What sort of warrior-Mozart was his father trying to make him into? The shriek of grinding gears filled the cabin. The Stormwalker wavered drunkenly for a moment, threatening to fall. It was balanced with one foot stretching back, like a fencer posing after a lunge. He pushed on both saunters, the left leg pulling at whatever had entangled it, the right straining forward.
The Daimler engines groaned, and metal joints hissed. Finally a shudder passed through the cabin, along with the satisfying sound of roots tearing from the ground— the Stormwalker rising up. It stood high for a moment, like a chicken on one leg, then stepped forward again. He clapped his hands once. His hands clenched the saunters tight, but the machine was walking smoothly again. Gradually he forgot that he was at the controls, feeling the steps as if they were his own.
Alek had even begun to see patterns in the flickering needles of the control panel—a few leapt into the red with every footfall, easing back as the walker straightened.
Knee pressure, indeed. But the sheer power of the machine kept him anxious. Heat from the engines built in the cabin, the night air blowing in like cold fingers. Alek tried to imagine what piloting would be like in battle, with the viewport half shut against flying bullets and shrapnel.
But he eased back on the throttle, grateful for a moment of rest, bringing the Stormwalker to a halt on the trail. Inside his piloting jacket Alek was soaked with sweat. But this is just practice.
That one day the insults might turn into something worse…. Volger had held a sword to his throat a thousand times in fencing practice, and his master of mechaniks? Explain this at once. The whole household was asleep, his parents away in Sarajevo. A surge of panic swept into Alek, cutting through his despair. A sweet smell filled the cabin, sending his mind spinning. He tried not to breathe, struggling against the larger men. The whistle let out only a miserable descending wail, like a teakettle pulled from the fire.
Alek still struggled, holding his breath for what felt like minutes, but finally his lungs rebelled. Reading Group Guide. By clicking 'Sign me up' I acknowledge that I have read and agree to the privacy policy and terms of use.
Must redeem within 90 days. See full terms and conditions and this month's choices. About The Author. Photo Credit:. Scott Westerfeld. About The Illustrator. Keith Thompson. Product Details. Related Articles. They must flee without getting the parts that they need, and are pursued by local soldiers. Volger sends Alek ahead to get the Stormwalker, but he is shot at by one of the soldiers. Alek manages to unhorse the soldier, but accidentally kills him.
With the help of the Stormwalker, Alek and his men are able to defeat the soldiers. However, now that their general location is known, a land frigate chases them as they travel to Switzerland. The frigate has a secret weapon which it uses against the Stormwalker: phosphorous flares which will stick to a machine and give away its location so that it can be fired at in the dark.
Alek cuts off the flare with an heirloom sword and throws the sword away from the Stormwalker, which causes the frigate to lose the Stormwalker in the dark. Back on the Leviathan, Dr. Barlow almost figures out Deryn's secret, but instead guesses that Deryn is younger than sixteen the age required to be a middy.
Deryn confesses that she is fifteen, and Dr. Barlow believes that this is Deryn's only secret. Though they are able to fight off the aeroplanes, the Leviathan still crashes in the Swiss Alps.
Deryn is tied to Newkirk and Mr. Rigby, and when Mr. Rigby is shot and falls off one side of the airship, she jumps off the other side to prevent Newkirk from having to cut Mr. Rigby loose. Alek and his men reach Switzerland, and plan to spend the war in the castle that Franz Ferdinand bought for Alek to hide in.
Volger tells Alek about a papal scroll that Franz Ferdinand obtained which gives Alek a claim to the throne of Austria-Hungary. They then hear the Leviathan crashing. Alek goes to help the crew of the crashed airship, against Volger's wishes. He finds Deryn who he believes to be a boy , and revives her with smelling-salts from his first aid kits.
Deryn becomes suspicious of Alek when his story of being a Swiss villager is contradictory, and he pulls a pistol on her when she asks him to come talk to her superiors. Because he is afraid of the hydrogen sniffers , Deryn is able to capture Alek and hand him over to Mr.
She goes back to Dr. Barlow, who is upset because her secret cargo of eggs has been partially destroyed by the crash. Only three of the eggs have survived. For full access, become a member today. Reviewed by Cindy Anderson. Write your own review! Keith Thompson, who contributed fifty illustrations for the interior of Leviathan , began freelancing as an artist in high school. After graduating, he studied illustration and continued his freelance work.
He has contributed art for books, video games, film, and television. Preparing the Leviathan illustrations involved a year of planning and working on the project, drawing the illustrations as author Scott Westerfeld wrote.
He often asked questions of Westerfeld to find out his conception of the visual elements of the story. In an interview with Irene Gallo on Tor. He replies: Yes, definitely. Since this is just the way I work creatively, I really only view it This "beyond the book" feature is available to non-members for a limited time.
Join today for full access. More books by Scott Westerfeld If you liked Leviathan, try these:. Curious Toys. About this book. More by this author. An intrepid young woman stalks a murderer through turn-of-the-century Chicago in "this rich, spooky, and atmospheric thriller that will appeal to fans of Henry Darger and Erik Larson alike" Sarah McCarry. A blistering gangster noir meets howling absurdist comedy as the forces of good square off against the forces of evil, and only an unassuming clockwork repairman and an octogenarian former superspy can save the world from total destruction.
A daring first novel—both buoyant comedy and devastating satire by the author of Say You're One of Them. The characters were pretty realistic with their characterizations and were kept super consistent.
I though it ended pretty abruptly, but I'm definitely pumped to read the rest of the series though! Jul 08, Erin rated it really liked it Shelves: little-romance , love-the-protag , action-packed , multiple-narrators , sci-fi , own , girl-power. What a pleasant surprise this book was! I strongly dislike the Uglies series and had a sense that Leviathan would be a "boy book" whatever that means , but it turns out it was highly enjoyable. Plot Basically, a heavily altered retelling of the initiation of World War I.
It follows two protagonists: Alek, the orphaned son of the murdered Austrian archduke, and Deryn, a girl disguising herself as a boy in order to fly on a Darwinist airbeast. She will be flying against the Clankers, the sections o What a pleasant surprise this book was!
She will be flying against the Clankers, the sections of Europe that rely on machinery. Clankers v. I'm a Clanker through and through, so reading about the strange ships made out of several animals was just confusing to me. It seemed too implausible to bother wrapping my head around. On the other hand, the scenes where Alek-- on the run from German forces trying to kill him-- was operating the Stormwalker were so fascinating to me.
I loved the heroic effect it gave him. Fancypants here can run in the dark! Characters I have a lot of room in my heart for Alek and Deryn! Deryn especially was making a lot of progress in the best-character category during the first half not that I didn't like Alek, it's just that Deryn seemed cooler.
But then Alek came out of nowhere and now I think I probably like him the best. I was freaking out when his disguise was in jeopardy And the part where he cried about his parents? Would you were real, Alek, so I could hug you! And an honorable mention goes out to Volger. What a tool, but in the best way possible. The ending was very blurry and I was starting to feel less enthusiastic, but for some reason I decided to keep going. I liked the small, small, small hints of romantic feelings directed from Deryn to Alek.
She's in control of herself for the most part, but allows those binoculars of hers to stay on Alek's face for a liiiiiitle longer than necessary. And even if, over the course of the series, their relationship never turns into a reciprocal romance but I'm sure it will! And, just for repetition's sake, I like Alek better than Deryn! Pretty much every review I've read has been givin' Deryn all the love, so I thought I'd chime in with some Alek support.
And why does Dr. Barlow have to be so sly? View all 4 comments. I felt that this series was best reviewed as one coherent narrative given the relatively short period of time the books cover, the continuous story that was told, and the similarities between them. I was able to devour these books at I felt that this series was best reviewed as one coherent narrative given the relatively short period of time the books cover, the continuous story that was told, and the similarities between them.
I was able to devour these books at a rapid clip and rarely felt the writing or story lagged significantly. If you are looking for a unique and adventurous take on both the steampunk genre and WWI historical fiction this could be the series for you if you can stand some YA elements mixed in.
First off I really liked the setting. This series imagines a world very much on the brink of WWI, but instead of the world split between the Central Powers and the Allied Powers , it is instead split between the Clankers the Central Powers that utilized technologically driven war machines and the Darwinists the Allied Powers that manipulate biology to create tools and war machines. I was happy to see WWI used as a backdrop for the story because it is a criminally underused setting present Wonder Woman movie excluded.
It has just as many fascinating aspects as WWII but is often overshadowed by the sequel. In any event Westerfeld did an excellent job blending his new scientific reality with the conditions of WWI Europe. He used actual events from history to inform his story's plot and had a deft enough understanding of the war to adjust its trajectory to match the changes he was making in his story.
Even better, he took time at the end of each book to explain what parts of the story were real, what parts he adapted from historical events, and what parts he created. It showed a real respect he had for the war he was borrowing for his own story and educates the reader at the same time. The story itself follows, for the most part, a great British Leviathan a biologically engineered creature that serves as sort of a floating battleship with all sorts of neat biological weapons that the two main characters, Austrian Prince Alek and Deryn, a British girl who masquerades as a boy to join the military.
Through circumstances not of their own control they are thrown together on this great beast as it carries out war critical missions for the Allies.
As you can imagine a crown prince from a Clanker nation on a Darwinist war beast can raise some problems, but Westerfeld does a very good job with the story putting Alek in positions to help out and maintain a position on the Leviathan though not without the occasional complication.
I thought the characters of Alek and Deryn were well constructed. They had their own motivations and goals and Westerfeld let that lead the decisions they made. They are both quite young and find themselves in a completely new environment so there is naturally some growing pains for both of them as they have to learn what it means to literally have the lives of others in their hands. Both make stupid mistakes from time to time but mistakes that feel right in the context of their characters' motivations and histories.
All in all I felt like both of these main characters were sympathetic and real enough for me to care about. The secondary characters, on the other hand, I thought got a bit of a short shrift.
A few of them got some decent back story but they seemed more to be extensions of Alek or Deryn's character arc than living breathing characters of their own. We do run into some historical figures but they, for the most part, tended to be more window dressing than terribly crucial to the plot Tesla being the exception. To a degree this didn't bother me much since this was very much an Alek and Deryn story, but a richer cast of secondary characters could have enriched the story further.
Being a story that takes place during an immense war I thought Westerfeld do a very good job balancing military engagements with plot progression. The fights that did occur were both creative and well described which they sort of have to be given it had giant floating monsters squaring off with coal powered fighting mechs.
I was impressed with how thoroughly Westerfeld thought out the details of his world and the novel ways he saw the overall Clanker and Darwinist philosophies inform their military decisions. He also took time to explore and integrate the political situations into the story, showing that diplomacy could be just as important in the war as military prowess. I was disappointed in a few aspects of this story though. The story centers around the journeys and adventures of Alek and Deryn so the reader doesn't get much of any view of the fighting that is occurring in Europe.
We never get to see full on Clanker and Darwinist forces tangle. The first World War was in famous for its trench warfare and I would have liked to see Westerfeld take on just what that would look like in his imagined world. The reader would get oblique references to the fighting, but always second hand and very general. I understand why Westerfeld told the story the way he did but I was disappointed as the narrow view of this nifty world we were given.
I also thought the final book in the series was a bit weak. It got a bit too deep in some of the weaker parts of the YA genre seriously guys, just sit down and talk it out, don't spend hundreds of pages wallowing in your own "woe is me" funk and I felt the overall level of action in the third book paled in comparison to the first two. The fighting wasn't as interesting, the politics was not as engaging, and the characters could not carry the increased load of the story hence the three stars for the third book.
Overall I was very pleased with the series even if the third book fell a bit flat. Westerfeld's imaginative world building and understanding of WWI really made this series a compelling and enjoyable read. Mar 23, Michael rated it liked it Shelves: world-war-1 , fiction , science-fiction , alternative-history , austria , england , childrens-literature , switzerland. This combination fantasy and alternative history of World War 1 was fun and imaginative in many ways, but it came up short for me in its limited depth of characters and plotting and in my troubles suspending disbelief.
The overall premise is that the Allied powers use genetically engineered animals in their military technology while the Central powers use machines—the "Darwinists" versus the "Clankers". The former This combination fantasy and alternative history of World War 1 was fun and imaginative in many ways, but it came up short for me in its limited depth of characters and plotting and in my troubles suspending disbelief.
The former have living blimps derived from whales and hydrogen producing jellyfish, while the latter have walking tank-like machines. The plot brings him together with a year old British girl, Deryn, who has joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman by pretending to be a boy.
Her ship, the Leviathan, is on a secret mission to Constantinople known only to a colorful and mysterious woman scientist aboard the ship. Deryn in particular has fetching verve, great sense of humor, and cute use of slang.
I do give it some style points, consistent with the surface chic typical of the emerging steampunk genre; i. The wonderful drawings by Keith Thompson are a definite plus in that regard. I balked quite a bit over the silliness of the two-legged walking tanks being so subject to falling over at least the similar machines in Star Wars had four legs. And the core weakness of airships with lift provided by explosive hydrogen is the very reason Zeppelins failed as an effective military technology.
I also got tired of the frequent references to the ominous stink of leaking hydrogen, when this gas is odorless in contrast to the hydrogen sulfide of rotten eggs. Despite these caveats, the book still kept me glued to the read. I was headed to a 4-star rating when I was cheated by the abrupt ending. Even books in a series should have more closure than this one did. We never learn anything about what the mission to Constantinople was all about or even get a sense of the linkage of the Ottoman Empire had to do with the German and Austrio-Hungarian Empires.
Is it a spoiler to tell potential readers that they must count on reading the whole series to get any real understanding of major plot elements? This book read like a newsreel being delivered by a stiff network anchor.
I never felt engaged by the story or the characters. Everything moves at a super slow pace an is overly simplistic. The book is a steampunk and historical fictional piece about the son of assassinated WW1 icon Franz Ferdinand.
The story takes place in the events leading up to and then in the war. The fictitiously named son spends his time on the run in a dirigible learning secrets long kept from him. I will not be 1. I will not be continuing the series. Sep 12, Ivan rated it liked it Shelves: steampunk-and-gunpowder-fantasy. I love the setting but characters and story are bit too naively written. Since this is YA book aimed at lower age parts of YA spectrum but I feel that what this book does, it does worse than Mortal Engines which has significantly better characters and character interactions.
Overall fun read but too much unused potential for such awesome setting. Shelves: clean-ya , favorites. At first, this book was a DNF. I was not a good enough reader yet, and I had no respect for steampunk. How wrong I was. I flew ha through this, happy and in anticipation the whole time. By the time I picked it back up again, a few months later, I had been introduced to Uglies and Impostors I love love love alternate history, and Westerfeld turned World War 1 into a fight between mechanics and animal lovers poor explanation alert.
Everything was so well explained that I could envision every movement. Plot: It was very well thought through and things come together perfectly at the end of the trilogy. I love the ending of Goliath so so much : Leviathan was a little predictable, but it left me in so much anticipation.
Characters: Deryn: I love her. She's incredible! She has such perseverance and a great personality and a sense of humor.
Alek: I love Alek as well but Deryn is 1. Alek definitely has the most growth in this series, he learns about himself and what he is willing to fight for, and that he is capable of making decisions. It left me in high anticipation which I give Westerfeld applause for. Deryn is posing as a boy so she can fly. It's all she's wanted, and she's willing to risk so much for flying. Alek the prince of Austro-Hungaria. A worthless commoner and a prince, in an alternate WW1.
With Scott Westerfeld as the author. Through all of Westerfeld's variety of genres and years of writing, he's grown as a writer but I still love and recognize his talent. I'm so thankful to my LA teacher for recommending this series to me!! I love this series and it has a spot on my favorites list! I recommend to alt. View all 7 comments. I absolutely love it. It's so rich, with such sumptuous detail, wonderful design and use of colour and all the elements of the story and its genres.
It feels nice too, with embossed bits, shiny bits, matte bits, texture in places so that if you run your fingers over it they get all excited and tingly! The one and only thing that bothers me is the cardstock used - the cover never lies flat but is constantly even brand new and sit Just look at this cover, isn't it GORGEOUS?! The one and only thing that bothers me is the cardstock used - the cover never lies flat but is constantly even brand new and sitting on the bookshop display table lifting up into the air almost vertically.
Hey, it's a keen book, but covers get damaged this way. This is one of those books where the gorgeous cover completely matches - and does credit to - the absolutely wonderful story inside. Count how many times I capitalise my words as a cheap way of conveying enthusiasm - actually don't count, it'll get embarrassing! I found myself gazing and gazing at them. They match the scenes perfectly, and really make the world come alive.
Oh, and would you just look at the stunning map: Here you can see Europe, at the time of the Great War, separated along ideological lines of a new kind: the "Darwinists" depicted with impressive beasts, and the "Clankers" bristling with steam-powered machinery and weapons.
The Darwinist countries, like Great Britain, have embraced not just natural selection but gene splicing, cross-breeding animals and creating incredible beasts called "fabrications" - including the Leviathan itself, an immense hydrogen ship that's not just one living organism - mostly whale - but a whole colony of organisms and beasts that each have a role to play.
It's absolutely fascinating. The Clankers, on the other hand - the Germans and Hungarians etc. They come in smaller two-legged varieties as well. But I best stop long enough to give you a summary, eh: Prince Aleksandar, son to Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary, grandson to the emperor, is secretly bundled out of the palace on the night his parents are assassinated in Serbia.
His fencing master, Count Volger, and his master of mechaniks, Otto Klopp, get fifteen year old Alek away in a Cyklop Stormwalker a two-legged machine , but it takes Alek a while to understand the seriousness of his position. Even though his grandfather made it so Alek could never inherit the empire because he disapproved of the woman Ferdinand decided to marry , his father and Count Volger understood that with the continent bristling for war, Alek could prove a very useful hostage, or pawn.
Meanwhile, in England, sixteen year old Deryn is ready to take her middy's test and join the Air Service like her older brother Jaspert - as long as she can convince them she's really a boy. The test consists of being strapped into the seat below one of the earliest types of air ship - a Huxley. In essence a giant jelly fish filled with hydrogen that panics at the slightest thing, the Huxley goes mostly up or down and can't really be steered.
But as Deryn is aloft, a storm comes and the Huxley panics - to save being smashed against a wall in its descent, she's forced to cut the rope that tethers it. Deryn keeps a calm head, and while she is drifting out to the Channel, is picked up by the Leviathan , one of the earliest and still the best air ship in the Service. Determined to be kept on board, she learns the way of the ship fast.
When they make an unprecedented stop at Hyde Park in London to pick up a scientist and a very precious cargo, it is the first step in an adventure that will see Deryn and Alek meet in surprising circumstances - and form an even more unusual friendship.
So, how about some more gushing? Westerfeld has created a superb world, an alternate world of steampunk technology and inventive science, with a wealth of detail and imagination. But it would be a hollow world if the characters and the story weren't equally as entrancing. Well he is somewhat Australian, after all.
I love this animal, and it was great to see it in a story, finally. Deryn is the kind of protagonist I instantly love - a tomboy in the best possible way, with a mouth full of slang and stable talk often invented for the world , a quick mind and passion - in this case, a passion to be in the air service and serve on board the Leviathan. She has her flaws, but she's got so much spunk and bravery - and she doesn't fret or panic.
True to her more humble upbringing, she provides the perfect counter-point to the palace-bred Alek, though he too rises to the occasion, learns from his mistakes and shows courage in a time of peril. He sometimes comes across as a tad sullen and spoilt, but he's also willing to admit his mistakes, apologise for them, or do what's right despite the dangers.
And then when you get the two of them together, they're just great. Their personalities are vibrant but the details are subtle and come across in dialogue and action. There's not so much of that reflective instrospection did I just make up a word there? Aside from being a wonderful adventure novel in a highly creative world, Leviathan also presents some interesting themes on the nature of science, technology, ethics and attitudes and so on.
The best stories for examining interesting themes like this are the ones that don't deal with them head-on. The ones that let them play out, that let the reader notice them, think about them, question their own thoughts and reactions. Books like, say, Fahrenheit are great for what they do but are also deliberately obvious and in-your-face, which doesn't always leave much room for gaining perspective.
I could ramble on but I better not - I think you get how much I enjoyed this, yeah? I'm looking forward to the next book, Behemoth , with great anticipation! View all 8 comments. Jun 09, Alaina rated it really liked it Shelves: sci-fi , june-challenge , dystopia , historical-fiction , fantasy , young-adult , fiction.
Leviathan was so freaking good. Amazing even. The amount of world building and scientific shit were highly entertaining to listen to. However, I will admit that I still had moments of confusion and awe as well. This book follows Prince Aleksander, who used to be a would-be heir but is now running for his life, and Deryn Sharp, who is a commoner disguised as a boy.
These two were likable together and apart.
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