I am, of course, not talking about illness, but books. More specifically, books from the brilliant mind of Mr Philip Reeve – Fever Crumb and A Web of Air. For those of you who have not yet read Mortal Engines, (shame on you!) you don’t need to have read any of The Hungry City Chronicles to enjoy these latest offerings, as they are set about 200 years before the events of the first quartet.

Fever Crumb – shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal this year – is the story of a young female engineer of the same name, who has been brought up to think rationally about every situation. When she is asked to assist minor archaeologist, Kit Solent, with a project, events spark something inside Fever’s mind. Feelings and emotions are triggered inside her that are far from rational.

As always when reading Philip’s stories, I found myself instantly sucked into his far future version of London, where people swear by Poskitt (a fun reference, no doubt to Philip’s good friend, and all round nice guy, Kjartan Poskitt who writes the Murderous Maths books) and ride in sedan-chairs around Ox-fart Circus. The colour and depth of his world takes my breath away every time I dip in and it was easy to see why Fever Crumb brought Philip once again to the attention of the Carnegie judges.

A Web of Air carries us away from the City of London to a seaside town where houses move up and down the hillsides using a clever system of counterweights and pulleys that has come to the attention of the Guild of Engineers. Fever Crumb is passing through when she hears rumour of a young man who is upon the verge of rediscovering the secrets of flight. Unfortunately there are those who do not want the secrets to be unlocked and Fever finds herself drawn into a deadly cat and mouse game between assassins, inventors and the local mafia.

Having spent much of my life flying for a living, I was intrigued to see how Philip tackled this choice of subject matter… and was once again delighted by his vision and description. I don’t want to give away great chunks of the plotline, but suffice it to say that after reading the first two books of this series, Philip remains firmly at the top of my list of best writers for young adults. I can’t recommend his books highly enough and have settled down to try to wait patiently for the next book in this sequence. It’s no good. I can’t do it. Come on Philip – more please. Write faster!

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