Meet Anna Fang of the Anti Traction League
Spoilers below for those who have not read the novel.
She's mysterious.
Yet warm.
She might slice and dice you.
She might make you a cake.
When we first meet Anna it quickly transpires she is a pretty handy in a tight spot. Shortly after she meets Hester and Tom at Speedwell, they escape. At the floating city of Airhaen she saves Tom and Hester from the Shrike when he attacks.
Further into the novel Anna Fang leads a successful attack on the pirate town 'Tunbridge Wheels' and destroys it. She then later picks up Tom and Hester for a second time. Despite knowing she is an Anti-Tractionist (which gives Tom concerns) our dynamic duo quickly find friendship with Anna.
Anna's mortal fate occurs at the end of the novel when she is killed by dastardly Thaddeus Valentine when he stabs her through the neck, during an epic sword fight.
But wait, there's more!
While plenty of people die in Mortal Engines, it's hard to keep a good anti-tractionist agent down and in the sequel Predator's Gold, her character is literally brought back to do. Pretty easy in a world where Stalkers roam eh?
So meet stalker Anna Fang
They are the re-animated dead beings corrupted by unexplained technology from long dead civilizations.
Stalkers are usually under the control of their masters but it's hard to keep a good Anna Fang down....
In Predator's Gold, Anna Fang's body is stolen from her burial place by the rebellious 'Green Storm' and subjected to the re-animation process and brought back to life.
Stalker Anna Fang quickly assumes control of the Green Storm, absorbs the Anti Traction league and sets out to assert her will across the land. She basically becomes a military dictator.
This new version of Anna Fang proves to be a fantastic character as Philip Reeve casts her as a bit of a Jackel and Hyde character. While she is indeed a re animated corpse that's hell bent on the destruction of just about the entire human race, her original, more loving personality continues to bubble through.
Poor Fishcake gets to see both personalities as he escorts her on her mission to wreak havoc across humanity by using the ODIN weapon.
Eventually Stalker Anna Fang is killed by Professor Nimrod Pennyroyal, but only after the 'good' Anna Fang surfaced long enough to turn of the ODIN device.
What is Anna Fang's back story?
If one picks through the books one can work out some details about the life Anna Fang led prior to when we first meet her in the original novel. Of course one has to read all four novels in the series...Here we go then.
Anna's life and thus back story begins as the child of air traders in the Ice Wastes.
When the family airship was captured, she became a slave in the northern ice city of Arkangel, under the control of Stilton Kael (Whom readers of Predator's Gold, might know as 'Uncle').
As she grew, Fang managed to build the Jenny Haniver in secret by taking parts from here and there like she was the subject of some kind of Johnny Cash song and then escaped in it.
Anna made her way to raft city Perfume Harbour. She was eventually introduced to and ended up working as a spy for the Anti-Traction League. Her claim to fame was the destruction of mechanical cities that threatened the safety of static settlements (anti tractionist) including the celebrated city of Marseilles.
Night Flights will add to the back story of Anna
When Philip Reeve's new short story collection Night Flights is released, we will be able to fill in all the details around Anna's back story because the stories are all about her!
"The official synopsis says the stories show gripping, moving, exciting moments in Anna Fang's life: her childhood as a slave aboard the moving city Arkangel, her daring escape, an attempt to sabotage the moving cities, a showdown against a Stalker, her free life as an intelligence agent for the Anti-Traction league, and an adventure into the haunted skies of the Dead Continent, America."
Who plays Anna Fang in the Mortal Engines movie?
Singer Jihae has stepped up to play the character. If you've seen the trailer for the Mortal Engines, you may have heard her singing a cover of Vera Lynn's There'll Always Be An England.
Check out Jihae's excellent cover version of the over-covered Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen.
Here's a sketch of Fang's ship, the Jenny Hanniver:
Check out Jihae's excellent cover version of the over-covered Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen.
Here's a sketch of Fang's ship, the Jenny Hanniver:
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