***** - Excellent
**** - Good
*** - Okay
** - Bad
* - Terrible
+ - Half-star
Leviathan
(The Leviathan trilogy, Book 1)
Scott Westerfield
Simon Pulse
Fiction, YA Fantasy
***+
DESCRIPTION: In 1914, the world has become deeply divided in the wake of Charles Darwin's voyage and his discoveries about evolution. Many in Europe are
"Clankers", espousing the superiority of gear and metal, with walking machinery and bat-winged aeroplanes. Other nations, such as Britain, Russia, and France, embrace
Darwinist ideals, ever since the great naturalist discovered the keys to the "life threads" within all living cells; by rearranging these threads, scientists fabricate
purpose-built life forms that have replaced virtually all steam engine technology in their lands. Clankers believe that the Darwinist beasties are soulless
abominations against God, while Darwinists see Clanker machines as loud, stinking, polluting blights upon the Earth. With such deep ideological schisms piled on top of
centuries of political and ethnic rivalries, all-out war is merely waiting for a single spark.
When the Archduke of Austria and his wife are assassinated, that spark flies. Stealing away in the middle of the night with his two most trusted servants aboard an
armored Clanker walker, the archduke's fifteen-year-old son Aleksander cannot begin to comprehend how quickly his life has changed. All his life he has felt like a
pretender, his mother's commoner blood preventing him from ever inheriting his father's wealth or title. Now, as a potential rallying point for his late parents'
supporters, he is targeted both by invading Germans and by those Austrians who, like his emperor grandfather, never approved of the archduke's marriage beneath his
class.
In Darwinist London, Deryn Sharp has slipped away from her widowed mother, following her brother to the city to complete the midshipman exams for the Air Service. All
she has to do is pass a written test - easy enough for a girl practically raised aboard her late Da's balloons - and convince the military brass that she's a Dylan, not
a Deryn, as women are forbidden from service... a taller order, but which seems to her a better option than a dull life of dresses and tea parties. Her first test flight
aboard a hydrogen-breather goes awry when a storm blows her far off course. The ship sent to rescue her is none other than the Leviathan, one of the greatest airborne
beasties devised, with an entire interconnected living ecosystem aboard its vast whale-based body. Before she can be returned to the recruitment station in London, war
breaks out, and the Leviathan is diverted for a special mission. With a clever-boots lady scientist on board with a top-secret cargo that must be defended at all
costs, "Dylan" quickly discovers that passing as a boy is going to be the least of her troubles.
The paths of Clanker-born Alek and Darwinist-loyal Deryn cross under highly inauspicious circumstances. With the known world plunging into a bloody war and paranoia
running high, their struggle to see past their differences and learn to trust one another may mean the difference between life or death for both of them - not to
mention their friends, their companions, and the great living airship Leviathan itself.
REVIEW: I picked this up for a couple of reasons. First of all, I'm on a bit of a steampunk kick lately. Secondly, I was a fan of the late, lamented sci-fi
series Farscape, which featured a species of living spaceships known as leviathans, so naturally the title and the concept leaped out at me. When I got a coupon
from Barnes & Noble, I figured I'd give it a try. Westerfield creates a highly detailed world based roughly on the real-world politics of World War I. His Darwinist
animals and Clanker machines come to life in one's mind, full of interesting details. The story picks up quickly and keeps going until the very last pages, often at a
breakneck pace. With the black-and-white illustrations, I couldn't help thinking of old-school adventure books and those (often-butchered) illustrated adaptations of
classics. Characterization mostly takes a back seat to the near-nonstop action and the building of Westerfield's alternate Earth, but I cared enough about the people
to keep turning the pages. Of course, being a trilogy, a fair bit is left up in the air at the end. I wound up shaving a half-star for the occasionally annoying slang
of Deryn's chapters, and for leaving just a few too many threads unresolved at the ending. (I also thought some of the illustrations were unneccessary... that, and
more than once the illustrated Alek looked more like an "Alice" to my eye.) I'll still probably read the second book when it comes out in paperback... if Barnes &
Noble remembers to send me another coupon, that is.
You might also enjoy:
The Animorphs series (K. A. Applegate, YA Fiction - Five human children receive alien powers to morph into animals, enabling them to fight a hidden invasion of mind-stealing parasites from the stars)
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (Avi, YA Fiction - The lone passenger on a cursed Transatlantic voyage, a well-bred 19th century girl, finds herself accused of murder)
Star Rigger's Way (Jeffrey A. Carver, Fiction - Lucid-dreaming "riggers" navigate interstellar ships through hyperspace)
Jurassic Park (Michael Crichton, Fiction - A tycoon's revolutionary theme park features genetically recreated dinosaurs)
With the Night Mail: A Story of 2000 A.D. (Rudyard Kipling, Fiction - A journey aboard a postal dirigible in a blimp-dominated future)
The Piratica series (Tanith Lee, YA Fiction - In an Earth not unlike our own history, a teen girl sets out to relive her mother's glory days as an honorable pirate queen)
The Brain and Brawn Ship series (Anne McCaffrey, Fiction - In the future, the brains of humans with debilitating birth defects become the living central computers of starships)
The Bloody Jack Adventures (L. A. Meyer, YA Fiction - To escape certain death on the streets of 18th-century London, a girl poses as a boy aboard a warship, thus embarking on a lifetime of larger-than-life adventures)
The Temeraire series (Naomi Novik, Fiction - In an alternate-history Earth, the Napoleonic wars are fought by land, sea, and sapient dragons serving as living airships)
The Airborn books (Kenneth Oppel, YA Fiction - In an alternate Earth, a boy born aboard a hydrium airship has grand adventures exploring the vast reaches of the atmosphere... and beyond)
Larklight (Philip Reeve, YA Fiction - In a Victorian-era space adventure, two British children embark upon a singular adventure through the aether of space)
Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow (James Rollins, YA Fiction - A mysterious artifact pulls two modern teens into a lost world with ancient cultures, living dinosaurs, and dark magic)
Boneshaker (Cherie Priest, YA Fiction - In mid-19th century Seattle, one man's experimental drill floods the city with toxic, zombie-creating gas)
Rogue Wave (Theodore Taylor, YA Fiction - An anthology of tales featuring war and survival)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne, Fiction - Three men find themselves guests and captives of a mad genius aboard his revolutionary submarine)
A Journey to the Center of the Earth (Jules Verne, Fiction - An artifact leads a geology professor and his young assistant through the heart of an extinct volcano and into a lost world beneath the Earth's crust)
The Dragonback Adventures (Timothy Zahn, YA Fiction - A boy thief, on the run from an interstellar megacorporation, becomes the reluctant ally of a dragonlike alien whose people are being exterminated from the galaxy)
Farscape: The Complete Series
(four-season DVD set, one of the most original sci-fi series ever, featuring the lost human scientist John Crichton on the run aboard a living spaceship in the far reaches of the galaxy)
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (Widescreen Special Collector's Edition)
(2004 movie DVD, in the vein of old-school adventure serials)
Behemoth
(The Leviathan trilogy, Book 2)
Scott Westerfield
Simon Pulse
Fiction, YA Fantasy
****+
DESCRIPTION: The living airship Leviathan, carrying a top secret cargo under the care of Dr. Barlowe, has finally arrived in Istanbul... after
running afoul of two German warships stranded in the Mediterranean by the onset of war. In theory, the Ottoman Empire is still neutral; though it has strong
Clanker tendencies, its machines tend to resemble animals and myths more than the utilitarian German contraptions, making them more amenable to Darwinist sympathies.
But the sultan, already gravely insulted when Britain's Lord Churchill confiscated a bought-and-paid-for Darwinist ship for the war effort, may not be open to
Britain's diplomatic overtures, and the Leviathan crew finds more than a few German fingers resting on the shoulders of the Turkish throne.
Midshipman Deryn and Prince Alek have come to be friends despite their different stations and upbringings. For Deryn, she fears it's more than friendship; her
deception as "Mr. Dylan Sharp" requires her to hide her gender, but she finds it more and more difficult to hold back as Alek confides in her. For Alek, their
friendship is equally confounding; though he was raised to think of Darwinists and their fabricated animals as an affront to divine will, he has found a peace
among the beasties of the Leviathan that he has never known before, and the rough-mannered commoner "Dylan" has proven himself a true and loyal friend.
Strained by their opposing loyalties, Deryn and Alek must nevertheless stand together as they face traitors, revolutionaries, intrigue, and secrets that could change
the course of the entire war.
REVIEW: The jump in the rating from the previous installment has two reasons. First off, Westerfield's steampunk alternate-history world has been decently
established, so more time went into developing characters and their relationships here. Secondly, the previous two books I read nearly had me tearing my hair out
wanting to smack the characters across the face and/or jab them with cattle prods to make the plot move along; after that tedium, Westerfield's more straightforward
adventure tale went down very nicely. The action continues at roughly the same pace as in the first book. Westerfield continues to weave real-world details into his
alternate World War 1 version of events. Like the first book, this one features black and white illustrations by Keith Thompson, which lend a wonderful old-school
feel to the story (even if Alek still looks a bit too feminine in some images.) I found myself staying up late just to finish this book, and already looking forward
to the third and final volume... whenever it comes out.
You might also enjoy:
The Animorphs series (K. A. Applegate, YA Fiction - Five human children receive alien powers to morph into animals, enabling them to fight a hidden invasion of mind-stealing parasites from the stars)
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (Avi, YA Fiction - The lone passenger on a cursed Transatlantic voyage, a well-bred 19th century girl, finds herself accused of murder)
Star Rigger's Way (Jeffrey A. Carver, Fiction - Lucid-dreaming "riggers" navigate interstellar ships through hyperspace)
Jurassic Park (Michael Crichton, Fiction - A tycoon's revolutionary theme park features genetically recreated dinosaurs)
With the Night Mail: A Story of 2000 A.D. (Rudyard Kipling, Fiction - A journey aboard a postal dirigible in a blimp-dominated future)
The Piratica series (Tanith Lee, YA Fiction - In an Earth not unlike our own history, a teen girl sets out to relive her mother's glory days as an honorable pirate queen)
The Brain and Brawn Ship series (Anne McCaffrey, Fiction - In the future, the brains of humans with debilitating birth defects become the living central computers of starships)
The Bloody Jack Adventures (L. A. Meyer, YA Fiction - To escape certain death on the streets of 18th-century London, a girl poses as a boy aboard a warship, thus embarking on a lifetime of larger-than-life adventures)
The Temeraire series (Naomi Novik, Fiction - In an alternate-history Earth, the Napoleonic wars are fought by land, sea, and sapient dragons serving as living airships)
The Airborn books (Kenneth Oppel, YA Fiction - In an alternate Earth, a boy born aboard a hydrium airship has grand adventures exploring the vast reaches of the atmosphere... and beyond)
Larklight (Philip Reeve, YA Fiction - In a Victorian-era space adventure, two British children embark upon a singular adventure through the aether of space)
Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow (James Rollins, YA Fiction - A mysterious artifact pulls two modern teens into a lost world with ancient cultures, living dinosaurs, and dark magic)
Boneshaker (Cherie Priest, YA Fiction - In mid-19th century Seattle, one man's experimental drill floods the city with toxic, zombie-creating gas)
Rogue Wave (Theodore Taylor, YA Fiction - An anthology of tales featuring war and survival)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne, Fiction - Three men find themselves guests and captives of a mad genius aboard his revolutionary submarine)
A Journey to the Center of the Earth (Jules Verne, Fiction - An artifact leads a geology professor and his young assistant through the heart of an extinct volcano and into a lost world beneath the Earth's crust)
The Dragonback Adventures (Timothy Zahn, YA Fiction - A boy thief, on the run from an interstellar megacorporation, becomes the reluctant ally of a dragonlike alien whose people are being exterminated from the galaxy)
Farscape: The Complete Series
(four-season DVD set, one of the most original sci-fi series ever, featuring the lost human scientist John Crichton on the run aboard a living spaceship in the far reaches of the galaxy)
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (Widescreen Special Collector's Edition)
(2004 movie DVD, in the vein of old-school adventure serials)
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Goliath
(The Leviathan trilogy, Book 3)
Scott Westerfield
Simon Pulse
Fiction, YA Fantasy
****
DESCRIPTION: During their weeks together on the living airship Leviathan, weeks that have seen everything from Clanker airship attacks to the culmination of a
revolution in the neutral Ottoman Empire, Midshipman "Dylan" Sharp and Prince Aleksander have grown into fast friends and allies. Deryn still must hide her gender, for fear of
losing her place in the British air service, but the secret grows harder to keep in close quarters, with her own heart complicating the matter. Fortunately, there's plenty to
distract them. They've just been ordered to a remote patch of Siberia to retrieve a scientist: none other than Nikola Tesla, the Clanker inventor who famously switched sides to
the Darwinist nations. The man claims to have invented a weapon so powerful that its mere existence can end war forever - and, as he's found in the middle of a vast swath of
blast-flattened trees, the seemingly-mad claim bears grim weight. Alek, with his Clanker belief in machinery and his conviction that he can somehow end the global war, embraces
the possibility, but others - including Deryn, the Darwinist scientist Dr. Barlowe, and even Alek's chief advisor Count Volger - grow suspicious of Tesla's increasingly grandiose
claims and insistence on mass publicity. As the Leviathan heads to New York City, where the Goliath tower stands, Deryn and Alek find themselves surrounded by conflicting
secrets, hidden dangers, and unlikely allies. Can the Goliath truly end all war, or is the cost of placing so much power in one man's hands simply too great?
REVIEW: In the trilogy's final chapter, Goliath brings the airship Leviathan across the Pacific to the fractured realm of America, where the rise of
Clanker and Darwinist ideals, not to mention the lingering loyalties of its immigrant populace, have perpetuated Civil War schisms. Westerfield continues populating his
alternate Earth with wonders both living and mechanical, creating a world that could easily stand up to more volumes, regardless of their connection to the first World War.
Many more real-life figures appear, including the famed newsman William Randolf Hearst, the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa (who, as in real life, actually struck a movie
deal with Hearst to help fund his revolution), the gutsy reporter Adela Rogers, and more. An epilogue at the end explains the real-world influences, which proved a more
interesting history lesson than twelve years of public education ever provided. In the middle of the vast sweep of events, Deryn's secret comes out, leaving Alek to ponder
whether he will stay true to his title or repeat his assassinated father's mistake of choosing his heart over his duty. Once more, between the high-flying imagination, the
quick pace, and the wonderfully detailed illustrations by Keith Thompson, Goliath hearkens back to the best of old-school adventure tales. It lost a star to occasional
wandering, and the subplot about Deryn's secret coming out felt a little off, with just a few too many people working it out to make its exclusion from the grapevine plausible.
Overall, it's a fine conclusion to a memorable series.
You might also enjoy:
The Animorphs series (K. A. Applegate, YA Fiction - Five human children receive alien powers to morph into animals, enabling them to fight a hidden invasion of mind-stealing parasites from the stars)
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (Avi, YA Fiction - The lone passenger on a cursed Transatlantic voyage, a well-bred 19th century girl, finds herself accused of murder)
Star Rigger's Way (Jeffrey A. Carver, Fiction - Lucid-dreaming "riggers" navigate interstellar ships through hyperspace)
Jurassic Park (Michael Crichton, Fiction - A tycoon's revolutionary theme park features genetically recreated dinosaurs)
The Piratica series (Tanith Lee, YA Fiction - In an Earth not unlike our own history, a teen girl sets out to relive her mother's glory days as an honorable pirate queen)
The Brain and Brawn Ship series (Anne McCaffrey, Fiction - In the future, the brains of humans with debilitating birth defects become the living central computers of starships)
The Bloody Jack Adventures (L. A. Meyer, YA Fiction - To escape certain death on the streets of 18th-century London, a girl poses as a boy aboard a warship, thus embarking on a lifetime of larger-than-life adventures)
The Temeraire series (Naomi Novik, Fiction - In an alternate-history Earth, the Napoleonic wars are fought by land, sea, and sapient dragons serving as living airships)
The Airborn books (Kenneth Oppel, YA Fiction - In an alternate Earth, a boy born aboard a hydrium airship has grand adventures exploring the vast reaches of the atmosphere... and beyond)
Larklight (Philip Reeve, YA Fiction - In a Victorian-era space adventure, two British children embark upon a singular adventure through the aether of space)
Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow (James Rollins, YA Fiction - A mysterious artifact pulls two modern teens into a lost world with ancient cultures, living dinosaurs, and dark magic)
Boneshaker (Cherie Priest, YA Fiction - In mid-19th century Seattle, one man's experimental drill floods the city with toxic, zombie-creating gas)
Rogue Wave (Theodore Taylor, YA Fiction - An anthology of tales featuring war and survival)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne, Fiction - Three men find themselves guests and captives of a mad genius aboard his revolutionary submarine)
A Journey to the Center of the Earth (Jules Verne, Fiction - An artifact leads a geology professor and his young assistant through the heart of an extinct volcano and into a lost world beneath the Earth's crust)
The Dragonback Adventures (Timothy Zahn, YA Fiction - A boy thief, on the run from an interstellar megacorporation, becomes the reluctant ally of a dragonlike alien whose people are being exterminated from the galaxy)
Farscape: The Complete Series
(four-season DVD set, one of the most original sci-fi series ever, featuring the lost human scientist John Crichton on the run aboard a living spaceship in the far reaches of the galaxy)
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (Widescreen Special Collector's Edition)
(2004 movie DVD, in the vein of old-school adventure serials)
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