A Web of Air is the sequel to the YA dystopia/sci-fi novel Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve.
You know the drill. If you haven't read Fever Crumb, this review will inevitably spoil some stuff from the first book. Just don't read it, if this is the case. Go read the book, then come back and check out my review on the sequel. Okay? Okay!
Now all who have yet to read Fever Crumb should avert thine eyes...
Fever Crumb has spent the last two years on a traveling barge theater, a place she only expected to be temporarily. When she joined them she was only fourteen and trying to escape a radically changing London with Ruan and Fern, the two children of the deceased, kindly Kit Solent. Now sixteen, she has come to terms with the fact that she is half Scriven, but still has no real desire to return home. She misses Dr. Crumb, but she spends her time using her engineer skills to electrify the show and dazzle audiences. She finds theater, in general, to be ridiculous but it gives her a chance to use her abilities.
When the traveling barge stops at Mayda, a small seaside city in the corner of their ruined world, she meets someone. His name is Arlo Thursday - and he's brilliant. His focus is on flight, something almost no one believes is possible. But his drive and creativity spur something in Fever. It's been so long since she's been around other scientific minds and the mere possibility of flying is an amazing one.
But it's also dangerous. The last to try it plummeted to his death. And beyond the expected danger of science lurks a more sinister threat involving flight as well...
A Web of Air is fantastic!!! I was anticipating greatness after just finishing Fever Crumb, but I was blown away by how A Web of Air manages to be even better paced than the first! Wowza!
We catch up with Fever two years later, and she's still lovable and occasionally frustrating in that nonsocial manner of hers. She's still an awesome, unique character that grows and finds a place in your heart. Traveling outside of London was interesting. It was very cool to see another part of this crumbling, futuristic world with a different culture, belief system, and dangers.
Philip Reeve so expertly introduces us to Arlo - the enigmatic, eccentric young man that becomes the sole obsession of Fever's mind. But in typical Fever fashion, it's not romance on her mind but science. Reeve keeps this all so gripping and phenomenally fast-paced, you wouldn't guess it by my not-so-impressive synopsis. The level of threat, danger, murder, and mystery is even better, scarier, and more stunning!!!
A Web of Air takes what was great about Fever Crumb and accelerates it. This is a harrowing, heart-wrenching, startling, horrifying, and brilliant look at human nature in a world that is practically starting over. It's more than entertainment, it enriches your mind with a plot that is intelligent. Any age can find excellence and creativity here.
You guessed it - I want more!!!
Comments