Infernal Devices by Philip Reeve

This is the third in a sequence of books for children, about a post apocalyptic world where mobile cities trundle across the wasteland attempting to consume each other. While the first was incredibly fast paced to the extent almost of being exhaustingly relentless, the second was a little slow. This one is a fair combination between pace and atmosphere. While the stories are aimed at children, if you think about it, the world described is so bleak and forlorn, that it is hardly mainstream fare. There is a certain economy with some of the leading characters turning up across the books, but a great many other leading characters exit from each book. This is a heartless world.

The book is tremendously well written, packed with character and incident, what impresses me most is the sheer beauty of so much of the prose. This is someone that could turn his had to first rate poetry, writing for children. I cannot praise this sequence of books too highly. They are as good as anything I have read.

Random Quote - Anger and a sort of panic rose in him. He felt that this woman had stolen something from him, although he no longer knew what it had been. He tried to bare his claws, but could not move. He might as well have been just an eye, lying there on the wet earth.