the climactic, large-scale clash. Adding several characters to the cast and even giving his leading couple a bit more complexity than standard types are normally allowed, Reeve moves his world-spanning tale briskly along toward what promises to be a second apocalypse. High marks for action and breadth of visiona"but urge readers to start with the previous episode, as this one doesn't comfortably stand alone. (Fiction. 12-15)</p>

Gr 7 Up-The intrepid survivors of Mortal Engines (HarperCollins, 2003) find themselves in another thrilling, action-packed adventure. In this "town-eat-town" futuristic world, cities on wheels continue to overpower and devour smaller or weaker cities. Tom and Hester are persuaded to take Pennyroyal, a renowned explorer and adventurer, aboard their airship as a passenger. When they are pursued and fired upon by Green Storm fighter airships bent on destroying all traction cities and city people, the teens are forced to land on Anchorage, a traction city in the Ice Wastes region. This once-wealthy city is now sparsely populated since the majority of its inhabitants have died of the plague. Freya, the last of the royal family line, is the unlikely ruler, a petulant girl of 16. She believes Pennyroyal's tales of having seen green, fertile areas in the otherwise "Dead Continent" of America and rashly decides that her traction city will go there. Hester's jealousy of Tom's infatuation for Freya's plump prettiness compels her to commit an act of betrayal that sets a series of events in motion that includes murder, intrigue, revenge, daring rescues, kidnapping, torture, "lost boys," and resurrection of the dead. This exciting and compelling novel unfolds at breakneck speed with abundant plots and characters but readers won't have any trouble following along. It has more humor and fewer deaths than its predecessor but the characters continue to find themselves in moral quagmires. Events from Mortal Engines are referred to frequently, and although it's not essential to have read it first, it's recommended.-Sharon Rawlins, Piscataway Public Library, NJ Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.