移动城市1：致命引擎 (2001)

《移动城市1：致命引擎》（英语：Mortal Engines）是菲利普·雷夫奇幻文学系列《移动城市系列》的首部曲，于2001年出版。

殊荣

2002年Nestle Smarties Book Prize

2007年星云赏海外部门长篇作品

改编作品

改编电影《移动城市：致命引擎》于2018年12月上映，新西兰和美国合拍的科幻冒险片，由克利斯汀·瑞佛斯执导，法兰·华许、菲利帕·鲍恩斯和彼得·杰克森共同撰写剧本。电影改编自菲利普·雷夫的同名小说，故事主要描述在未来的世界，人们依靠着移动城市来相互争斗，以争夺世上剩余的资源。由赫拉·希尔马、罗伯特·席安、智海、蕾拉·乔治（Leila George）、罗南·拉夫特瑞、雨果·威明和史蒂芬·朗主演。

《移动城市：致命引擎》于2018年11月27日在英国伦敦进行全球首映礼，并于2018年12月14日在美国上映。

Mortal Engines is a young adult science fiction novel by Philip Reeve, published by Scholastic UK in 2001. The book focuses on a futuristic, steampunk version of London, now a giant machine striving to survive on a world that is running out of resources.

Mortal Engines is the first book of a series, the Mortal Engines Quartet, published from 2001 to 2006. It has been adapted as a 2018 feature film.

The book won a Nestlé Smarties Book Prize and the 2003 Blue Peter Book Award. It was shortlisted for the 2002 Whitbread Award, the 2004 ALA's Notable Books for Children award and the 2020 Blue Peter Awards 20th anniversary prize.

Summary

Setting

The book is set in a post-apocalyptic world, ravaged by the "Sixty Minute War", a global conflict so violent it caused massive geological upheaval. To escape earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and other natural threats, a Nomad leader called Nikola Quercus (known throughout the Quartet as Nicholas Quirke, and revered as a deity) installed massive engines and wheels on London, turning it into the first "Traction City" and enabling it to dismantle (or eat) other cities for resources. The technology rapidly spread and evolved into what is known as "Municipal Darwinism". Although the planet has since become stable, Municipal Darwinism has spread worldwide. Because scientific progress has almost completely halted and much technological and scientific knowledge was lost during the war, "Old Tech" is highly prized and recovered by scavengers and archaeologists. Europe, some of Asia, North Africa, South America, Australia, and the Arctic are dominated by Traction Cities. In contrast, North America - often identified as "the dead continent" due to the extensive destruction it suffered during the war - and the rest of the world is the stronghold of the Anti-Traction League, which seeks to keep cities from moving and thus stop the intense consumption of the planet's remaining resources.

London is the principal Traction City in the novel, which has returned to a Victorian-era society. London's society is divided into four major and several minor Guilds. The Engineers are responsible for maintaining the machines necessary for the survival of London, many of which are found by the Guild of Historians. The Historians are in charge of collecting and preserving highly prized, often dangerous artifacts. The Navigators are responsible for steering and plotting the course of London. The Merchants are in charge of running London's economy. London is officially ruled by an elected Mayor. The Lord Mayor is Magnus Crome, who is also the head of the Guild of Engineers. Like most Traction Cities, London is built on a series of tiers. This encourages the system of social classes, with the wealthier nobles at the top of the city and the lower classes further down, closer to the noise and pollution of the city's massive engines. Atop the whole of London sits St Paul's Cathedral: the only building known to have survived the Sixty Minute War.

Plot

The book starts with the traction city of London chasing and catching a small mining town called Salthook. Tom Natsworthy, a teenage Apprentice Historian, is sent, as punishment for skipping a chore, to the "Gut" of London, where captured Traction cities or towns are stripped of resources. Tom incidentally meets the Head of the Guild of Historians, Thaddeus Valentine, along with his daughter, Katherine. One of Salthook's residents, teenager Hester Shaw, attempts to assassinate Valentine, but Tom interferes and chases her. She reveals a disfiguring scar on her face and claims Valentine caused it, before escaping the London police through a chute. When Tom informs Valentine of her name, Valentine pushes him down into the chute. Tom and Hester recover outside of London within the Hunting Ground and, after an argument, they start following the city's tracks to reboard it.