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A Rousing Tale of Dauntless Pluck in the Farthest Reaches of Space

by Philip Reeve

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Published Oct 2006 250 pages Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History Publication Information

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Book summary.

Arthur (Art) Mumsby and his irritating sister Myrtle live with their father in a huge and rambling house called Larklight…that just happens to be traveling through outer space. When a visitor called Mr. Webster arrives for a visit, it is far from an innocent social call. Before long Art and Myrtle are off on an adventure to the furthest reaches of space, where they will do battle with evil forces in order to save each other—and the universe. A fantastically original Victorian tale set in an outer space world that might have come from the imaginations of Jules Verne or L Frank Baum, but has a unique gravitational pull all its own…

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Author Information

Philip reeve.

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. Philip has been writing stories since he was five, but Mortal Engines was the first to be published. Mortal Engines defies easy categorisation. It is a gripping adventure story set in an inspired fantasy world, where moving cities trawl the globe. A magical and unique read, it immediately caught the attention of reviewers and book buyers. It was shortlisted for several awards and was the Gold Award winner at the Nestle Smarties Book Prize 2002 and the winner of the Blue Peter Book of the Year at the 2003 Awards. Since Mortal Engines 's release in 2001, followers and fans of the series have been growing exponentially. Philip Reeve is now known as one of the leading writers for young adults, with his every book achieving huge sales, glowing review coverage and award nominations. In 2007, Philip took a new direction with publication of Here Lies Arthur , a story which this time looks back into history. Set in the times of King Arthur, the book is a gripping adventure story and at the same time explores how a myth can be created simply through spin-doctoring and story-telling - a very relevant subject in today's political environment. Here Lies Arthur was shortlisted for the Booktrust Teenage Award, the Nestle Children's Book Prize and won the CILIP Carnegie Medal in 2008. Other projects in Philip's portfolio include writing a series for younger readers called Buster Baylis , illustrating the Urgum the Axeman books by Kjartan Poskitt, and the steam-powered Victorian space adventures Larklight , Starcross and Mothstorm . Fever Crumb , published in 2009 and set many generations before the events of Mortal Engines , was short-listed for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2010. Philip lives on Dartmoor with his wife and son, and his interests are walking, drawing, writing and reading. You can find out more about Philip and his books on his website, www.philip-reeve.com

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A ROUSING TALE OF DAUNTLESS PLUCK IN THE FARTHEST REACHES OF SPACE

by Philip Reeve & illustrated by David Wyatt ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2006

The glory of Empire meets Star Trek in this space fantasy-picaresque that Edgar Rice Burroughs would have loved. Staunch British citizens Art Mumby and older sister Myrtle live in Larklight, a free-floating home just on the other side of the Moon. When giant white spiders invade and attack their father, the two escape, propelled into a series of adventures that bring them into contact with Jack Havock, teen pirate, his crew of xenomorphs upon the aether-ship Sophronia , Sir Richard Burton, agent of Her Majesty’s Secret Service on Mars and Thunderhead, the vast intelligence that is the Red Spot of Jupiter. Reeve brilliantly creates a world where the environs of space are governed by credibly 19th-century assumptions: Interplanetary travel takes place in wooden vessels; the aether has enough oxygen for our dauntless characters to breathe; and a panoply of whimsical aliens populates the solar system. Art, the quintessential boy, narrates this rip-roaring adventure, allowing his very ladylike sister’s diary to fill in the holes when they are separated, and the interplay between the two is priceless in itself. Jolly good fun, all around. (Fiction. 10-14)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2006

ISBN: 1-59990-020-3

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2006

CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS AND THE TERRIFYING RETURN OF TIPPY TINKLETROUSERS

From the captain underpants series , vol. 9.

by Dav Pilkey & illustrated by Dav Pilkey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 28, 2012

Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.

Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.

Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…

Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012

ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Scholastic

Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012

CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION

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by Katherine Marsh ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 7, 2018

A captivating book situated in present-day discourse around the refugee crisis, featuring two boys who stand by their high...

Two parallel stories, one of a Syrian boy from Aleppo fleeing war, and another of a white American boy, son of a NATO contractor, dealing with the challenges of growing up, intersect at a house in Brussels.

Ahmed lost his father while crossing the Mediterranean. Alone and broke in Europe, he takes things into his own hands to get to safety but ends up having to hide in the basement of a residential house. After months of hiding, he is discovered by Max, a boy of similar age and parallel high integrity and courage, who is experiencing his own set of troubles learning a new language, moving to a new country, and being teased at school. In an unexpected turn of events, the two boys and their new friends Farah, a Muslim Belgian girl, and Oscar, a white Belgian boy, successfully scheme for Ahmed to go to school while he remains in hiding the rest of the time. What is at stake for Ahmed is immense, and so is the risk to everyone involved. Marsh invites art and history to motivate her protagonists, drawing parallels to gentiles who protected Jews fleeing Nazi terror and citing present-day political news. This well-crafted and suspenseful novel touches on the topics of refugees and immigrant integration, terrorism, Islam, Islamophobia, and the Syrian war with sensitivity and grace.

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ISBN: 978-1-250-30757-6

Page Count: 368

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Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018

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Larklight by Philip Reeve (Larklight Trilogy: Book 1)

‘It was just another normal morning in space,’ aboard the floating house aptly named Larklight, orbiting good, old earth like your nosy, next door neighbour. It was also normal that the gravity generator within the house was malfunctioning for the umpteenth time and Arthur Mumby, our narrator with plenty of wit and bucketloads of resourcefulness is having a nice, long argument with his world-weary, older sister Myrtle, who is just trying to practice ‘Birdsong at Eventide’ on the pianoforte for crying out loud, so will everyone just back off!

Art and Myrtle live on this floating house which has no top and no bottom with their absent-minded father. The house, although falling to pieces, is a treasured memory left behind of their beloved mother. Then suddenly the news of a visitor goes sour when it turns out that this Mr. Webster is not here just for a cup of tea. Soon the siblings are flung on a swashbuckling space adventure that takes them to the Moon, the abandoned colonies of Venus, the red plains of Mars and grand opening of the Crystal Palace at Hyde Park. Art and his sister realize that it is up to them to save each other and the known Universe from Dire Peril and along the way, learn important secrets about the world they live in and about themselves.

The best part of this classical adventure would undoubtedly be the crew and captain of the Pirate ship Sophronia. A motley crew of endearing proportions, hailing from all over the galaxy; loyal fighters, every man jack.

I particularly enjoyed the interwoven tale of Jack Havock and how his childhood - and ultimately, destiny - entwines with that of the Mumby siblings giving depth, character and a damn, good story to tell. Philip Reeve conjures up an assortment of steampunk inventions, my favorite of which are the hoverhogs who are technically pigs that clean the air by taking it in and… well… letting it out! There’s even a clever illustration by David Wyatt incase the subtlety eludes you!

Which, brings me to the amazing Mr. Wyatt; illustrator extraordinaire. The whole book is cleverly written around some of the most detailed and priceless illustrations I have seen and makes reading it an absolute pleasure. It’s a fantastic book and should be read together with the other two in the trilogy; Starcross and Mothstorm, the third book, which I have yet to get my hands on and I guarantee that you will not regret it!

9/10 Cleverly written around some of the most detailed and priceless illustrations.

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Review by Dash Cooray

1 positive reader review(s) for Larklight

Hridyanshu from India

It is a great book for kids and their parents. I had gone gaga when I first read it. A fast and catchy novel that I bet you will love.

9.5 /10 from 2 reviews

All Philip Reeve Reviews

• Larklight Trilogy (Larklight Trilogy)
• Larklight (Larklight Trilogy: Book 1)
• Starcross (Larklight Trilogy: Book 2)
• Mortal Engines Quartet (Mortal Engines Quartet)
• Fever Crumb (Mortal Engines Quartet: Prequel)

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Book Review: Larklight

I loved everything about this book! The plot, the characters, the hilarious writing, the world-building, the mystery, the adventure, and every single dramatic chapter all kept me reading for hours on end. This is one of those books where there isn’t a good place to stop reading. You just have to keep going through the next chapter and the next. I am amazed at how imaginative this fantasy world is. The aliens and their strange cultures are all so intricate and well-formed, right down to the diseases, commerce, and vegetation of each planet. I love that it is set in a steam-punk 1850s British Empire full of space travel that has expanded to Venus, Mars, and Jupiter. It’s such an interesting solar system, and each planet has it’s own history and people who live there.

The writing style is very humorous with that sort of dry humor that I love. I was delighted at how some of the characters are doing their best to have good manners and polite modesty in the middle of their outlandish adventures. We may be about to be blown to smithereens by space pirates, but let us not forget proper courtesy and decorum. The whole book is hilarious!

The characters are really varied and interesting. They come from all sorts of backgrounds, and I loved the character development for so many of them. They change and grow and learn from one another.

Myrtle has some excellent development as she learns that she is stronger and more resourceful than she thought. She does NOT faint every time something dangerous happens, as a properly-educated young lady should do. Instead she begins to take little steps towards saving herself, instead of waiting for a hero to rescue her as a demure young lady should do. And through those little steps she moves on to bigger steps, until finally she gains enough confidence in her own abilities to have the courage to jump into the fray and save everyone.

I can’t wait to read more books in this series!

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Larklight Larklight #1 Philip Reeve with David Wyatt 400 pages • first pub 2006 ( editions ) ISBN/UID: 9781599900209 Format: Hardcover Language: English Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens Publication date: Not specified fiction historical middle grade science fiction adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced to read Expand dropdown menu read currently reading did not finish Toggle book page action menu and links add to "up next" mark as owned buy Bookshop US Bookshop UK Blackwell's The StoryGraph is an affiliate of the featured links. We earn commission on any purchases made. The StoryGraph is an affiliate of the featured links. We earn commission on any purchases made. Browse similar books... Start a readalong... Start a buddy read... View question bank... Book Information Add missing information... Report missing/incorrect information... StoryGraph Preview Personalized Powered by AI (Beta) Add blurb Community Reviews

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Larklight Larklight #1 Philip Reeve with David Wyatt 400 pages • first pub 2006 ( editions ) ISBN/UID: 9781599900209 Format: Hardcover Language: English Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens Publication date: Not specified to read Expand dropdown menu read currently reading did not finish Toggle book page action menu and links add to "up next" mark as owned buy Bookshop US Bookshop UK Blackwell's The StoryGraph is an affiliate of the featured links. We earn commission on any purchases made. The StoryGraph is an affiliate of the featured links. We earn commission on any purchases made. Browse similar books... Start a readalong... Start a buddy read... View question bank... Book Information Add missing information... Report missing/incorrect information... fiction historical middle grade science fiction adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced StoryGraph Preview Personalized Powered by AI (Beta) Add blurb Community Reviews

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Abby the Librarian

By day, collection development librarian in Southern Indiana. By night, blogger extraordinaire.

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Friday, May 16, 2008

Book review: larklight.

By Philip Reeve

steampunk | Published in NaN

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5480 ratings (Goodreads)

by Philip Reeve

The story begins at Larklight, a house that orbits Earth's moon, where the Mumbys receive a visitor from the Royal Xenological Society, a Mr. Webster, who is revealed to be an extra-terrestrial resembling an enormous white spider. Art and his sister Myrtle escape; but their father is captured and presumed dead. Art and Myrtle leave in an escape pod and crash-land on the Moon, where they are encased with predatory larvae of the Potter Moth and freed by pirate Jack Havock and his crew. Art is shocked to find that Jack is only fifteen years old, and that he is the only human in his crew, while Myrtle is distressed at being in the company of a pirate and demands that Jack take them to the Moon's British residence, Fort George. En route aboard the pirates' ship Sophronia, a ship of the British Navy comes alongside and orders Jack to surrender or have his ship destroyed. Jack distracts the officers by pretending to hold Art and Myrtle hostage, giving Ssillissa, the ship's alchemist, time to activate the ship's engines and fly the Sophronia to safety. They conceal themselves on Venus, Jack Havock's old home, where Jack tells Art and Myrtle that the colonists there, including his parents and brother, were changed into trees by a sudden pollination. The white spiders take Myrtle to the Martian home of industrialist Sir Waverly Rain, whose factories cover Phobos and Deimos. She escapes with a Martian maid named Ulla and her husband, Richard, with whom she learns that Sir Waverly Rain had been captured by the spiders and replaced with a spider-controlled automaton; believing the spiders might manufacture something much more sinister, they race to London. Jack and Art visit Jupiter's moon Io, descending into Jupiter's atmosphere to ask aid of the Thunderhead, who tells them to protect the key to Larklight. Not knowing what this is, they attempt to leave Jupiter, but are abandoned by their ferryman and escape to a broken-down harpoon ship attached to a native organism. They are rescued by the Sophronia's crew. Jack discovers that Myrtle's locket (now in Art's possession) is the key to Larklight, in that it can activate a set of complex engines capable of transforming the solar system, and leads his crew to the spiders' home on the Rings of Saturn to exchange it for Myrtle's safe return. Upon arriving at the spiders' home, most of the crew are captured. Art is later taken before Professor Phineas Ptarmigan, formerly of the Royal Xenological Institute where Jack was imprisoned until he was twelve, who reveals that he wishes to use Larklight to destroy the Solar System, leaving the remains to the spiders whose ancestors had colonized the planetesimals. Meanwhile, Ssillissa and her crewmate Yarg free the captured crew and two additional prisoners, Sir Waverly and Art's mother Emily. Having freed Larklight from the spiders, the protagonists visit Earth, where a gigantic mechanical spider is attacking London. There, Myrtle takes control of the machine and uses it to kill Mr. Webster, and later re-unites with her family and Jack. The epilogue reveals that the race of white spiders has not been exterminated, but subdued, and that Ptarmigan has been placed in an insane asylum. The Mumby family return to live at Larklight, which they deprive of its otherworldly machinery.

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Larklight Summary and Analysis

FreeBookNotes found 8 sites with book summaries or analysis of Larklight . If there is a Larklight SparkNotes, Shmoop guide, or Cliff Notes, you can find a link to each study guide below.

Among the summaries and analysis available for Larklight , there are 1 Short Summary and 7 Book Reviews.

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by Philip Reeve

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More Books by Philip Reeve

FreeBookNotes has 9 more books by Philip Reeve, with a total of 44 study guides.

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Larklight Paperback

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• Book 1 of 3 Larklight
• Language English
• Publisher BLOOMSBURY CHILDRENS BOOKS
• Dimensions 5.59 x 1.06 x 6.65 inches
• ISBN-10 1526606615
• ISBN-13 978-1526606617
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• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1526606615
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1526606617
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.59 x 1.06 x 6.65 inches
• #1,702 in Christian Science Fiction (Books)

About the author

Philip reeve.

Philip Reeve is best known as the author of Mortal Engines, but has written many other works, including Railhead, Here Lies Arthur, and a series of popular books for younger readers with the illustrator Sarah McIntyre.

Philip 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 illustrations, cartoons and comic strips for around forty children's books, including the best-selling Horrible Histories, Murderous Maths and Dead Famous series. It was while working on these that he wrote Mortal Engines, his first novel.

Mortal Engines is a gripping adventure story set in a future world where moving cities trawl the globe. It was shortlisted for several awards and was the Gold Award winner at the Nestle Smarties Book Prize 2002 and the winner of the Blue Peter Book of the Year at the 2003 Awards. A movie adaptation, written and produced by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens and directed by Christian Rivers, was released in 2018.

Predator's Gold is the second book in the Mortal Engines quartet, Infernal Devices the third and A Darkling Plain concludes the series to date. A Darkling Plain was published in 2006 and won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize.

In 2007, Philip took a new direction with publication of Here Lies Arthur, a story which this time looks back into history. Set in the Dark Ages, the book is a gripping adventure story and at the same time explores how a myth can be created through story-telling. Here Lies Arthur was shortlisted for the Booktrust Teenage Award, the Nestle Children's Book Prize and won the CILIP Carnegie Medal in 2008.

Fever Crumb, published in 2009 and set many generations before the events of Mortal Engines, was short-listed for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2010.  It was followed by A Web of Air (2010) and Scrivener's Moon (2011).

Philip is also the author of Goblins ,Goblins Vs Dwarves, and Goblin Quest (comic fantasies about the bloodthirsty goblins of Clovenstone) and a trilogy of steam-powered Victorian space adventures Larklight, Starcross and Mothstorm, all gloriously illustrated by David Wyatt.

In recent years Philip has begun a successful collaboration with the illustrator Sarah McIntyre. Their books together include Oliver and the Seawigs, Cakes in Space, Pugs of the Frozen North, and Jinks and O’Hare Funfair Repair. The Legend of Kevin, about a roly-poly flying pony, was followed by three sequels: Kevin's Great Escape, Kevin and the Biscuit Bandit and Kevin vs the Unicorns.

In March 2023 Philip and Sarah published the first of their new Adventuremice series: Otter Chaos. Based on paintings Sarah did during the pandemic lockdowns, and lavishly illustrated in full colour, the first book tells the story of Pedro, a young mouse who sets off in search of the fabled Mouse Islands, and meets the daring Adventuremice.

Inspired by working on the Reeve & McIntyre series, Philip returned to large-scale sci-fi with his YA novel Railhead, set in a future where human beings live in a galactic empire linked by hyperspace railways, Railhead tells the story of a young thief named Zen, who is recruited to commit an elaborate robbery. Zen’s adventures continue in a sequel, Black Light Express, and Station Zero completes the trilogy.

Philip's most recent novels are Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep and Utterly Dark and the Heart of the Wild. Described by the Guardian as 'a superbly weird tale of wonder, peril, tragedy and the thin places between worlds', it is set on the imaginary 19th Century island of Wildsea, where young Utterly Dark keeps watch for even more imaginary islands which appear sometimes on the western horizon, and the terrifying being who lives on them. 'The writing is superbly descriptive, strongly evoking landscapes, weathers and moods. Much of the earlier part of the story feels lyrical and echoes the writing of the period in which it is set, without ever feeling in any way archaic. But…the story rapidly builds to a cataclysmic and hugely exciting sequence of climaxes.’ (Gordon Askew, Magic Fiction Since Potter.) The second book follows Utterly to another island, where old magic is stirring beneath the hills.

Philip lives on Dartmoor with his wife and son. 

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