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Return to the world of Mortal Engines in this new book of short stories about the rebellious young aviatrix, Anna Fang, illustrated by Ian McQue. A key character in the Mortal Engines book and upcoming film produced by Peter Jackson (December 2018), this is your chance to learn more of Anna's thrilling past. Night Flights includes Traction City, Philip Reeve's 2011 World Book Day Book.
In a dangerous future world where gigantic, motorized cities attack and devour each other, London hunts where no other predator dares. But Anna Fang -- pilot, adventurer, spy -- isn't afraid.

The three stories show gripping, moving, exciting moments in Anna Fang's life: her childhood as a slave aboard the moving city Arkangel, a showdown against a robotic Stalker that is terrifyingly out of control, and her free life as an intelligence agent for the Anti-Traction league ...

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First published July 5, 2018

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About the author

Philip Reeve

171 books2,720 followers
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.

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5 stars
812 (31%)
4 stars
1,087 (41%)
3 stars
601 (23%)
2 stars
79 (3%)
1 star
21 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 276 reviews
Profile Image for Rezza Dwi.
Author 1 book276 followers
January 14, 2019
Anna Fang adalah salah satu tokoh yang aku favoritkan di seri Mortal Engines, terlebih dalam filmnya. Dia badass, berani, dan sangat bergaya.

Ketika tau Mizan Fantasi mau menerbitkan buku spin off tentang Anna Fang ini, tentu aja aku bersemangat sekali. Terlebih blurb di belakang bukunya simpel dan bikin penasaran.

Lantas, bagaimana kesanku setelah baca bukunya?

Buku ini tipis, hanya 180an halaman. Itu pun banyak ilustrasinya. Nah, ternyata, cerita Anna Fang dibuat padat di sini. Lebih banyak telling daripada showing. Dialognya pun sedikit.

Anna Fang bukan orang yang keren sejak awal. Mengingat Anna di Mortal Engines keren sekali, ternyata dulu dia bukan apa-apa.

Aku salut dengan tekad dan perubahan karakter Anna. Dia yang perlahan kaku, tidak peduli dengan orang lain, belajar hanya memikirkan diri sendiri, perlahan berubah menjadi Anna yang punya hati nurani dan belajar dari masa lalunya.

Btw, aku suka banget sama ilustrasi-ilustrasinya. Kereeen. Bikin buku ini jadi menarik buat diliat-liat 😂
Profile Image for Shog Al Maskery.
113 reviews540 followers
August 31, 2018
It was a good read. Interesting plot but I wish it was longer. I wish there were more details and graphics, Anna seems to have interesting stories to tell. It took time to get into it but now that it's done I feel like it's missing so much. I'll be waiting to watch the movie and see how it gets interpreted.
Profile Image for Sara Saif.
573 reviews239 followers
August 29, 2019

I had to wait an ungodly amount of time to read this book, but the wait was worth it. This series deserves a lot of love and praise, both of which I try to give any time I can. It's been a while since I read the books, about a year and a half I think. I saw the movie a month ago and I enjoyed it actually.



There were differences obviously but one thing stood out and was as close to what the book intended as possible, and that was Anna Fang. I fell in love with her the moment I saw the trailer. And so, coming back to Night Flights, I love three things in this book:
1- The book's been dedicated to the actress who played Anna in the movie. The author conveyed my sentiments EXACTLY. She was graceful and stunning and yes, Anna deserved more stories.
2- There's a mention of Lahore. FINALLY. My city needs to be mentioned more in books.
3- The illustrations. They were eerie but incredible and they played a huge part in setting the tone of the book.

I liked all three stories equally. However, I do wish the first one held more detail and tragedy. For something that defined who she was to become it sounded a bit straight-forward?


But I really, truly loved this book!
Profile Image for Andrew.
2,539 reviews
July 17, 2018
Now I will admit this reading this series is all a bit messed up. You see I have had the original books in my collection since the first came out and have been meaning to read them for years (the closest I got was to read a world book day short about the stalkers). It took both the impending Peter Jackson film and the release of this book of prequel stories to spur me in to action.

So as I have just said this is actually a book of prequel stories (3 to be precise) which focus around Anna Fang, from her beginnings right up to the point where she meets our heroes from the first book Mortal Engines.

For me having like I say never read the books this is a great starting point to the series (although without giving away spoilers its obvious to say she is only a supporting character in the larger series) as it opens up the strange and savage work the stories take place in. However I think further discussions on that should be kept to the main books - after all even though this is a hardback edition it is quite small and has fewer pages than the first paperback.

So why the high rating - well for me the stories give depth to a character I guess you would call a support to the main event. However this is not the half of it - as it gives depth to someone in other stories you may just give a passing glance to - but for me shows that there are countless other stories to tell so even when the main event is over with there are still so many more tales to tell. Which is rather ironic as one of the first scenes is of Anna on a tavern listening to tall tales being told around her.

I am looking forward to seeing the film and for me this book just increases the excitement. The books are pretty fine too.
Profile Image for Catherine Lefay.
794 reviews407 followers
March 14, 2020
Es un libro demasiado cortito y las aventuras de Anna muy son interesantes, quedé con gusto a poco.
Profile Image for Juan Manuel Sarmiento.
802 reviews156 followers
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December 4, 2018
"Estos relatos nos sirven para comprender cómo ha crecido y cómo ha pasado por las diferentes experiencias y eventos que han permitido la creación de su personalidad. Aprenderemos cómo escapó a una edad temprana de la esclavitud y se interesó por la aviación. Las lecciones en su vida, cómo funcionan las distintas sociedades que visita, experiencias no siempre agradables."

Reseña completa en THE BEST READ YET BLOG
Profile Image for Raf.
221 reviews13 followers
December 28, 2020
8.75 ⭐✨ out of 10 ⭐

What a delightful read. Night Flights is a prequel to Mortal Engines series, thus serving as a complementary to that main series. At first I thought I will have harder time understanding this book because I have not yet reread Mortal Engines, turned out I was wrong.

Night Flights tells a collection of stories, or perhaps a novella, about a woman named Anna Fang. She is one of main key characters in Mortal Engines. She is strong, bold, and a careful thinker. I could see why a lot of reader fawned over her.

What I love the most from Night Flights is the illustrations. Ian McQue did a great job portraying Anna Fang's adventures through the cities. The depth of predator city of London drawn crowded and eerie, the seashore Island drawn beautiful and serene. I love it to no end.



I read the Indonesian copy of this book, so I can't tell whether the english used is hard to grasp or not. But the translation was detailed enough and easy to understand. It is also written in such a way that we can follow the story easily without reading Mortal Engines first. Since it's very short, not much room for deep characterizations for other characters aside of Anna. But it's understandable.

I recommend this to those who really like Mortal Engines, those who want to find short stories for casual read, and those who like badass female main characters.
Profile Image for Karyn Silverman.
1,247 reviews122 followers
June 27, 2018
4.5 really. Three tiny stories about aviatrix Anna Fang, and it ends when she first meets Tom and Hester. I think this is intended to stand alone as a prequel to relaunch this brilliant series, but I don’t know if it works in that context. It’s also illustrated and looks young, and I think one fatal flaw with how Mortal Engines has been treated as a property is that it skews closer to adult sci-fi than kids, but it gets treated as a children’s. At bare minimum it needs to be packaged and promoted as teen. That said, this might whet the right readers appetite, if the package doesn’t seem too juvenile.

Looking at this book alone, it’s a nice jump through time, showing three pieces of Anna’s arc, and if you already know her it’s an excellent selection showing how she became the powerful figure readers of the original quartet will know — but also this manages not to diminish her. (Sometimes backstory makes powerful characters less powerful...). It also serves as a peek at a few locations - including stationary coastal and roving nautical cities - that are less familiar and fun to see.

I continue to think Reeve writes some of the richest science fiction out there, and while this is a small entry, it’s wonderful to be back amongst the roving cities, having adventures and being asked hard questions about power and privilege, even if the players in that conversation are cities.
Profile Image for Charlotte.
1,443 reviews40 followers
September 9, 2018
I have not read the Mortal Engines books, in which Anna Fang is an important character. The fact that I'd never met her before did not in the least bit make Night Flights less interesting; I enjoyed it very much! Anna's gritty story and her intelligence and determination make for good reading.
Profile Image for Zehra.
817 reviews1 follower
March 3, 2019

But she did not want to share her stories with them. Stories changed when you told them. You made up new details to please your listeners, you exaggerated things of left things out, and soon even you came to believe the new story was the real one. Anna wanted hers to stay the same, as true as her memories could keep them.



My love for Anna Fang has only grown while reading this beautifully illustrated book and I honestly wish it was longer. I wish I could read more about the adventures Anna Fang had before she met Tom and Hester.

Anna Fang is one of the most female badass characters I have met in a book and she has such an interesting life and it's kinda sad that this book doesn't even have 200 pages because I believe there has to be so many more stories, that are worth to pack into a book. Maybe I'm biased because she's my favorite characters in the Mortal Engines books but giVE ME MORE ANNA FANG
Profile Image for Ash  (BooksToAshes).
746 reviews189 followers
July 27, 2019
2.5 Stars!

I enjoyed the world building and descriptions, as well as the writing, but it was really hard to follow sometimes. A lot of names thrown around and I was forcing myself to read it in some areas.
Despite that I did enjoy these short stories and the illustrations were amazing. Reading Rush book 5 done!
Profile Image for Thomas.
246 reviews4 followers
July 17, 2023
Airhaven hung on the evening wind. The huge gasbags of the flying town were touched with golden light like sunset clouds. But the land below it was already in shadow, except where water reflected the sky in the flooded trackmarks that scarred the plains and hills. Here and there a cluster of moving lights showed where a town or a small traction city was making its way through the deepening twilight. A slow old trading town was moving south through a gap in the mountains and a pack of predator villages was milling after it, waiting for their chance to attack. It was hunt or be hunted down there.

Before she was the Stalker Fang, before she was even the Anti-tractionist spymaster Anna Fang, she was…. Anna… Fung…? No, that doesn’t seem right! Okay, maybe it is.

Night Flights is a spin-off to the Mortal Engines quartet. A collection of short stories to give us Anna Fang’s story that leads us up to her intro into the Mortal Engines timeline. We are given three short stories that comprise this collection.

The first story, Frozen Heart is Anna’s childhood. One day, Anna’s town gets eaten by a larger town. It’s a town eat town world after all, no hard feelings! The town, Arkangel, then sells Anna as a slave to work deep in its pits, collecting valuable materials for those in power aboard the motorized city. As a slave, she gains the favor of Stilton Kael, the son of a wealthy merchant who is as nerdy as his name. With his help, she just might gain her freedom.

Traction City Blues, the second story in the collection, gives us Anna Fang as a young rebellious aviatrix. Flying to the city of London aboard the Jenny Haniver, she manages to buy a magnetic demolition charge that she intends to use on a rumored stalker known as The Collector, deep within the city who kills and takes his victim’s right hands. Only with the help of a local policeman will she be able to track down the stalker.

The last story, Teeth of the Sea, gives us a more mature Anna, now an agent of the Anti-tractionist League. Traveling to the island of Palau Pinang, the League has her on a mission to look into one of their own, the Sultana. Collecting information, she learns whether or not the Sultana is still loyal to the League.

Philip Reeve was inspired to tell Anna Fang’s story only when he met the actress who played her in the Mortal Engines film by Peter Jackson. This very small collection, shines a light into one of the most mysterious characters in the series, and though small, may be a good starting point in the series, but seems far better to read once you’re all done with the four main books.
Profile Image for ♥emma ۪۪۫۫ ༄ؘ ˑ.
73 reviews
November 24, 2023
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

I love Anna’s character and seeing more scenes from her life before the events of the first book in the series take place, but I was disappointed because this collection of three short stories was honestly just sort of dull. I was expecting more insight into the events that shaped who she became, but we didn’t get more than a few details about her life that we didn’t already know.

Anna Hong truly is such a powerful character though, and I love her dearly.
Profile Image for Blue.
1,731 reviews120 followers
May 18, 2020
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This little collection is the story behind Anna Fang that we didn't know we needed. I loved the struggle and the dark times Anna went through but still was driven by determination and kept her heart open to find the good in people.
9 reviews
April 5, 2024
This was a nice short read to establish backstory for a character that definitely deserves it. It could have been longer but had great pacing and detail.
Profile Image for Monica Kessler.
400 reviews2 followers
February 13, 2021
Philip Reeve is a master at ending at the beginning.

Fifteen years ago I finished the end of his Hungry City / Mortal Engines quartet and cried because of the poignant and nostalgic way it ended for the characters who I had really grown to love and appreciate.

In this prequel, it ends where the first book in the quartet begins, and at that point I felt such a colossal nostalgia for the entire world which Reeve built for this series; I teared up.

But here I am, talking about the end first! I'm the reverse of Reeve, starting at the end!

This book is a lovely illustrated collection of 3 short stories about one of the fan-favourite side characters from Mortal Engines, Aviatrix Anna Fang. I picked this up having just read Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy, the first book of which is essentially a collection of short futuristic sci fi stories like this book. The Foundation books are Sci-fi classics, and yet by comparison, for me, Night Flights wins for storytelling and entertainment.

Anna (unlike the Foundation characters) makes an interesting main character, full of drive and daring, clever but not without flaws. I almost prefer her as the main character as compared to the lovable but bumbling Tom of the original series! We chart Anna's life here in 3 short stories which each reveal a little more about the character that we later see in Mortal Engines. All 3 of the stories are fully engaging and dramatic. The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous, but don't be fooled into thinking this is a young children's book because the content of story number 2 is potentially a bit disturbing, and there are, of course, dark themes throughout the whole book. But the illustrations make it all truly atmospheric. I actually went back at the end and just looked through all of the illustrations again because I really wanted to just absorb them all into my brain!

The only downside, of course, is that there wasn't more. I would have happily read Anna's entire life story front to back, but these stories, in my opinion, were fleshed-out enough to stand on their own too.

5* for amazing main character, engaging story, fantastically imagined setting (the whole Hungry City worldbuilding is incredible), and gorgeous illustrations.
Profile Image for Theresa.
675 reviews
June 28, 2018
I received an ARC at BEA 2018 and it was as of yet un-illustrated. If you are familiar with Philip Reeve's steampunk worlds and are happily awaiting the Mortal Engines movie this is a must read. This novella is part of the Hungry City Chronicles, with three short stories starring Anna Fang and her love for flying and rebellious acts. These stories show Anna's roots and act as a prequel to the Mortal Engines book.

I'm excited to see what the finished illustrations will look like and how they will fill out the pages. The package of this book does appear more middle grade, but it is directly related to the Mortal Engines book. Young readers may like this book and could use it to transition into the series, but they also may be confused since the Hungry City Chronicles are such an immensely detailed steampunk world.
11 reviews1 follower
May 21, 2024
Night Flights by Philip Reeve is another installation in the Mortal Engines saga, this specific book is smaller as it s a collection of three short stories. Each of these stories relates the past of a renowned character in the series Anna Fang. I enjoyed learning more about this unique dystopian world through the action packed experiences of Anna. If you enjoyed they other Mortal Engines books you will have fun with this one. I especially found the first of the three short stories interesting because it showed a little bit more about a city that we are more unfamiliar with. This city is called arkangel and Anna was a slave there as a child. Overall Night Flights nice and relatively easy read with new and interesting stories that fit into the world of Mortal Engines well.
Profile Image for Alberto.
101 reviews
November 7, 2021
Me gustó el libro, fue genial conocer más de Anna Fang, que a mi parecer es uno de los personajes más interesantes del mundo de Máquinas Mortales. Eso sí, se me hizo corto, me hubiese encantado que se presentarán más aventuras del personaje, pero me siento satisfecho con lo leído.

Fue genial volver a este posapocalíptico mundo creado por Philip Reeve de ciudades que se devoran entre sí, ya lo extrañaba 😅.

Las ilustraciones que acompañaban al libro estaban geniales, le daban un gran plus al libro y ayudaban mucho a visualizar mejor todo aquel mundo.

Con respecto a los relatos, me gustaron los tres, cada uno mostrando un punto distinto de la vida de Anna Fang, además de ampliar un poco más lo ya conocido de este mundo y por supuesto, se fueron generando un poco las conexiones con los libros que conforman el cuarteto de las ciudades depredadoras, como se pudo ver al final, donde nos presentan el momento en que Anna conce a Hester y Tom o la aparición de Stilton Kael al principio.

Aunque también sospecho que habían algunas referencias sutiles a una trilogía precuela de este mundo llamada "Fever Crumb" pero como no he leído esa trilogía... no sabría si esto es así 🤔 (aunque posiblemente así sea 🤷🏻‍♂️)
Profile Image for No One.
325 reviews89 followers
September 14, 2018
I have a new favourite bad ass character and it's Anna Fang.

I haven't read Mortal Engines yet but I plan to very soon. This is my first Phillip Reeve book I read and although it's a short story it was amazing. His writing is incredible and I still can't get over this crazy fantasy he has created. It's so bonkers and unique and interesting I genuinely can't get enough of it.

Anna Fang is an amazing character full of stories and adventures and self sufficient and bad ass I instantly fell in love with her. She is my kind of gal and I desperately want more of her.

I assume the ending was a link to Mortal Engines which is awesome so I'm happy I'm going to be getting more Anna Fang in the original Mortal Engines books.

Also the art in this is just incredibly beautiful. I was in awe on every page.
Profile Image for Finn Wilson.
7 reviews
February 28, 2019
Night Flights is a backstory to a character from the Mortal Engines series, Anna Fang, the pilot of the Jenny Haniver. This book is exactly what you would want in your typical Mortal Engines story; action-packed adventures with explosions, cool weapons, and towering traction cities. If you wanted to learn more about the backstory of the beautiful, bad-ass, assassin, Anna Fang and her thrilling expeditions on the Jenny Haniver, this book is for you. I really enjoyed this book, and it also made me sad about (SPOILER ALERT) what happens to Miss Fang in the first book. The backstory of Anna Fang is really thrilling, and I would reccomend Night Flights to anyone who is thinking of reading the Mortal Engines series, or after they've read the series.
Profile Image for Silvia.
36 reviews
November 22, 2019
Le pongo tres estrellas por las ilustraciones que trae, que son increíbles. El libro en si me ha decepcionado un poco, sin entrar en detalle, esperaba más historias de Anna y lo que había hecho antes de llegar a los acontecimientos de Máquinas Mortales, pero se me ha quedado un tanto escaso y se me ha hecho cortísimo.
Profile Image for Ovi Buciu.
96 reviews1 follower
September 24, 2020
A wonderful collection of short stories focused on a key character from the Predator Cities saga. Even though these were written long after the end of the original series, Reeve has captured the same bleak outlook and heartwarming charm. It may be a world of machines and metal, but there is real heart here.
Profile Image for Sidsel Sander.
Author 14 books67 followers
January 14, 2019
Bedre end den første og uden alle de underlige skift i grammatisk tud. Jeg kan dog stadig ikke helt finde ud af, om den vil være en børnebog eller en ungdomsbog. De lidet uddybede persomkarakteristikker siger børnebog, men voldsomheden i plottet siger noget andet.
Profile Image for Enzo 87.
237 reviews8 followers
December 5, 2019
Quizas lo corto le resto detalles que me hubiese gustado leer, te quedas con sabor a poca historia y a la necesidad de mas desarrollo. Esta saga fue desaprovechada desde los mismos libros, lo que se sintio aun mas con los pesimos cambios en la pelicula. Esta precuela es amena, no es mala, Anna Fang parece un muy buen personaje pero te la deja ahi, solo en un inicio de la profundizacion.
549 reviews21 followers
January 15, 2020
This was interesting, but clearly a prequel. I could follow along, but I definitely felt like I was supposed to know more about these characters. It was also two independent stories that were thrown together with nothing to tie them together.
Profile Image for Eva.
14 reviews
June 22, 2023
Where do i even start? The story, so descriptive and brilliant as usual with these books- and the ART??? AAAAA SO AMAZING! i loved it so much and was so sad when i reached the end (although i did like the ending).
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