Title: Leviathan
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Genre: YA fantasy, Steampunk
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Source: Print copy from my personal library
First line: The Austrian horses glinted in the moonlight, their riders standing tall in the saddle, swords raised.
Leviathan was my first experience with steampunk, and if all the books in this genre are as inventive and engaging, I have a lot of wonderful reading ahead of me! Westerfeld has written a brilliant beginning to a series that gives an alternate history of World War I.
Alek is the teenage son of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. When his parents are assassinated, his fencing master, Count Volger, and his Master of Mechanics, Otto Klopp, steal him away in the middle of the night to neutral Switzerland, hoping to hide out there until things blow over or until the Emperor dies and Alek can take his rightful place on the throne.
Deryn is a teenager intent on becoming a midshipmen in the British Air Service. Deryn has airmanship and knowledge of the Darwinist ecosystems the British empire uses for its flying feet – but she’s a girl. With the help of her older brother, Deryn poses as Dylan, and manages to find her way onto the Leviathan, the British Air Fleet’s pride and joy.
The two teenagers are caught in the middle of the bubbling strife between the Darwinists – who have used Darwin’s experiments with DNA to create new creatures that form their military might – and the Clankers – who have used their knowledge of all things mechanical to build an army of walking war machines. These two powers are headed for war, and Alek and Deryn would normally be on opposite sides – but instead will be thrown together and use their combined mechanical and biological knowledge to set out on a mission that may have a profound effect on the outcome of the war.
I loved this book – everything about it. First of all, it’s a physically beautiful book, with a gorgeous cover, and artwork that gave life to the wondrous creatures that Westerfeld’s mind created. (You can see sample artwork from Leviathan on Westerfeld’s site.) It has humor, action and adventure, interesting characters, and the most unusual creatures. My boys will adore this book – I can’t wait for them to read it. I’m passing it on to Dad first, though, because I know he’ll devour it in a day or two like I did.
Leviathan counts for Bad Bloggers category of the TwentyTen Challenge – I picked this one up based on this review by Darren at Bart’s Bookshelf.
Why do I keep putting this one back on the shelf. It sounds fantastic.
.-= Pam´s last blog ..Synopsis: The make it or break it =-.
Twitter: booksandmovies
says:
Pam – it is – you should definitely take it back down off the shelf!
I think this will be my first try w/ steampunk too!
.-= Eva´s last blog ..Library Loot: April 7-13, 2010 =-.
Twitter: booksandmovies
says:
Eva – I don’t have anything to compare it to, but I think it’s a great place to start!
Yaaaay! Yours is the second 5 star review I’ve seen of this book. I have it on my eReader and all these great reviews of it are making me anxious to read it.
.-= Darlene´s last blog ..Book Review: Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn =-.
Twitter: booksandmovies
says:
Darlene – does your e-reader show the pictures? I hope so – they’re gorgeous!
Carrie, it does show pictures but only in black and white. Are they in color in the book? I didn’t realize it had pictures or I may have bought the book instead.
.-= Darlene´s last blog ..Book Review: Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn =-.
Twitter: booksandmovies
says:
Darlene – they’re black and white – pencil sketches – so sounds like you’ve got them!
My husband read this and enjoyed it. Sounds like I need to pick it up too.
Twitter: booksandmovies
says:
Kathy – you definitely should!
Interesting book it seems. I haven’t read steampunk either, not even sure I understand what it means exactly.
Isn’t Leviathan one of the princes of hell from the Bible?
.-= Rebecca´s last blog ..FreeVerse: Little Little Man =-.
Twitter: booksandmovies
says:
Rebecca – actually, Leviathan is one of the creatures mentioned in Job – many people think it is a whale or some sort of sea dinosaur.
Twitter: debworldofbooks
says:
I can’t wait to read this one. At first I wasn’t interested since it is my first steam punk book but after going to see Westerfeld speak about it I couldn’t resist buying it. He made it sound so interesting and after your review I will definitely have to move it up in the list. Now if only I can remember which box of books it’s packed up in. I’ll be so glad when we move into a new place and I can unpack all my unread books.
.-= Debbie´s last blog ..Friday Fun: My Book Tastes =-.
Twitter: booksandmovies
says:
Debbie – that would be so hard to have all your books packed up! I hope you can find this one – it is certainly worth hunting for.
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