Infernal Devices by Philip Reeve is the third book in The Hungry City Chronicles.  It takes place 16 years after the last book ended.  The plot is initialized by Tom and Hester’s 15-year-old daughter, Wren.

Although plenty seems to be happening in the novel, the first three-quarters of the book is not terribly engaging.  Perhaps this is because Wren is dreadfully naive and a bit shallow; she really isn’t a heroine that the reader can get deeply invested in.  Yes, at times, this character is just a bit annoying.  However, much like Predator’s Gold, keep reading becaue Mr. Reeve knows how to create a brilliant climax scene and battle with twists enough to make it worth every page.  There is horrible and beautiful tragedy in this book, with an ending that makes it clear that Mr. Reeve is deliberately going somewhere with this series that has the potential to go sci-fi Shakespearean tragedy at any moment.  Looking very much forward to book four, A Darkling Plain.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  5 religious exclamations; 4 mild obscenities.

Violence/Gore:  Reference to violence in past books; kidnapping; slaves have hands branded; characters shot point blank in head and killed; a deer is killed for food; report of gladiator-type slave battles; bomb blows up vessel and “bits of ship and boys bob to the surface”; reference to events in ongoing war between factions; mother slaps daughter across face, leaving cut; some description of cutting of limbs, etc. during operations to bring dead corpses back to life; a boy’s body is seen floating in wreckage and other signs of battle and dead bodies; shots fired and property is damaged falling and killing a character; character murdered; character hit and captured; character stabs, shoots, etc. and kills several individuals; characters come up stabbed and dead people; extended scene involving air battles, firing, rioting, and explosions; character drops something heavy on another with intent to kill; character shot, mention of blood; individual killed by birds; extended battle scene between Stalkers; scene of looting and people are seen hung; character pushes another an injures them; destruction of property.

Sex/Nudity:  Characters kiss; characters have romantic thoughts about another; it is said someone was a girlfriend; professional colleague pats female on the bottom; reference to wandering hands of an individual; wife is suspicious of a husband having an affair and his interest in another woman; general/passing mention that girls sometimes fell in love with girls and boys sometimes fell in love with boys; reference that conception of an individual occurred on the floorboards of a vessel.

Mature Subject Matter:

Death, betrayal, theft, kidnapping, slavery, war, science ethics.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

Characters smoke; characters drink alcohol.