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8th Mar '13 2:43:20 PM Xtifr

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''Larklight'' is [[MortalEngines Philip Reeve]]'s ''other'' series, and waaay on the other end of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism. A SteamPunk Space Opera, it consists of three books, all told from the point of view of Art Mumby and his sister Myrtle:

''Larklight'' is the series-naming first book, introducing us to the world, where the British Empire stretches out across the solar system, and its inhabitants, including Art and his family, the unpleasant [[GiantSpider First Ones]], and [[SpacePirates Captain Jack Havock and his crew]].

''Starcross'', the second book, involves TimeTravel, a French radical, some goblins who want to knit a cover for an asteroid, and a race of [[NiceHat nice hats]].

''Mothstorm'', book three: a mysterious discovery on the edge of the solar system brings Art and co. to [[strike:Uranus]] [[IstanbulNotConstantinople Georgium Sidus]], and a ChekhovsGun loaded in the first book finally goes off.
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[[AC:Tropes include:]]

* ActionDressRip: Ulla does this when escaping Mr. Webster's mooks. Myrtle is horrified.
* AllPlanetsAreEarthlike: They all have atmospheres that humans can breathe, at least.
** Then again, apparently so does space as a whole, if not something they can breathe for a long time.
* AmazonBrigade / LadyLand: The Snilth are ''very'' matriarchal. Imagine Victorian-era gender roles, only reversed.
* AndIMustScream: The settlers on Venus came down with Tree Sickness and turned into trees, though it's implied that since the transformation affects the mind as well, it's actually rather peaceful.
* BadassGrandpa: Amusingly subverted. The Verdant Meadows Retirement Colony Militia are rather ineffective, though they give it a shot.
* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: Subverted. Space has a breathable atmosphere, but most species can only survive a few hours in it.
* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Myrtle, at least in Art's opinion.
* TheBritishEmpire: [[RecycledInSpace In SPACE!]]
* ChekhovsGun: A minor footnote on an amusing aspect of Threl mythology in the second book [[spoiler:becomes the major plot of the third. Well, minus the bit about eating the World Cozy.]]
* DyingRace: The First Ones, in this star system at least, as they are mentioned as colonizing other stars.
* EldritchAbomination: Though most of them are benevolent, it's shown that [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Shapers]] have the potential to become this.
* GeniusLoci: Thunderhead, Jupiter's Great Red Spot. A fully sapient storm.
** Smaller, also sapient storms make an appearance in Mothstorm.
* GenocideBackfire: Directly related to the above Chekhov's Gun.
* GiantEnemyCrab: Subverted - Nipper's pretty friendly.
* GiantSpider: The First Ones
* GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe: Ulla, Ssilissa to a lesser extinct. 
* InstrumentOfMurder: The Snilth use blowpipes shaped like bagpipes.
* InterspeciesRomance: Averted with Jack and Ssilissa; it was one-sided to begin with, and apart from Jack's [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy clear interest in Myrtle]] the impracticality of this is one of the reasons Ssil gives up on the idea. Played straight with Art and Myrtle's parents, although apparently their mother's biological body is entirely human [[spoiler:at least until the Mothmaker destroys it.]] However, Captain Moonfield does get married to a Snilth at the end of book three, so there is that.
* InWhichATropeIsDescribed
* LighterAndSofter: This guy wrote another {{Steampunk}} series. [[MortalEngines You may have heard of it.]] They are ''total'' opposites.
* LiteraryAgentHypothesis
* NiceHat: The Moobs
** To be clear, they don't wear Nice Hats, they ''are'' nice hats.
* NinjaMaid: Ulla, when undercover.
* NonMammalMammaries: Specifically averted - Ssilissa, a reptilian alien, doesn't have them.
* ProudWarriorRace: The Snilth. Justified, as the Shaper who created them wanted wars between her creations.
* QueenVicky: The books are set in the mid to late 1800s, so naturally she makes an appearance.
* TheReptilians: The Ssilissa and the Snilth, kinda.
* SecretProjectRefugeeFamily: Jack, Nipper, Ssilissa, Squidley and Yarg all escaped from the Royal Xenological Institute.
* ShoutOut: And how. Some of the more obvious ones include Franchise/StarTrek and Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds
* SickeninglySweethearts: Art's opinion of Myrtle and Jack.
* SingleMindedTwins: Squidley and Yarg, the Tentacle Twins.
* SssssnakeTalk: Every one of the Snilth, who have names like Zssthss and Alsssor. 
** Lampshaded, where two characters agree that Zssthss sounds more like a gas leak than a name.
* StiffUpperLip
* SpaceIsCold: Referenced at the veeeery beginning of the first book.
* SpaceIsAnOcean: Oh so ''very'' much. Includes fish of all kinds and ships that look like sailing vessels.
* SpacePirates: The crew of the ''Sophronia'', at least in the first book.
* SpaceSailing: The spaceships look like ships, powered by a [[{{Alchemy}} mysterious chemical reaction]] called 'the chemical wedding'. There is air in space, though it's thinner than on any planet, and artificial gravity on most ships.
* SteamPunk: Oh so very yes.
* TimeAbyss: [[spoiler:Amelia Mumby]]
* TwinTelepathy: How the Tentacle Twins communicate with each other, since they can't talk.
* TheyWouldCutYouUp: It's rather understandable that Jack is a little hostile towards the Empire, all things considered.
* VitriolicBestBuds: In a somewhat meta example, Art and [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis Mr. Wyatt, the illustrator]], if the notes left in for him are anything to go by.
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23rd Feb '13 12:48:29 PM nombretomado

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24th Jan '13 9:25:58 PM Wyvern76

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14th Jun '12 10:48:09 AM nombretomado

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