Sparx

"It was a dark, blustery day in spring and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-up bed of the old north sea.."

So shrike, the narrator of the book recites at the end of this brilliant series and brilliant book.

Taking place some time after Infernal Devices(which i need to read,lol), Tom Natsworthy is troubled with matters of the heart and is still troubled by Hester's dissapearence. His daughter, Wren is enjoying life as an Aviatrix but misses Theo. When Tom comes across an old face from the ruined London, him and his daughter begin a daring adventure across the green storm plains to see if London had survived MEDUSA. All the while, the greenstorm and the traction cities begin to prepare for war.

A darkling plain is the final book in the hungry city chronicles quartet therefore knowledge is needed of the previous books to fully enjoy this. But Phillip Reeve has truly outdone himself. The book is filled with several storylines and Reeve skillfully weaves through these multi-layered storylines that are connected one way or another. Colorful characters, old and new fill the page and Reeve brings them to life with quirky characterization and thought. The book is pretty violent for a children's book but children authors are getting brave these days. The ending is a little cliche and it does seem that Reeve somewhat rushed the ending. However, it doesn't ruin the book or the series if not cheapen it a little.

A darkling plain is a worthy and brilliant conclusion to the series. Fast paced, exciting and tragic, hopefully in time it will be recognised as one of the best in children's literature.

SCORE: 8/10

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"KNIVES AND RHYMES"