Fantasy TOP - land of best fantasies

The latest rumors have it that Peter Jackson’s next movie is going to be an adaptation of Mortal Engines, the first book in a series of sci-fi novels aimed at children aged 12 and up.

According to Wikipedia the book is set in a post-apocalyptic steampunk world, ravaged in ages past by a nuclear holocaust known as the “Sixty Minute War,” which caused massive geological upheaval.

To escape the earthquakes, volcanoes and other instabilities, a Nomad leader called Nikola Quercus, who changed his name to Nikolas Quirke, designed a system known as Municipal Darwinism, where entire cities essentially become immense vehicles known as Traction Cities, and must consume one another in order to maintain themselves in a world deprived of most natural resources.

The main character of Mortal Engines is Tom Natsworthy, a fifteen-year old orphan who is pushed out of London by the man he most admires and must seek answers in the perilous Out-Country, aided by one girl and the memory of another.

“Reeve's prose is sweeping and cinematic,” one reviewer said of the books. “He deftly weaves in social commentary on the perils of both war and consumerism.”

By the way, the title is a quotation from William Shakespeare’s Othello: “And O you mortal engines whose rude throats / Th'immoral Jove's dread clamors counterfeit...” The four books in the series are Mortal Engines (2001), Predator's Gold, Infernal Devices, and A Darkling Plain (2006) as well as the prequel Fever Crumb. The series is known as the Hungry City Chronicles in the States.

A Jackson spokesman did not confirm or deny that Mortal Engines will be Jackson’s next project and that Weta Workshops are already working on designs for the giant mobile cities. “Any comment should come from Peter,” the spokesman said.

Jackson apparently bought the rights to the novels quite a while back.