Mortal Engines Themes

The world of Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines has strictly defined social classes. Much of the story takes place in the Traction City of London, where people live in different Tiers based on their social class. Class also plays a role in “Municipal Darwinism,” where the big urban predator cities like London have an advantage against smaller rural and suburban prey cities, consuming them to take their resources—and where wandering scavengers rank below even prey cities…

Near the beginning of Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines, Hester Shaw attempts to assassinate Thaddeus Valentine for killing her parents, willing to give up her own life for a chance to end his. This commitment to her ideals—even at the expense of her own life—defines Hester’s character, and it similarly motivates other heroic characters in the story, like Bevis Pod, Miss Fang, and Katherine. Each of these characters dies in the process…

Tom, the main character of Mortal Engines, starts the story as an Apprentice Historian at the Museum of Natural History in a futuristic steampunk version of London. While members of the Engineering Guild, like Lord Mayor Crome, only care about excavating weapons technology from the past, the members of the History Guild care more about culture, extinct animals, and nonviolent technology. The Guild of Historians and the Guild of Engineers are the…

Mortal Engines is full of characters whose external appearances hide their inner nature. The most noteworthy example of this is Hester Shaw, who has a massive scar on her face and is missing an eye. Because she is not traditionally beautiful, some characters assume that she is evil, as Tom does when he first sees her. He instinctively tries to stop Hester from attacking Thaddeus Valentine, who has a dashing appearance and a…

Like many young adult novels, Mortal Engines centers on the power of friendship. At the heart of the story is the friendship (and perhaps later romance) between Tom Natsworthy and Hester Shaw. Running parallel to this friendship is a similar one between Katherine Valentine and Bevis Pod. Both of these friendships involve people from very different backgrounds: Tom and especially Katherine are both part of London’s privileged upper class, but Hester is a…