The Traction Codex

Mortal Engines Quartet

by Philip Reeve, Jeremy Levett

Due to popular demand, THE TRACTION CODEX: AN HISTORIAN'S GUIDE TO THE ERA OF PREDATOR CITIES is now available as an ebook of its own. Initially published as exclusive bonus material for the PREDATOR CITIES ebundle, this comprehensive and illuminating companion to Philip Reeve's critically acclaimed quartet will delight new and old fans alike.

Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction, Steampunk, Dystopia, Fantasy

73 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 1, 2012

About the author

Philip Reeve was born and raised in Brighton, where he worked in a bookshop for a number of years while also co-writing, producing and directing a number of no-budget theatre projects.

Philip then began illustrating and has since provided cartoons for around forty children's books, including the best-selling Horrible Histories, Murderous Maths and Dead Famous series.

Railhead, published by Oxford University Press, will be published in the UK in October 2015

Pugs of the Frozen North, written with Sarah McIntyre, is out now.

Reviews

[Jodi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dieses Buch kam auf meine Liste, weil es Teil der Mortal Engines-Reihe ist, die ich endlich komplett abschliessen möchte.

Leider war das Buch nichts für mich. Ich hatte auf Hintergrundinformationen und vor allem auch detaillierte Bilder zu den Maschinen gehofft. Die Informationen gibt es zwar, und auch ein paar verstreute Illustrationen, aber nicht auf die Art, die ich erwartet hatte.

"The Traction Codex" liest man entweder während man die Reihe selbst liest oder dann, wenn man wirklich ein Hardcore-Fan ist. Denn eigentlich ist dieses Werke ein Lexikon. Wobei das meiste auch schon in den einzelnen Bänden erwähnt wird, nur hier noch teilweise etwas ausführlicher behandelt wird.

Aber wer liest schon ein Lexikon von A bis Z? Spannend ist anders.
Auch die erwähnten Maschinen werden nur selten bebildert, sodass mir auch diese Freude versagt blieb.

Wenn man sich etwas noch einmal ins Gedächtnis rufen möchte oder während der Lektüre nicht mehr sicher ist, eine Person richtig zuordnen zu können, dann ist dieser Kodex bestimmt das perfekte Nachschlagewerk. Aber zur unterhaltsamen Lektüre nicht zu empfehlen.

Jetzt fehlt mich noch eine Kurzgeschichte, dann kann ich mit diesem Universum abschliessen. Zum Glück war dieses Buch hier nicht das letzte, das ich gelesen habe, ansonsten wäre es ein eher mauer Abschied geworden.

[NickyQoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I thought, hey, it's just an index written as a history piece with timeline of events and glossary, that shouldn't be emotional right? Yeah, I was wrong. Because Philip Reeve does know how to make me feel. *dry laugh*

The fun wasn't in itself because, duh, but finding easter eggs in it. There're several hints of what would happen in the 4th book of Fever Crumb if it ever happen, which made me want to go back and cry in the ocean because the chance's slim.

After I got over all over that, and I thought it's almost the end, there shouldn't be anything to surprised me anymore. Then I reached THE LAST SENTENCE of this book and I was like, why don't just stab me in the heart, Mr. Reeve?

This, is due to the fact that I'm too emotional invested in Mortal Engines Quartet and Fever Crumb. But if you didn't love that world, why would you read this?

[Sir Lucan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn't really a book, it's more of a Wikipedia page, but that doesn't stop this from being brilliant. I used to be dm for a small group of mates and I used this to make a fantasy dystopian world, mixing magic and mortal engines. This book comes with great descriptions and illustrations (not that many illustrations though) and even if your not dming but like the universe it's worth reading as it had some rather entertaining and cool historical facts

[Katharine Pepper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I devour anything written in the world of ‘Mortal Engines’. This book is a sort of encyclopaedia of stuff from that world, and was great fun to read. I quite enjoyed it, even though it wasn’t a new ‘story’ as such!

(My reading dates are deceptive - it only took me a day or so! But I got distracted as I broke my leg (on holidays in Italy!) and so I’ve only just got back to it!)

[Odhran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covers a lot of the same ground as the more expansive The Illustrated World of Mortal Engines, but contains some additional material. Less pretty, though.

[LS · Rating 3 out of 5]

It literally is a glossary of terms.

[Zoha · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was informative and I want to be able to say I have read this world properly.

[Tom Loock · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the 'Mortal Engines'-series (or however the publishers have currently re-labeled it ...) and can recommend these books to ANYONE who is (wo)man enough to read a YA-novel.

the traction codex is a bit of a disappointment though and the first book that does not seem to be as enjoyable on my otherwise beloved Kindle as I presume it would be in 'proper' book form because of the illustrations and the ability to thumb back and forward.

It is also a bit slim for my taste.