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Leviathan

by: Scott Westerfeld
en

9781416971733  1416971734  9781416987062 

Leviathan
By Scott Westerfeld




Product Description:

It is the cusp of World War I, and all the European powers are arming up. The Austro-Hungarians and Germans have their Clankers, steam-driven iron machines loaded with guns and ammunition. The British Darwinists employ fabricated animals as their weaponry. Their Leviathan is a whale airship, and the most masterful beast in the British fleet.

Aleksandar Ferdinand, prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battle-torn Stormwalker and a loyal crew of men.

Deryn Sharp is a commoner, a girl disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She's a iant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.

With the Great War brewing, Alek's and Deryn's paths cross in the most unexpected way...taking them both aboard the Leviathan on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure. One that will change both their lives forever.




Summary: Unique adventure of steampunk history
Rating: 4

Leviathan tells a "steampunk" version of how World War I began, and the result is a unique and fun adventure through an alternate version of history.

The first half of the novel moves rather slowly, but the rich details of the Darwinist "beasties" and the Clanker machines pres enough intrigue to keep the reader turning pages until the real fun begins. Of course the fun is really just barely beginning when the novel ends because Leviathan is the first in what appears to be a series (the second book "Behemoth" is set to come out in the October 2010), so there isn't much resolution to the story in this novel. But that hardly matters - since the entire book is filled with exquisitely detailed settings, well-developed characters, and hints of surprises yet to come, it will be worth the wait to see how the plot continues in future books!

Scott Westerfeld has mixed the perfect amount of fantasy and sci-fi with history and adventure to create this genius novel and i think it will be an equally enjoyable read for boys and girls of all ages!



Summary: Wow!
Rating: 5

Steampunk at its best.

World War I has begun, sort of. You have on the one hand, the advanced machinery of the hands of the Germans, and on the other, the bioengineered marvels, such as the flying whale ship Leviathan of the British. Along the way we get nearly every great trope of the genre, done well.

There is Deryn Sharp, the woman in disguise in the all-man's service.

There is Aleksandar Ferdinand, the prince in exile, too young for the responsibilities and tragedies laid at his feet, and forced to make his coming of age too quickly.

Along the way, these two characters have to define for themselves honor, mercy, courage, wisdom, and love.



Summary: Review of Leviathan
Rating: 5

That's the nature of Steampunk, blending the future and past. That's what Scott Westerfeld wrote in his Afterward.

This book is crazy amounts of fun. In addition to having a story that is full of action and adventure, there are incredible illustrations helping bring the story to life. I mean, how else would you know what a cross-breed of a whale and a hundred other species would look like?

There are two main characters in this WWI era story:

- Deryn Sharp - a commoner 14 year old girl who poses as a boy to join the Darwinist (England) army. This army uses living, breathing cross-breeds of creatures for their ships and weapons.

- Aleksander Ferdinand - a Prince and the son of the Archduke of Austro-Hungarian Empire. He flees from his country as Germany goes to war, disrupting peace in a single evening. These folks are the Clankers. An entire society based on their disgust of the Darwinists and the usage of machines. Think.. those walker things out of Star Wars, but more primitive.

My teenager brothers would love this book. I'm in my 30's and I love this book. It was my introduction to Scott Westerfeld and I cannot wait for book 2 to come out.



Summary: Imaginative and fun steampunk/alternative history for young adults!
Rating: 4

It's the eve of World War I. The Clankers and Darwinists are rallying to fight each other. What? Miss that part of history? Re-imagine history so that technology and science branch in radically different ways. England and allies develop the 'Darwinist' theories of combining animals for the use of the state; Austria-Hungary develops large metal machines for war. Otherwise, things proceed (more or less) as they did in actual history. On either side there's a teenager. Alek, whose parents were killed and who must keep his identity secret; and Deryn, who pretends to be a boy so that she can serve in the British Air Service. These two's fates will combine, despite being on opposite sides in the on-coming war...

The makings of World War I are an incredibly interesting portion of history. I could barely contain my delight when I learned that Scott Westerfeld's new young adult novel would combine these historical conditions with imaginative ideas of his own. How wonderful it was to imagine a world in which the divide is between Clankers and Darwinists. Clankers follow ideas Steampunk or battle robot while the Darwinists create and combine creatures with distinct uses.

The novel didn't disappoint me, but it didn't quite enthrall me like I thought it would, either. That isn't to say I that I didn't warm to the novel. I will be reading the second installment, I'm just not rabid to get my hands on the book.

The protagonists were a bit younger than I expected, almost making the novel aimed towards a younger audience than I was used to. After adjusting to the age of the protagonists, I found that although I immediately liked the British Deryn and disliked Alek, it switched about half way through the book. Worse, the even more interesting characters are the mentors of each protagonist! Still, the characters are interestingly drawn. Deryn, who's pretending to be a boy, has an exaggerated swagger that I found incredibly amusing; Alek's slow learning of his own country and people was heartwarming. Their mentors, Count Volger and Dr. Barlow, are just utterly fascinating and I cannot wait to see both figure more greatly into the story. Volger's rough, but shrewd. His British counterpart, Barlow, is equally shrewd. The two figures will be sure to either butt heads or respect the other. I can't wait to find out which it shall be.

The novel is incredibly imaginative and fun. It's a bit of an adventure story. A bit of a pilfered historical novel. A bit of a coming of age story for two adolescents.

Really, I enjoyed most of LEVIATHAN. The problems I had were only that the prose and characters were a written a bit young. And, more seriously, LEVIATHAN indeed the first of a series. Most questions remain unanswered as the novel closes. The ending, to me, seemed a little abrupt. When I was about 30 pages from the end, I said to myself, "Oh no, he can't possible wrap all this up before the final page." And that's true. The book needed more of a fulfilling arc to finish before dangling the questions back in front of my face to entice me to the second book.

As a note, this book is gorgeous. The cover! The gears are shiny, mechanical and beautiful with the red background. Absolutely perfect. The entire book is artistically rendered. Even the shape of the book has an elegant length and thin width that makes it fun to pick up. Additionally, the illustrations are gorgeous and very storybook-esque. Unfortunately, I can't help but think of Thomas Hobbes when reading the title...



Summary: Simply fantastic!
Rating: 5

My immediate reaction to this book was that it is really beautiful to look at. Keith Thompson's illustrations and the art on the inside cover is just gorgeous. I've been a fan of Thompson's work for a long time and I was very pleasantly surprised to find that he contributed to this book, which I did not know until I actually got the book and looked at it.
This is not heavy reading. It's fun, beautifully paced and deliciously steampunk. This is the first book I've read by Westerfeld, but I promise it won't be the last. I'm very much looking forward to reading Behemoth when it comes out in 2010.
The story is more than engaging, I could not put this book down. I fell in love with the characters and the world they (and I'd definitely love to) live in. Everything fits so well, from the big, clunky walkers the Clankers use to the weirdly elegant products of Darwinist genetic engineering.

There is one thing that I would like to address specifically. I am not a Darwinist, nor do I believe in evolution. I had slight reservations about this book because of that, but I ordered it anyway and read it. For any other people like me, creationists or non-Darwinists, let me say that the concept of Darwinism fits so well into the story of this book that you hardly notice it. My strongly held beliefs were not offended in the slightest.

Bottom line: buy this book. You will absolutely not regret it.