Line #36 Literature/Larklight


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5	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/larklight.jpg]]
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7	''Larklight'' is Creator/PhilipReeve's ''other'' series, and waaay on the other end of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism compared to ''Literature/MortalEngines''. A SteamPunk Space Opera, it consists of three books, all told from the point of view of Art Mumby and his sister Myrtle:
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9	''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]].
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11	''Starcross'', the second book, involves TimeTravel, a French radical, some goblins who want to knit a cover for an asteroid, and a race of hats. No, ''literally''.
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13	''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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15	!!Tropes include:
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17	%%* ActionDressRip: Ulla does this when escaping Mr. Webster's mooks. Myrtle is horrified.%%Does what?
18	* 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.
19	* AmazonBrigade: The Snilth are ''very'' matriarchal. Imagine Victorian-era gender roles, only reversed.
20	* 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.
21	* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: Subverted. Space has a breathable atmosphere, but most species can only survive a few hours in it.
22	* BigCreepyCrawlies: The giant Moths of the Snilth, who are even larger then ships and able to fly through space.
23	* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Myrtle, at least in Art's opinion.
24	* 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.]]
25	* DreadfulMusician: Myrtle, to the cactus creatures, as she drives them away from her with her hymn recitations.
26	* DyingRace: The First Ones, in this star system at least, as they are mentioned as colonizing other stars.
27	* EldritchAbomination: Though most of them are benevolent, it's shown that [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Shapers]] have the potential to become this.
28	* EvilCounterpart: The Mothmaker to [[spoiler:Amelia Mumby]]. Both are Shapers who elected to remain after forming a solar system. However while the Shaper of Earth's system preferred to observe and eventually raise a family, the Mothmaker tyrannically ruled her peoples as a Goddess.
29	* {{Fainting}}: Myrtle faints after the NakedFirstImpression of Richard and the rest of the Martian men.
30	* GeniusLoci: Thunderhead, Jupiter's Great Red Spot, is a fully sapient storm. Smaller, also sapient storms make an appearance in Mothstorm.
31	%%* GenocideBackfire: Directly related to a Chekhov's Gun.
32	%%* GiantEnemyCrab: Subverted; Nipper's pretty friendly.
33	%%* GiantSpider: The First Ones.
34	%%* GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe: Ulla, Ssilissa to a lesser extent.
35	* TheHatMakesTheMan: The Moobs like to take the form of hats [[spoiler:(but they're really shapeshifting, mind-controlling, thought-eating alien beings).]]
36	* InstrumentOfMurder: The Snilth use blowpipes shaped like bagpipes.
37	* 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 Sir Richard Burton and Ulla and with [[spoiler:Art and Myrtle's parents, although apparently their mother's biological body is entirely human (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.
38	%%* InWhichATropeIsDescribed
39	* LighterAndSofter: This guy wrote another {{Steampunk}} series. [[Literature/MortalEngines You may have heard of it.]] They are ''total'' opposites.
40	* NakedFirstImpression: How Myrtle meets Richard and the rest of the Martian men.
41	--> apart from a few barbaric necklaces of metal scales they were all stark naked.
42	%%* NinjaMaid: Ulla, when undercover.
43	* NonMammalMammaries: Specifically averted - Ssilissa, a reptilian alien, doesn't have them.
44	* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: Averted by [[spoiler:Amelia Mumby]] the Shaper. When asked if the Shapers mean there are no Gods, she remarks "Who made the Shapers?" However the Mothmaker thinks of herself as a Goddess.
45	* ProudWarriorRace: The Snilth. The Shaper who created them originally had multiple species of ProudWarriorRace, but she liked the Snilth the most (they're a very lovely shade of blue).
46	* RightfulKingReturns: It turns out Ssilissa is the last of the Hammertail clan, which was wiped out by the Mothmaker when a Queen rose against her, sending their eggs into space on a comet. Ssilissa by the end has become the Queen of the Snilth.
47	* SecretProjectRefugeeFamily: Jack, Nipper, Ssilissa, Squidley and Yarg all escaped from the Royal Xenological Institute.
48	%%* ShoutOut: And how. Some of the more obvious ones include ''Franchise/StarTrek'' and ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds''.%%ZCE. Describe.
49	%%* SickeninglySweethearts: Art's opinion of Myrtle and Jack.
50	%%* SingleMindedTwins: Squidley and Yarg, the Tentacle Twins.
51	* SssssnakeTalk: Every one of the Snilth, who have names like Zssthss and Alsssor. Lampshaded when two characters agree that Zssthss sounds more like a gas leak than a name.
52	%%* StiffUpperLip
53	* SpaceIsCold: Referenced at the veeeery beginning of the first book.
54	* SpaceIsAnOcean: The setting's version of space is a thin sea of ether home to fish of all kinds and ships that look like sailing vessels.
55	%%* SpacePirates: The crew of the ''Sophronia'', at least in the first book.
56	* SpaceSailing: The spaceships look like ships, powered by a 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.
57	%%* SteamPunk: Oh so very yes.
58	* TimeAbyss: [[spoiler:Amelia Mumby]] and other Shapers, who are at least as old as solar systems.
59	* TwinTelepathy: How the Tentacle Twins communicate with each other, since they can't talk.
60	* TheyWouldCutYouUp: It's rather understandable that Jack is a little hostile towards the Empire, all things considered, given that he caught wind of plans to kill and dissect him and the other subjects of the Xenological Institute.
61	* VertebrateWithExtraLimbs: There is a mention of a six-armed waitress.
62	* VitriolicBestBuds: In a somewhat meta example, Art and Mr. Wyatt, the illustrator, if the notes left in for him are anything to go by.

Context Literature / Larklight