Wild and wonderful space adventure
Philip Reeve is a master at creating lively imaginative worlds where anything can happen. Larklight is set in an alternative Victorian world. Queen Victoria's inventors and explorers have not only laid claim to far-flung countries on Earth, but have also ventured into space and colonised the planets.
This is a wonderful scenario where Reeve can let his imagination blast off at full power. Fasten your seat belts. Larklight is an exciting ride to somewhere you have never imagined.
Art Mumby and his know-it-all sister, Myrtle, live with their father in a huge, rambling house called Larklight. And this is where the inventiveness begins. Larklight is not stuck boringly in the middle of the countryside or in some city street. It is a house and home, but it floats through space in its own orbit around the moon. Art and Myrtle may get a bit bored and lonely at times, but they never know who or what they are going to bump into in outer space.
One ordinary morning, the Mumbys receive a letter telling them that a Mr Webster is going to visit them. They don't know who Mr Webster is, but they get excited.
But the Mumbys are ill-prepared for the arrival of Mr Webster and the hoard of giant space spiders that he brings with him. Art and Myrtle manage to escape the invasion, shooting off into space in a life-barrel. They leave their father and Larklight behind in the deadly clutches of Mr Webster and his hungry arachnids.
Art and Myrtle eventually crash-land on the moon and find themselves rescued by Jack Havock, a teenaged space pirate with a price on his head. The siblings are taken onboard a mysterious space ship.
And then their adventures really begin, as the author's imagination goes into orbit. Weird alien forms, and mad and sane scientists crowd in to propel the plot along at breathless speed. And in the middle of all the space chaos, who should pop up but Art and Myrtle's mother who, presumed dead, is very much alive and has deadly secrets of her own.
Larklight takes Art and Myrtle to the furthest reaches of space, where they have to battle to save both themselves and the known universe. This is a lively romp of a novel, a totally unique space adventure. Reeve is great at throwing humour and jokes into the science-fiction/adventure mix, and this makes Larklight a delight to read from beginning to end.
Philip Reeve is such a persuasive and ingenious storyteller that his readers believe everything he tells them. Larklight is a remarkable novel, an exciting piece of entertainment that never loses its grip.
Reeve's wonderfully detailed spacescapes and plot twists are consistently impressive, and the climax to Art and Myrtle's adventures is a masterpiece of excitement and humour.
There are few novels around these days that leave you with a big smile of satisfaction on your face. Larklight does just that and more. An out-of-this world gem of a book that readers of all ages can enjoy.
Larklight
By Philip Reeve
Published by Bloomsbury
ISBN 0 7475 8240 8
