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Author | Philip Reeve |
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Illustrator | David Wyatt |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Series | Larklight |
Genre | Steampunk |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
Publication date | October 2007 |
Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
Pages | 400 |
ISBN | 0-7475-8913-5 |
OCLC | 155683535 |
Preceded by | Larklight |
Followed by | Mothstorm |
Starcross, or the Coming of the Moobs! or Our Adventures in the Fourth Dimension! is a young adult novel by Philip Reeve, released in October 2007. Illustrated by David Wyatt, it is the second book in the Larklight trilogy, sequel to the 2006 novel Larklight . [1]
Protagonist Arthur ("Art") Mumby and his older sister Myrtle are invited to the Starcross hotel on a small and periodically barren asteroid. There, Arthur's mother Emily suspects that Starcross is built on a piece of Mars which routinely slips through a hole in the fabric of time, and Myrtle then discovers that Sir Richard Burton and his Martian wife Ulla have been changed into trees. Jack Havock, now a British secret agent, appears on the scene disguised as an Indian prince.
In the following night they are attacked by the Moobs, a species with the ability to shapeshift into forms of inanimate objects, which currently resemble animated black top hats, which take control of Jack's crew and other guests, including Emily. Myrtle and Jack escape, but become lost in the deserts of prehistoric Mars. There, they encounter Delphine, one of the guests, a French secret agent determined to find her grandfather's wrecked ship and create an American-style republic in his name. At the wreck, they discover that Delphine's grandfather was killed by Moobs, and later learn that the Moobs are native to a time period near the end of the universe, and that they live chiefly by feeding on other species' thoughts and dreams.
A well-intentioned Moob helps Jack win Delphine's soldiers to his side, and they return to Starcross. There, the Moobs load Jack's ship with their comrades and plan to take control of the local societies. Art frees Jack's crew from their influence, and they return to Starcross to discover that Arthur's mother, having sufficient memory to sate them, has subdued the Moobs. Starcross' owner Sir Launcelot Sprigg and Delphine attempt to overpower the others; but Arthur's mother changes them into babies (using her old Larklight engine with the ability to travel through time and space (removed from Larklight at the end of the previous novel)). The protagonists enter the future and inspire the Moobs with new thoughts, whereby they are stimulated to greater activity. Thereafter Myrtle, challenged by Jack, determines to study the cold fusion used in space travel; whereas Professor Ferny, a plant-like creature, promises to find a cure for Sir Richard and Ulla's transformation.
Fantasy Book Review gave the book a 9.0 out of 10, saying "it is a joy to read", while praising the imagination of author Philip Reeve. [2]
The Sunday Times called it “'Remarkable...Out of this world.'” [3]
Philip Reeve is a well known fiction author most famously known for the creation of the Mortal Engines series.
Vice-Admiral John Byron was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer. He earned the nickname "Foul-Weather Jack" in the press because of his frequent encounters with bad weather at sea. As a midshipman, he sailed in the squadron under George Anson on his voyage around the world, though Byron's ship, HMS Wager, made it only to southern Chile, where it was wrecked. He returned to England with the captain of the ship. He was governor of Newfoundland following Hugh Palliser, who left in 1768. He circumnavigated the world as a commodore with his own squadron in 1764–1766. He fought in battles in the Seven Years' War and the American Revolution. He rose to Vice Admiral of the White before his death in 1786.
HMS Erebus was a Hecla-class bomb vessel constructed by the Royal Navy in Pembroke dockyard, Wales, in 1826. The vessel was the second in the Royal Navy named after Erebus, the personification of darkness in Greek mythology.
Philip Reeve is a British author and illustrator of children's books, primarily known for the 2001 book Mortal Engines and its sequels. His 2007 novel, Here Lies Arthur, based on the legendary King Arthur, won the Carnegie Medal.
Mortal Engines is a young-adult science fantasy 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.
Hester Shaw, later known as Hester Natsworthy, is the lead heroine of Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines Quartet.
Raise the Titanic! is a 1976 adventure novel by Clive Cussler, published in the United States by the Viking Press. It tells the story of efforts to bring the remains of the ill-fated ocean liner RMS Titanic to the surface of the Atlantic Ocean in order to recover a stockpile of an exotic mineral that was being carried aboard.
Voyage is a 1996 hard science fiction novel by British author Stephen Baxter. The book depicts a crewed mission to Mars as it might have been in another timeline, one where John F. Kennedy survived the assassination attempt on him on 22 November 1963. Voyage won a Sidewise Award for Alternate History, and was nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1997.
The Dark Frigate is a 1923 children's historical novel written by Charles Hawes. It won the 1924 Newbery Medal. It was the third, and final, novel written by Hawes, who died shortly before its publication, making him the only author to be awarded the Newbery Medal posthumously.
The Mortal Engines Quartet, also known as the Predator Cities Quartet, is a series of epic young adult fantasy novels by the British novelist and illustrator Philip Reeve. He began the first volume of the series, Mortal Engines, in the 1980s, and it was published in 2001. Reeve then published three further novels, Predator's Gold (2003), Infernal Devices (2005), and A Darkling Plain (2006). The series is set thousands of years after the Sixty Minute War has devastated Earth. It tells the story of young adventurers in the Traction Era, when moving cities roam for resources, achieved by attacking and devouring each other. The novels have won a number of awards, including the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize in 2002 for Mortal Engines and the 2006 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the 2007 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Fiction for A Darkling Plain.
Larklight, or the Revenge of the White Spiders! or to Saturn's Rings and Back! is a young adult novel written by Philip Reeve and illustrated by David Wyatt. It is the first book in the Larklight Trilogy.
Here Lies Arthur is a young-adult novel by Philip Reeve, published by Scholastic in 2007. Set in fifth or sixth century Britain and the Anglo-Saxon invasion, it features a girl who participates in the deliberate construction of legendary King Arthur during the man's lifetime, orchestrated by a bard. Reeve calls it a back-creation: not a genuine historical novel as it is not based on actual specific events; rather it is "back-created" from the legends, giving them a "realistic" origin.
Philip Arthur Reeves, known professionally as Kynaston Reeves, was an English character actor who appeared in numerous films and many television plays and series.
This is a list of fictional stories in which illegitimacy features as an important plot element. Passing mentions are omitted from this article. Many of these stories explore the social pain and exclusion felt by illegitimate "natural children".
The Larklight trilogy is a trilogy of young adult novels by Philip Reeve, entitled Larklight, Starcross, and Mothstorm. These books are all illustrated by David Wyatt.
Mothstorm is a young adult novel by Philip Reeve and released in October 2008. Illustrated by David Wyatt, it is the third book in the Larklight Trilogy, sequel to the 2007 novel Starcross.
Fever Crumb is a young adult post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by Philip Reeve, published in 2009. The first in a series, it is followed by A Web of Air in 2010 and Scrivener's Moon in 2011. The books of the Fever Crumb series are prequels to the Mortal Engines Quartet series of novels by the same author.
Starcrossed is a fantasy paranormal romance novel by American author Josephine Angelini. The story follows a girl named Helen Hamilton, who is gradually revealed to be a modern-day Helen of Troy. After discovering her heritage, Helen learns that a union with the boy she loves may trigger a new Trojan War. The novel was followed by the sequels Dreamless and Goddess, and received praise from critics and fantasy authors amidst its release.
The War of the Worlds is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897, and serialised in Pearson's Magazine in the UK and Cosmopolitan magazine in the US in 1897. The full novel was first published in hardcover in 1898 by William Heinemann. The War of the Worlds is one of the earliest stories to detail a conflict between humankind and an extraterrestrial race. The novel is the first-person narrative of an unnamed protagonist in Surrey and his younger brother in London as southern England is invaded by Martians and is one of the most commented-on works in the science fiction canon.
Delphine de Vigan is a an internationally known French novelist who has won several awards.
"The Sacred Taking" is the eighth episode of the third season of the anthology television series American Horror Story, which premiered on December 4, 2013, on the cable network FX. The episode was written by Ryan Murphy and directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon.