Review Detail

Despite having been somewhat disappointed with the Uglies series, mostly because I didn't care for the characters much, I have pretty much adored this series. In fact, I like them so much I've gotten both of my parents reading these books after me. Haha. Their complaint is that they get really tired of Westerfeld's invented slang, like 'bum-rag' and 'barking spiders,' the latter of which seems to particularly irritate. Personally, I find these things more amusing than annoying, but to each her own.

Anyway, Goliath is a good conclusion to the series, although the ending is a bit abrupt. Of course, to make the alternate version align with what happened in real life, he was somewhat constrained in what the ending of the tale could be. Westerfeld chooses to end, and I really don't see this as a spoiler, with the entry of the US into the conflict. Even though that is not, as I hope everyone well knows, not the end of the war, but it works because it puts a nice cap to the tale of our heroes.

Reasons to love The Leviathan Trilogy:

-Steampunkery!
-Fabricated creatures and crazy metal contraptions...they may not always make sense, but they're just so cool.
-Awesome art work, if you read the print version.
-Prefer audiobooks? That's almost better, because those are narrated by the incomparable Alan Cumming.
-You can learn a new vocabulary of swear words.
-The lorises, which are just the most awesome little creatures.
-A kickass female heroine, who's much stronger than the boy she loves.
-Crossdressing!
-A prince in disguise!
-Nikola Tesla as a mad scientist, in fact the villain (of sorts) for book three.

Are these books perfect? No. However, they are still incredibly awesome and full of nerdy, action-adventure fun. Basically, if you ever got a kick out of history or fantasy, you should do yourself a favor and read these, starting with Leviathan.