A review by cpt_mackey
Infernal Devices by Philip Reeve
3.5
Definitely my least favourite of the 3 novels and I’m going to guess, my least favourite of the series. While it didn’t have much in the way of world building/exploration, it had too much about character development and big changes in the plot in order to shift the story in a whole new direction. The 16 year time jump between this novel and the last is an excellent literary device, as it gives what would usually be the point in a series where you have to keep the reader entertained with some fresh new ideas, a new perspective to run with.
Personally, jumping between 3 different perspectives, felt quite jarring and it took away from the storyline. Right when you’re in the middle of some action, you get switched to a calmer and unrelated perspective. There was definitely no need for us to read about the surgeon mechanic for the length we did. 2 or 3 chapters would have been more than sufficient. The book itself had probably the most bland of the storylines so far, having a very simple ‘save the run away girl plot’. Even with the climactic and emotional ending, it doesn’t make up for the other 340 pages.
[ SPOILERS AHEAD ]
As a last point, I’m not convinced that the path Hester took was the correct one from a writing perspective. For her to leave Tom like that, after being with him for 16 years out of what looks like a child wanting attention, for her to nearly kill her kid because she didn’t like her attitude! As if kids don’t go through the teenage stage. For Reeve to basically write her out of the book and present her in a way that makes the audience dislike her, is not the direction I think he should have taken. She’s obviously a broken girl and has a traumatic past but after 16 years of being loved in a kind safe and calm place with a child of her own, I don’t think the character would act and leave like that.
Personally, jumping between 3 different perspectives, felt quite jarring and it took away from the storyline. Right when you’re in the middle of some action, you get switched to a calmer and unrelated perspective. There was definitely no need for us to read about the surgeon mechanic for the length we did. 2 or 3 chapters would have been more than sufficient. The book itself had probably the most bland of the storylines so far, having a very simple ‘save the run away girl plot’. Even with the climactic and emotional ending, it doesn’t make up for the other 340 pages.
[ SPOILERS AHEAD ]
As a last point, I’m not convinced that the path Hester took was the correct one from a writing perspective. For her to leave Tom like that, after being with him for 16 years out of what looks like a child wanting attention, for her to nearly kill her kid because she didn’t like her attitude! As if kids don’t go through the teenage stage. For Reeve to basically write her out of the book and present her in a way that makes the audience dislike her, is not the direction I think he should have taken. She’s obviously a broken girl and has a traumatic past but after 16 years of being loved in a kind safe and calm place with a child of her own, I don’t think the character would act and leave like that.