And now he was dead, his soul fled down to the Sunless Country and his body lying cold in the cold mud, somewhere in the city's wake.

— Philip Reeve

As a child I always steered clear of science fiction, but in the autumn of 1977, the bow-wave of publicity for the first 'Star Wars' movie had already reached me, so I was eager for anything science-fictional.

— Philip Reeve

Friends don't leave friends behind to wash dishes for yetis!

— Philip Reeve

Goshawk looked surprised, the way that people generally do when you ask them philosophical questions in shrubberies in the middle of the night.

— Philip Reeve

Her face was very beautiful, he thought. He hadn't been sure before, but he was now. The mind that lived behind it made it beautiful, the same way that the flame inside a lantern makes the lantern beautiful.

— Philip Reeve

He was going to miss everything. But he guessed that was how everybody always felt. Everyone was losing things, leaving things behind, clinging to old memories as they rushed into the future. Everyone was a passenger on a runaway train.

— Philip Reeve

I am Not-O-Tron,' said the machine, in a big, boom voice, so loud that Astra was afraid her mum and dad or some other grown-ups would hear and come to see who was sneaking a bedtime snack. 'Shhh!' she said. 'Have you got any biscuits?

— Philip Reeve

I don't think we are cut out to be evil sorcerers, brothers," said Fentongoose. "If we were truly evil, we would not feel such sorrow at the deaths of our friends. We would just go, 'Ha! Ha! Ha!' or something.

— Philip Reeve

If God could do things like that, the world wouldn’t look the way it does. He can’t reach down and change things. He can’t stop any of us doing what we choose to do.'“What use is he then?” Oenone shrugged. 'He sees. He understands. He knows how you’re feeling. Furthermore, he knows how Theo felt. Furthermore, he knows how it feels to die. And when we die, we go to him.'' To the Sunless Country, you mean? Like ghosts?”' Oenone shook her head patiently. 'Like children. Do you remember what it was like to be a tiny child? When everything was possible and everything was given to you, and you knew that you were safe and loved, and the days went on forever? When we die, it will be like that again. That’s how it is for Theo now, in heaven.

— Philip Reeve

If only Myrtle would pay attention to the Boy's Own Journal, Blackwood's Magazine, etc., she would know that these creatures were Threes, who come from a world let called Threefold on the far side of the asteroid belt. This Threefold is a cheerless, chilly spot, and the whole history and religion of the Threes has been concerned with their quest to knit a nice woolly coverlet for it.

— Philip Reeve