Thunder City

By Philip reeve

Reviewed by Mia Macrossan

Philip’s first book was the epic YA steampunk Mortal Engines, 2001, which created a world of ‘municipal Darwinism’, where rampaging motorised towns and cities are on the move, attacking and eating each other, prowling around looking for prey. That book was followed by two sequels and three prequels, each one peopled by memorable characters and remarkable conflicts.

His books are noted for their vivid imaginative settings where people are pitted against almost overwhelming odds but through a combination of grit, teamwork and luck manage to win through. These are not just adventure stories but touching portraits of flawed human beings struggling to survive in a cruel and challenging world.

Thunder City is a stand alone, set about a century before the original story. When the city of Thorbury is captured by the villainous Gabriel Strega, Miss Lavinia Torpenhow, a former teacher, embarks on a quest to rescue Max Angmaring from protective custody in Paris, as she deems him to be the one to bring things back to normal. (One of the fun things about reading this series is seeing what has happened to cities we know.) She recruits the orphan slave Tamzin Pook, a gladiatorial champion from the raft town of Margate to help her. With both Strega’s agents and Tamzin’s former captor in hot pursuit, these three have a helter skelter return trip to Thorbury, making more friends and enemies along the way.

Reeve excels at imaginative adventure, with plenty of conflict, suspense, humour, danger and narrow escapes. At the same time he takes care to develop the inner life of his protagonists as he keeps you turning the pages to see how everyone copes with what is happening.  Tamzin is hard and cold on the outside but the opposite inside. Max Angmaring starts off as a bit of a waste of space but develops into someone with strength and  integrity. Lavinia is the moral heart of the story, her strength, love and compassion inspire the others.

He obviously has fun with names and plays with words, enriching the story with the occasional  literary references (the fretful porpentine) here and there; he is adept at revealing character through dialogue and inner monologues; descriptions are vivid and memorable – all of which makes for accomplished and imaginative storytelling.

There are the expected themes of frienship, personal growth, rivalry, sef-reflection and more but the overarching theme is best expressed by Lavinia who says: …no-one gets a choice about which age they are born in. We are all castaways, carried along for a while on the river of history. All we can do is enjoy the passing view, and do our best to help our fellow castaways, if we can. p245

In an interview with Publisher’s Weekly Philip Reeve said: creating Thunder City felt like writing a swashbuckling historical adventure. Yes, it is that but also a heartwarming tale of people discovering themselves. He also said:  I’m hoping, if enough people are interested, that I’m able to keep going and do sequels to Thunder City—maybe Tamzin Pook and her friends end up exploring the mysteries of the dead continent. Yes please!

Scholastic Australia 2025

Philip Reeve