The Return to Airhaven

Dear Harry,

A quick note to let you know that the 4th and final instalment in Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines series is out.

My cousin Tim Brewer, a teacher, recommended the first book to me a while a go and since then I have been hooked.

This will of course raise the number of books I am reading at the moment to 3, not that that is intended as a boast of my literary prowess more as a plea to my subconscious yo make it's bloody mind up and finish at least one of them.

I'm grinding my way through Dracula at a speed that resembles prisoners tunnelling through bedrock with a marshmallow than an adult reading a relatively short book. Number 2 is Frank Skinners Auto-biography, which is as good as I was told and I'm already nearing the mid-way point as I write this.

But Reeve's latest offering is what it's all about. I purchased A Darkling Plain on Saturday afternoon after returning from Ascot and before I even payed I was 50 pages in. Now I know it's a children books and the type is large and the words simple but as far as I'm concerned that this can only be seen as a plus for those bumpy commuter journeys. I should also add that it is the only one of the three that is written with any sort of classic narrative structure. Bram Stokers greatest effort is a collection of 1st person diary entries that can get a little tedious and Frank's 1st person accounts of his life are in a mixed order, so you can dip in and dip out without disrupting the flow of the story.

So with my bookmark languishing at page 258 and madness, mayhem and the worlds of Municipal Darwinism set to clash with those of the Green Storm I am departing for the evening to engage once more with the adventures of Tom, Hester, Wren and Mr Shrike.

Regards,

Charlie

Comments

[Charlie]

I'm in the low 400's now and The stalker Fang has just unleashed ODIN on the world below.

I challenge any reader of this to finf me a Childrens book with a body cound anywhere near Reeve. Beautiful story with piles of bodies littering the pages.

[Andy]

Love the Reeve