History Literature / Larklight

''Starcross'', the second book, involves TimeTravel, a French radical, some goblins who want to knit a cover for an asteroid, and a race of [[NiceHat nice hats]].

* NiceHat: The Moobs. To be clear, they don't wear Nice Hats, they ''are'' nice hats.

* ActionDressRip: Ulla does this when escaping Mr. Webster's mooks. Myrtle is horrified.
* AllPlanetsAreEarthlike: They all have atmospheres that humans can breathe, at least.
** Then again, apparently so does space as a whole, if not something they can breathe for a long time.

* GeniusLoci: Thunderhead, Jupiter's Great Red Spot. A fully sapient storm.
** Smaller, also sapient storms make an appearance in Mothstorm.
* GenocideBackfire: Directly related to the above Chekhov's Gun.
* GiantEnemyCrab: Subverted; Nipper's pretty friendly.

* GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe: Ulla, Ssilissa to a lesser extent.

* InWhichATropeIsDescribed

* ShoutOut: And how. Some of the more obvious ones include Franchise/StarTrek and Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds
* SickeninglySweethearts: Art's opinion of Myrtle and Jack.
* SingleMindedTwins: Squidley and Yarg, the Tentacle Twins.
* SssssnakeTalk: Every one of the Snilth, who have names like Zssthss and Alsssor. Lampshaded, where two characters agree that Zssthss sounds more like a gas leak than a name.

* SpaceIsAnOcean: Oh so ''very'' much. Includes fish of all kinds and ships that look like sailing vessels.
* SpacePirates: The crew of the ''Sophronia'', at least in the first book.

* SteamPunk: Oh so very yes.

* GiantSpider: The First Ones.

* TheReptilians: Ssilissa and the Snilth have elements of this kind of species.

* NiceHat: The Moobs.
** To be clear, they don't wear Nice Hats, they ''are'' nice hats.
* NinjaMaid: Ulla, when undercover.

!![[AC:Tropes include:]]

* TheReptilians: Ssilissa and the Snilth, kinda.

* UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire: [[RecycledInSpace In SPACE!]]

''Larklight'' is [[Literature/MortalEngines Philip Reeve]]'s ''other'' series, and waaay on the other end of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism. A SteamPunk Space Opera, it consists of three books, all told from the point of view of Art Mumby and his sister Myrtle:

* [[RightfulKingReturns Rightful Queen Returns]]: It turns out Ssilissa is the last of the Hammertail clan, which was wiped out by the Mothmaker when a Queen rose against her, sending their eggs into space on a comet. Ssilissa by the end has become the Queen of the Snilth.

* SssssnakeTalk: Every one of the Snilth, who have names like Zssthss and Alsssor.
** Lampshaded, where two characters agree that Zssthss sounds more like a gas leak than a name.
* StiffUpperLip

* VitriolicBestBuds: In a somewhat meta example, Art and [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis Mr. Wyatt, the illustrator]], if the notes left in for him are anything to go by.

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis

* BadassGrandpa: Amusingly subverted. The Verdant Meadows Retirement Colony Militia are rather ineffective, though they give it a shot.

[[AC:Tropes include:]]

* AmazonBrigade / LadyLand: The Snilth are ''very'' matriarchal. Imagine Victorian-era gender roles, only reversed.

* SpaceSailing: The spaceships look like ships, powered by a [[{{Alchemy}} mysterious chemical reaction]] called 'the chemical wedding'. There is air in space, though it's thinner than on any planet, and artificial gravity on most ships.

* VertabrateWithExtraLimbs: There is a mention of a six-armed waitress.

* TimeAbyss: [[spoiler:Amelia Mumby]]

* TheyWouldCutYouUp: It's rather understandable that Jack is a little hostile towards the Empire, all things considered.

* QueenVicky: The books are set in 1851-1852, so naturally she makes an appearance.

''Larklight'' is [[MortalEngines Philip Reeve]]'s ''other'' series, and waaay on the other end of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism. A SteamPunk Space Opera, it consists of three books, all told from the point of view of Art Mumby and his sister Myrtle:

* LighterAndSofter: This guy wrote another {{Steampunk}} series. [[MortalEngines You may have heard of it.]] They are ''total'' opposites.

* GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe: Ulla, Ssilissa to a lesser extinct.
* TheHatMakesTheMan: The Moobs like to take the form of hats.

* GiantEnemyCrab: Subverted - Nipper's pretty friendly.
* GiantSpider: The First Ones

* NiceHat: The Moobs

* TheBritishEmpire: [[RecycledInSpace In SPACE!]]

* ProudWarriorRace: The Snilth. Justified, as the Shaper who created them wanted wars between her creations.

* QueenVicky: The books are set in the mid to late 1800s, so naturally she makes an appearance.
* TheReptilians: The Ssilissa and the Snilth, kinda.

* InterspeciesRomance: Averted with Jack and Ssilissa; it was one-sided to begin with, and apart from Jack's [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy clear interest in Myrtle]] the impracticality of this is one of the reasons Ssil gives up on the idea. Played straight with Art and Myrtle's parents, although apparently their mother's biological body is entirely human [[spoiler:at least until the Mothmaker destroys it.]] However, Captain Moonfield does get married to a Snilth at the end of book three, so there is that.