I am not a
fan of fantasy at all, so when I saw that Fever Crumb was labelled a
fantasy novel, I was sceptical about whether I would enjoy this it or not.
However, having now read it, it totally surprised me in how much I liked it.
Fever Crumb tells the story of the life of a very different 14-year-old
girl. Fever is abandoned at birth with only a label reading ‘Her name is Fever’
with her. Taken in by engineers, she is brought up in an extremely logical and
intelligent atmosphere. When at 14 she is requested to assist a minor
archaeologist, Fever must suddenly adapt to the world’s ‘irrational’ behaviour
and emotions. However, this change is difficult for Fever because the city is
recovering from a startling species, the ‘Scriven’. Trying to wipe them out
fully, Skinners lurk to kill any suspected Scriven. As Fever has
different-coloured eyes and a shaven head, many Londoners fear she is a threat
and try to kill her. This is just one of the many problems, for when she arrives
at her new job; Fever will start to question her past. Throughout the novel,
Phillip Reeve reveals more and more about Fever’s start in life and grips the
reader, making them read on.
Reeve also
manages to change Fever’s view of life subtly throughout the novel. At the
start, Fever believes that many things, like getting emotional when saying
goodbye to a loved one, are ‘irrational’.
'She didn’t want to go. She wanted to
stay in the Head (Engineers’ home) forever. She wanted Dr Crumb to hold her hand
and lead her back inside. She felt afraid of living without him, and angry at
him for not standing up to Dr Stayling and insisting that she stay. But she
knew, too, that those feelings, like all feelings, were irrational.’
However, towards the end of the novel,
she begins to feel things that she used to believe were illogical and silly.
This is what I like most about Fever Crumb, how Reeve manages to change a
character through the events that the reader reads about.
This book was a great
read and I liked the way how there were different stories going on in each
chapter, and how they started to link as you went through. However, the one
thing I don’t like is the title. Fever Crumb didn’t really attract me to
it and lead me to believe that it would be something totally different to a
novel about a strong and intelligent girl. But, other than that, it was a great
read.
