Philip Reeve thunders back to the Mortal Engines world, with new standalone for Scholastic

Philip Reeve returns to his celebrated world of Mortal Engines with an “electrifying” new standalone adventure, Thunder City, for Scholastic, which will publish in September 2024.  

Fiction publisher Lauren Fortune acquired world rights to two books from Philippa Milnes-Smith at The Soho Agency. The book will be published in the US by David Levithan and Emily Seife at Scholastic US.  

“In the epic, action-packed city-eat-city adventure brave fighter Tamzin Pook must travel from the spectator sport combat arena in Margate to Thorbury (Thunder City), where a chilling villain has seized powe,” the publisher said. “Pook will face Revenants – ravenous animal-machine hybrids - dangerous mercenaries and must learn to trust a group of oddballs whose eccentricities mask their huge hearts and steadfast courage." 

Mortal Engines launched in 2001 introducing readers to the world of the Traction Era, where mobile cities fight for survival in a post-apocalyptic future. Reeve’s novels have won the Guardian Children’s Award, Blue Peter Award, Smarties Gold Prize and the Carnegie Medal. Mortal Engines was adapted for a feature film produced by "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson. 

Reeve said: “One of the questions I’m most frequently asked is, ‘Will there ever be more Mortal Engines stories, so it’s nice to finally be able to say ‘YES!’ It’s more than 30 years now since I started imagining this strange world, so it felt like time to go back and have another look at it. I hope fans and new readers will enjoy meeting Tamzin Pook, Miss Torpenhow, Oddington Doom and the rest as much as I’ve enjoyed writing about them.” 

Fortune added: “Philip Reeve is a true original and we are proud to publish his astonishingly imaginative, page-turning and witty new novel in the beloved world of Mortal Engines. Thunder City is a spectacular thrill-ride from a writer at the top of his game that will captivate his fans and new readers alike.”