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Spoiler warning!
This article or section contains plot spoilers for the Mortal Engines quartet. Proceed at your own risk. |
Infernal Devices is the third book in the the Mortal Engines quartet by Philip Reeve. It is in the perspective of Wren Natsworthy; with Tom Natsworthy, Hester Shaw, Caul, Freya Rasmussen, Nimrod Pennyroyal, Oenone Zero, and Shrike in supporting perspectives.
In publishing and chronology, it succeeds Predator's Gold and proceeds A Darkling Plain.
Setting[]
- Main article: Events
Infernal Devices takes place in late 1025ᴛᴇ, sixteen years after the events of Predator's Gold.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] It takes place during the Rustwater Salient and Altai Front Stalemate of the Traction War,[1] and features the battle on Cloud 9.[10]
Plot[]
Part One[]
During a battle in the Rustwater Marshes, the body of Shrike is recovered by the Green Storm and revived by Dr. Oenone Zero.[11] Months later at the now static Anchorage, Tom and Hester's daughter Wren witnesses Caul secretly meeting with Gargle.[2] Spotting Wren after Caul leaves, Gargle asks her to find[12] a mysterious Tin Book in Freya's library,[13] which Wren agrees to on the condition Gargle and his crew, Remora and Fishcake, takes her with them.[14]
Shrike, now considered an antique, is gifted to the Stalker Fang by Dr. Zero and Dr. Popjoy to commemorate her seventeenth year resurrected, where he will act as her bodyguard.[15] Caul warns Tom and Hester of Wren's attempt to leave with the Lost Boys, and Hester kills Gargle and Remora,[16] however, desperate to survive, Fishcake holds Wren at gunpoint and takes her with him in his limpet.[3] On the way back to Grimsby, Fishcake receives a message broadcast on all frequencies[17] and diverts course to Brighton, believing a charitable organization WOPCART will reunite him with his parents, however the message is bait set by the slaving company of Nabisco Shkin.[18] Meanwhile, Tom, Hester, Caul and Freya leave for Grimsby to rescue Wren, unaware that she is enslaved on Brighton.[4] Shkin, now in possession of the Tin Book as proof, becomes interested in Wren and Fishcake, as their story contradicts the account of Anchorage's destruction by Brighton's Mayor, Nimrod Pennyroyal.[19]
Having proven herself Dr. Popjoy's equal by re-resurrecting Shrike, Dr. Zero is promoted to Fang's personal Surgeon-Mechanic.[20] As Brighton drops depth charges on Grimsby, Wren is sold as a house slave to Pennyroyal.[5] Tom, Hester, Caul and Freya discover what is left of Grimsby is collapsing in on itself,[6] Uncle now blind and mad.[21] Shrike discovers that Dr. Zero intends to assassinate Fang.[22] Uncle accidently kills himself while trying to force the others to stay and help repair Grimsby, Tom and Hester leave for Brighton,[23] while Caul and Freya return to Anchorage with the rescued surviving children of Grimsby.[24]
Part Two[]
As Brighton prepares to celebrate the Moon Festival,[25] a spy on Cloud 9, Brighton's tethered flying pavilion, sends a message to Fang.[26] Advisor on Old-Tech, Walter Plovery, is murdered while trying to steal the Tin Book from Pennyroyal's safe.[27] Tom and Hester arrive in Brighton searching for Wren, Hester discovers the Jenny Haniver in a museum celebrating Pennyroyal.[7] The Stalker Fang, prepares to take her flagship, the Requiem Vortex, to attack Brighton.[28] Tom meets with Skhin to negotiate Wren's release but is captured.[29] Using Tom as a hostage, Skhin sends Wren to steal the Tin Book from Pennyroyal.[30] After Wren retrieves the Tin Book with the help of fellow slave and former Green Storm pilot, Theo Ngoni, she discovers Cloud 9 has been untethered from Brighton.[31]
While Hester rescues Tom, and Fishcake reluctantly, the Green Storm begins its assault on Brighton.[8] Wren suspects Theo is the Green Storm spy, however discovers Agent 28 is Cynthia Twite who holds them at gunpoint, but they are saved by Pennyroyal, who is in turn shot by Skhin who is himself killed while trying to escape Cloud 9.[32] recaptured by the Storm, Wren and Theo are taken to Fang, who takes the Tin Book.[33] Zero commands Shrike to kill Fang, scattering her battered pieces across the coastline of Africa.[34] Escaping Brighton in the Jenny Haniver, Hester betrays Fishcake, leaving him behind to be killed by the rampaging escaped Lost Boys.[35] The Green Storm leave without Shrike, Wren, Theo and a miraculously mostly uninjured Pennyroyal.[36] Washing up on the African shore, Fishcake discovers the surviving pieces of Fang and agrees to help repair her.[37] Tom and Hester reunite with Wren,[38] but Hester is stopped from killing Pennyroyal. Leaving her family as Cloud 9 crashes into the Sahara, Hester is found by Shrike.[9]
Trivia[]
- Originally, Reeve had a Stalker known as "Salvage" dug up. As he continued writing the manuscript, Salvage was scrapped and Shrike replaced them.[39]
- Reeve knew that Tom and Hester would die at the end of the series when starting the beginning of Infernal Devices.[39]
- Reeve used the first drafts of Predator's Gold to help him with Infernal Devices' plot.[39]
Editions[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Traction Codex "Timeline"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Infernal Devices, Chapter 2: "At Anchorage-in-Vineland"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Infernal Devices, Chapter 8: "Kidnapped"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Infernal Devices, Chapter 11: "Four Against Grimsby"
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Infernal Devices, Chapter 14: "Sold!"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Infernal Devices, Chapter 15: "Children of the Deep"
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Infernal Devices, Chapter 23: "Bright, Brighter, Brighton"
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Infernal Devices, Chapter 28: "The Air Attack"
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Infernal Devices, Chapter 36: "Strange Meetings"
- ↑ A Darkling Plain, Chapter 8: "On the Line"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 1: "The Sleeper Wakes"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 3: "The Limpet Autolycus"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 4: "The Legend of the Tin Book"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 5: "News from the Sea"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 6: "We Are Making a New World"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 7: "She's Leaving Home"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 9: "The Message"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 10: "The Parent Trap"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 12: "Business in Great Waters"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 13: "Doctor Zero"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 16: "Those Are Pearls That Were His Eyes"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 17: "The Chapel"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 18: "The Naglfar"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 19: "The Wedding Wreath"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 20: "A Life on the Ocean Wave"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 21: "The Flight of a Seagull"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 22: "Murder on Cloud 9"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 24: "The Requiem Vortex"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 25: "The Pepperpot"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 26: "Waiting for the Moon"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 27: "The Unsafe Safe"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 29: "The Unexploded Boy"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 25: "Captives of the Storm"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 31: "The Moment of the Rose"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 32: "The Flight of The Arctic Roll"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 33: "Departures"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 34: "Finders Keepers"
- ↑ Infernal Devices, Chapter 35: "Marooned in the Sky"
- ↑ 39.0 39.1 39.2 Philip Reeve AMA - Reddit
Citations[]
- Keazor, Henry (2010). "'Mortal Engines' und 'Infernal Devices': Architektur- und Technologie-Nostalgie bei Philip Reeve". In Böhn, Andreas: Möser, Kurt (eds.). Techniknostalgie und Retrotechnologie. pp. 129–147.
| Mortal Engines |
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Mortal Engines • Predator's Gold • Infernal Devices • A Darkling Plain Fever Crumb • A Web of Air • Scrivener's Moon Thunder City • Bridge of Storms Night Flights • The Illustrated World of Mortal Engines • Film |