Infernal Devices

Another solid entry into the Mortal Engines Quartet.

By the third book in the series, sixteen years have passed. Hester and Tom are in their thirties, and we focus on their daughter, Wren. I found Wren to be a really enjoyable character who combined some of the most enjoyable qualities of both her parents. The book remained a consistent pace to the previous one, and in terms of quality I felt it was equally as good.

Other reviews have touched upon it, so I will be brief, but Hester does not remain as lovable as she was as a child. In the earlier books, Hester was an understandable asshole who had redeemable qualities. She felt strongly for Tom, and that motivated her to make (mostly) good decisions. In this book, she is bizarrely jealous of her own daughter. It really screams of those stories of monster-in-laws who hate their daughter-in-law they are ‘loosing' their son to. It really didn't seem how I thought Hester would become, but hopefully book four may salvage her character.