Leviathan by
Scott Westerfeld
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
How We Met (me & the book):
At a book festival I attended this past weekend, one of the authors recommended Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan series as a really good (and hopefully future iconic) example of steampunk. Later in the day in a different workshop, another author cited the same as an incredible series while we were discussing Westerfeld's previous series, the dystopian Uglies. I figured, if two authors at different venues recommend the same book, I gotta go check it out. Plus Westerfeld is coming to my area at the end of this week touring on the release of the last of this trilogy, so I thought I’d better be prepared for the reading to get the most out of it. Had previously read “Uglies” but never got all the way through.
What's This About?
This Young Adult steampunk novel takes place at the beginning of the first World War, and alternates between the points of view of the two main protagonists. The first is Alek, the 15- year old son of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand whose assassination sparked the Great War, and as a result Alek becomes the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian empire. But there are issues with that. Second is Deryn, a British teen girl who disguises herself as a boy to enlist in the British Air Service. Both Alek and Deryn are on separate sides of the war - the former with the Clunkers who rely on machines and technology for their wars, and the latter with the Darwinists who have heightened the theories of Darwinism and create hybrid animals to do their bidding.
What’s Cool
Well first, Westerfeld writes great stories - exciting pacing and plot woven around believable and distinct characters, all thrown into a very imaginative world. His Clunkers and Darwinists takes modern technology and cranks it up about ten notches. These are massive war machines the author has imagined, so they’re all large, and scary, and a challenge to master for these two protagonists. And he keeps them so separate, these two competing technologies, in an impressive manner. Well, in EVERY aspect Westerfeld is thorough. Details are believable.
Also, as a YA book, I like how the author emphasizes all the mistakes Alek and Deryn make as they’re thrown into their new respective worlds, and how they grow and learn from them. It’s not “yay look how smart/strong/clever I am” but “I will take a stand, oops I messed up and look at these horrible results” - over and over again. But through these mistakes and consequences, we see each character grow, which helps the reader to care a lot about what happens to each of them.
On top of all that, Westerfeld throws in the ingredient of “thriller’ and only from an informed eye do I see the conflict-on-every-page pattern. Even though I see it, the book is still thrilling and a real page turner. Did I mention I stayed up until 3:30am reading this book until the end?
But What Happened Here?
Aside from reading the last page and wanting to read the next one immediately? :)
I sort of wonder what happened to Deryn’s femininity. I know she’s trying hard to adopt a boyish manner so as to keep up her disguise, but somewhere it would have been nice to see her core femininity peep through, because then we ask near the end, who is she really?
I also wonder what happened to Alek’s inner turmoil? The reader is shown so many of his brave and daring qualities, but then we fall into being “told” that he’s a bit emotional and traumatized inside from his parents’ sudden death.
Tazza is cute, but does not serve an obvious purpose. Why is Tazza in the book? Comic relief? To shine extra light on Dr. Bowers' character? Unless he plays a larger, significant part in later books, I don't know why he's there.
But seriously, folks, these few critique points I had to really to conjure up. Most of the book is really tight, fast paced, well written and exciting to read.
Leftover Thoughts:
Well, I could impress you all by confessing that I read this book all in one setting, staying up to 3:30am to finish it. But then again, that’s been my reading habit as of late - just carve out that block of hours to enjoy a book from beginning to end. This block of time for the Leviathan, however, was time well spent. And I mean it when I said how disappointed I was that the book actually ended, and how glad I am that there’s at least two more books coming.
The Deryn angle reminded me of one of the most beloved books of my youth, the Alanna series (aka Song of the Lioness quartet) by Tamora Pierce, where Alanna also dressed herself up as a boy so she could train as a soldier and knight, when girls weren’t allowed to do that kind of thing.
I'm really chomping at the bit to go get the next book, so I will post this entry, and head out to the library!
Recommend? Yes, for any lovers of YA, sci-fi fantasy, steampunk certainly, and fantasy.
Read it again? Maybe.
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