Mortal Engines

2 Goodreads' stars for most of the stories, but 'The Mask' is an absolute 5-star masterpiece.

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Now that we have the confusing genealogy out of the way, on to what matters. For me, The Cyberiad is one of the pinnacles of 20th century literature – but what about Mortal Engines?

Unlike The Cyberiad, Mortal Engines isn’t an outright triumph, not at all. About 9 of the 14 stories basically left me lukewarm, of even cold. If it hadn’t been for the final story, I think I would have sold it to the local second hand book store – but more on that later.

Me not connecting to the bulk of Mortal Engines might be because Lem was still finding the specific voice for these fables. It seems most of these stories aren’t as focused, with too many ill-defined concepts, irrelevant world building and Lem just throwing exotic sounding scientific concepts and wordplay on the canvas to see what sticks. The Cyberiad – maybe in part because of its clear and returning protagonists – has more emotional pull, felt more like a unity, with more fully developed stories. I can’t put my finger on it, but for me The Cyberiad‘s satire was way more successful, the comedy of manners more human, the marriage of fairy tale and sci-fi better integrated.

I have no idea how the selection of the English version of The Cyberiad came about, but it’s not an outlandish thought those choosing felt the Trurl and Klapaucius stories were the best to translate and publish, leaving what’s left in Mortal Engines as the lesser ones.

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