Leviathan

This was such a fun, adventurous read. My first venture into the steampunk genre and it did not disappoint, of course, Leviathan is written by Scott Westerfeld so I had little doubt that I would not enjoy this book and enjoy it I did. Like a well written high fantasy I was completely mesmerized by the sci-fi world of the book as I read through the pages of Leviathan and eyed the wonderfully detailed illustrations by Keith Thompson. And what was more fantastic in my opinion was that this wasn't a high fantasy world completely made up by the author but a world that was melded into an already existing history. An altered history filled with fantastic creations made of either machinery or fabricated animal.



It's the Summer of 1914 in a world where countries are divided into Darwinists, who have war machines created from genetically engineered animals and Clankers whose machines run on oil and steam. Each side opposes the choices of the other but none of this posed a problem until the murder of Alek's parents, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie plunges the world into World War I and Alek is on the run for his own life. And while he tries to escapes from Austria to neutral territory with the chosen men Alek's father trusted with his safety, across the sea ready to take her Midshipman test is the nervous Deryn Sharp, the test isn't what has Deryn nervous however. While Alek has to keep himself hidden like a secret, Deryn has to keep her own gender a secret from the Royal Air Service just so she can fly through the skies like her brother.

Both of these characters were such great reads, both were unique in their voices and situations but both were also so wonderfully alike in their ability to adapt and react in tough situations, their ingenuity, and their young wild hearts. Deryn who was advised by her brother to “not stand out” does everything but this because she really is a brilliant airman and it's just unfair that she has to hide who she really is to do what she loves but that doesn't get her down. In fact she hardly even thinks about it and I was happy this book wasn't filled with “almost being caught” moments but showed us all what Deryn was capable of. From her abilities to her colourful dialogue and voice Deryn quickly made her way onto my favourite female MCs list.



Alek, I didn't love him as instantly and I was afraid in the beginning that I wouldn't love him as much as Deryn because he really does come off as spoiled prince but a quarter of the way through the book I quickly grew to love him too. As I said, he knows how to adapt in a tough situation even if he can't stop himself from acting like a young prince, throughout Leviathan Alek really grows and develops into his own person and changes from the boy playing with his toys on the first page. And it's not just these two who were great there were so many wonderful secondary characters that talking about them all would take too long but let me just say that they are all fleshed out and add such vibrancy and depth to this book. Mr. Westerfeld really did a great job of voicing the people to tell his version of World War I.

Also, if you don't know the history of what happened in the war it's laid out for you with ease and without horrid info dumps so you will be neither bored nor lost. In fact there wasn't a dull moment to be found in this read and I am sorry to be joining the fandom so late in the game.



**Images by Keith Thompson. A couple of the illustrations found inside Leviathan.