Leviathan
Monday, November 9th, 2009
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
Simon Pulse, 2009
In Leviathan, a steampunk alternate history of World War I, Scott Westerfeld has created a wonderfully imaginative world with characters as likable as they come. Telling the stories of Deryn Sharp, a spunky and tough girl posing as a boy soldier in the British army and Aleksander Ferdinand, son of the Archduke and on the run from his own country of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In Westerfeld’s world, the British, known as The Dawinists, have followed Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theories with a twist of genetic engineering to create animals for battle and transport. The Germans, known as the Clankers, use engine powered iron machines (think steampunk meets mecha) to do their bidding. The result is a spectacular adventure–fun, imaginative, and meticulously detailed (yet never dry).
If you can tell already, I loved this book. I’m a fan of Westerfeld’s previous work with the Uglies series and Leviathan has surpassed my expectations. I should also mention that the illustrations, by Keith Thompson, are excellent and really contributed to the feel of the story. I guess the thing that I was most impressed with in Leviathan, was Westerfeld’s ability to create a world with so many details, both historical and fantastic, yet still have lifelike characters and an exciting plot with much drama. Go Scott!
I’d recommend this book to, uhh, everyone. But seriously, this book is timely in that it is decidedly steampunk, which is currently exploding on the hipster front (has anyone picked up Make magazine lately?). I can see this book working for a lot of different audiences (the fantasy readers, the scifi readers, the nostalgic adventure readers). I think this is be a great book for adults, teens, and tweens who want adventure, a little imagination, and a lot of fun.
