This installment in The Hungry Cities saga is introduced by a new character, Freya, the margravine of Anchorage, a peaceful traction city which is overcoming the after affects of a pestilence that had wiped out a majority of the population, including Freya’s parents.
London has been dead for two years, and Tom and Hester have spent that time cruising the bird roads in the Jenny Haniver, left unclaimed after Anna Fang’s death. They’ve been in the north, trading with arctic cities and hiding from both the anti-traction league and willful Urbivores such as Arkangel. After taking in a strange passenger and out-flying a troupe of gunships, Hester and Tom have been forced to dock in Anchorage until they can repair their ship.
Much to Hester’s dismay, this puts Tom in Freya’s path. Freya, who was an amateur historian, Freya, who had her own museum and has read all the same books as Tom, Freya who did not have feature-distorting scars on her face. Needless to say this puts Hester in a bad place, emotionally. Her decisions as a result of this turbulence change not only Tom’s life, but the entire city of Anchorage. Tom is her predator’s gold. Love is her downfall.
After selling out Anchorage to get Tom back, Hester is captured by a splinter group of the anti-traction league called the Green Storm under the command of a overzealous acolyte of Anna Fang who has taken to adapting old tech and muddled alchemy to bring Anna back from the dead. She doesn’t understand until it’s too late that such a thing is not possible.
Action-packed from page one, Reeve takes the reader deep into the lives of his characters. Not only do you fall in love with each one, Reeve shows you what is possible with strong female protagonists and minimal romantic splinter plots. I look forward to the next book.
