Reeve, Philip Black Light Express

Reeve, Philip  Black Light Express   Capstone Publishers 2018   352p   17.95  978-1-63079-096-7            ms/hs Fantasy           VG-BN Sequel to Railhead.  

Stands alone if reader familiarizes self with the glossary.  Sentient trains, fantastic aliens, thrilling escapes and action make this fantasy an exciting read. Grades 7-10         

Sequel to Railhead. Stands alone of the reader familiarizes them self with the glossary. More becomes clear as the reading progresses.  Zen Starling and his android girlfriend Nova have created a new gate.  They have no idea what they will find in the undiscovered world.  Meanwhile Threnody Noon has been named Empress and Chandni Hansa has been unfrozen from prison to serve her.  These characters all interact as new worlds are discovered and Zen hears of the Black Light Zone where he may find answers about how to return to Earth.
  In this universe connected by trains with brains traveling through gates that lead from planet, asteroid, or moon to each other, there are many things to discover.  This section of the universe has not seen humans before.  Thrilling battles, exciting escapes, political intrigue and a sense of adventure flow through the whole story.  Possibly the secrets of the Railmaker may be found in the Black Light Zone.  With no other route of escape, Zen, Nova and Threnody enter the Zone with trepidation.  They find some answers, more questions and a way forward.
  The novel ends with Nova going back into the Zone, Chandni rejoining the travelers and the three moving on.  A sequel is expected.                         Theal(1), Joan          

Reeve, Philip. Scrivener’s Moon.

Reeve, Philip.    Scrivener’s Moon.   Scholastic Press  2011  339p  $17.99    978-0-545-22218-1 ms/hs   Science Fiction        E-BN 

In this sequel to Fever Crumb and A Web of Air, Fever Crumb returns to London, but it is very different from what she remembers.  Old buildings are being torn down to make way for the enormous mobile London that is being built with the steel and lumber from the old.  These are post-apocalyptic times, when only the Engineers at least partially understand technology like electricity.  It is about one thousand years after the “Screen Age” (i.e., the age of computers), and very little is understood about that ancient technology.

Wavey, Fever’s Scriven mother, hears about a possible source of knowledge and answers.  Wavey and Fever travel north to find the black pyramid.  They are ambushed and Wavey is killed.  Fever barely escapes and is rescued/captured by Cluny, who is a prophet for one of the Northern Clans.  Cluny, her brother and Fever decide to travel on to the pyramid.  There they find ancient technology that even Fever with her engineer training doesn’t fully understand.  She does learn that Cluny’s visions come from the same source as the ones that have haunted Fever -- an implant placed in her brain when she was an infant.  Together they become involved in the war between London and the Northern Clans.  Both young women survive and escape, and in the epilogue they are starting a new community in the Far North.
The descriptions are vivid, the action well-written, and the major characters well-developed.  A reader who starts with this third title will understand it, but the experience will be fuller for those familiar with the previous titles. Without the two previous books, the names and references to the Ancients and technomasters will take some time to understand.  For middle or high school readers.           

Warfare – Fiction, Fantasy – Fiction                             --Joan Theal