Author(s): Philip Reeve

Middle Fiction

From the author of the international blockbuster Mortal Engines, adapted by visionary Peter Jackson, Larklight is an utterly unique and page-turningly brilliant Victorian space adventure.

Art Mumby is just a normal boy living in space, but all that changes when an ancient race of gigantic white spiders called the First Ones arrive to seize his family home, Larklight. Forced to flee, Art and his annoying sister Myrtle are chased across the galaxy, from the fiery rivers of Mars to the distant rings of Saturn. But the First Ones have trouble on their hands. They don't bank on Art falling in with Jack Havock and a motley crew of notorious space pirates ...

Lucy's Review:

A Rousing Tale of Dauntless Pluck in the Farthest Reaches of Space!

Orbiting out beyond the moon, Larklight is home to eleven-year-old Art Mumby, his bitter and world-weary sister Myrtle, and their father. With only mechanical servants, hoverhogs from Jupiter and all sorts of space fish for company, life can be rather dull so far from the centre of the British Empire. Until they are invaded by giant spiders in bowler hats, which can be beaten by neither a well-furled copy of the Times nor a stiff upper lip, Father disappears, and Art and Myrtle have to flee in a lifeboat. Will they ever find a way to return?

Set in 1851 on the eve of the Great Exhibition in London, Britain has conquered space and it's space as the Victorians might have imagined it. There are pirates and Natural Philosophers "studying" aliens and monstrous creatures taking over London, with many a reference to classic 19th century sci-fi like H.G. Wells and Jules Verne.

First released in 2006, Larklight has been unavailable for the last few years. Fortunately, it has been re-released following the success of Reeve's Mortal Engines series, and it is a wonderful thing. This is a delightful romp of a book full of plot twists, death-defying adventures and narrow escapes. I absolutely recommend it for age 9+