Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Misty (Book Rat)

Leviathan is an alternate history, steampunk inspired tale of WWI.  It
centers around Alek, the fictional 15 year old son of Franz Ferdinand,
whose murder was the spark that ignited the war.  Alek is awoken in the
night to find his world has been turned upside down, and he is now
hunted by his own country.  Meanwhile, Deryn Sharp, a 15 year old
English girl who wants to be an airbeast pilot, disguises herself as
Dylan Sharp and joins the force, making it onto the famous living ship,
Leviathan, quite by accident, just as England is being sucked into the
war.

Told from these two interwoven standpoints, Leviathan is full of contrast. 

Deryn and Alek couldnt come from more different backgrounds or be more
different people, and they are played off of each other nicely.  What
was great (and a brilliant choice on Westerfelds part) was that there
is a sense of urgency and danger in both storylines, so one never felt
more crucial than the other.  Alek is on the run for his life, and is
beginning to question everything hes ever known, which could have
easily tipped the balance of the story in his favor.  But at the same
time, Deryn is living among strangers disguised as a boy, always trying
to prove herself, and always leary, lest someone find out.    There was
great tension of different kinds in each storyline, and it was
fascinating to watch them begin to come together.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the book (even more than the
engaging characters of Alek and Deryn) was the technology, as it
were. On one side are the Clankers, Westerfelds vision of the
Germanic/Austro-Hungarian powers.  Their world is one of monstrous
machine juggernauts of steampunky goodness.  Pitted against them are
the Western powers of England, France, etc., whose world is made of
fabricated beasts.  In this version of history, Darwin not only
discovered the idea of genetics, but of DNA, and used it to start the
science of gene-splicing and created creatures.  The Leviathan itself
is a whale/beast/machine hybrid, a massive living dirigible. 

I must say, I was all for the steampunk nature of this book; it was one
of the things that attracted me so strongly to it.  But as I read, I
found Englands fabricated beasts and the idea of this societal genetic
freeforall even more fascinating than the Clankers machines.  When the
narrative shifted to Alek storylines, I found myself anxious to get
back to Deryn.  Not only do I love disguised storylines (like Tamora
Pierces Song of the Lioness series), but Deryns world was captivating
and rich. 

Even in all of the fantastic elements, there was a layer of truth. 
Nothing was clean-cut and simple.  Even in England, there were people
who found the idea of fabricated beasts immoral, frightening and
repugnant.  This rang true to me, and illustrated one of the things I
love so much about Scott Westerfeld: even in the midst of his
far-fetched, extreme worlds, there is always a solid foundation of
reality and truth to ground them.  Occasionally, shifting between the
two worlds could be jarring, but I think that was part of the point,
and added to the story.  Either way, both were so fully realized and
fascinating that I didnt want the book to end (and now have to wait
like a madwoman for the next installment).