Mechanica by Lance Balchin Published by The Five Mile Press on August 30th 2016
Genres: Graphic novel, Science Fiction
Pages: 40
Source: Publisher
Amazon • Amazon UK • Book Depository • Bookworld
Goodreads
An imaginative field guide to the fantasy world of Mechanica creatures, with amazing and beautiful steampunk-inspired illustrations.
In this field guide from the future, a dashing explorer—Miss Liberty Crisp—details amazing creatures known as Mechanica: human-created life forms designed to replace extinct species.
Set in the twenty-third century, the book describes how Earth could no longer support wildlife. The warnings had been ignored. Corporations continued to expose the environment to chemical and radioactive waste, and many Earth species began to disappear. By 2200, vast areas of the world had become uninhabitable and wildlife extinct.
In place of the lost wildlife species, the corporations began to create Mechanica. But the Mechanica escaped their confinement, and started to develop in the wild on their own.
Filled with inventive and awe-inspiring images and details, this book is sure to spark readers’ imaginations! Kids will marvel at the steampunk-inspired renderings of mechanical bugs, birds, bats, snakes, and more!
Two hundred years into the future, humans are the only animal life left on Earth. There are still creatures, though – strange mechanical insects and birds that have evolved over the years from man-made designs. This book contains incredibly detailed pictures and descriptions of these Mechanica, as described by Miss Liberty Crisp on her journey in the Orient in 2250.
My five-year-old was fascinated by this book. The beautiful pictures show the mechanical detail, but I couldn’t help wondering at these flying creatures with their exposed wiring and delicate parts. Wouldn’t some sort of ‘skin’ be a safer design feature? Mechanics aside, the designs really are beautiful.
The pictures are accompanied by snippets of Liberty Crisp’s story, but I couldn’t help feeling that there’s plenty more story to come. Mechanica felt like an accompaniment to the main event, and I’m expecting to see a Mechanica Chronicles before long. I’ll look forward to it!
Leave a Reply