I was finally able to obtain the last book of the Leviathan series by Scott Westerfeld! And really, it is partially this series that got me in to steampunk. I knew what it was vaguely as a visual style from webcomic Girl Genius and when my friend Thad said he was "addicted" to young adult steampunk books, I asked him what he was reading. It was this series. I was curious as to how what I thought was a visual style would be represented in literature.
The floodgates opened. With the help of Google, Wikipedia.org, and my local library, I am now decently obsessed.
The series is Leviathan, Behemoth, and Goliath. It follows an alternate history timeline around 1914 following the assassination of the Archduke of Austria. The nations are grouped by their preference in war machines. Britain and Russia and their allies are "Darwinists" that use "fabricated creatures," live animals made of blended DNA. The airships are made from the DNA of whales with a host of other creatures, like hydrogen-sniffing spider-dogs, bats that excrete metal darts, talking "messenger lizards" and so on. Even their technology that isn't alive is usually fabricated, like wood made to be stronger and lighter. The other countries, like Germany, Austria, and the Ottoman Empire, are "clankers" and use mechanical walkers, tanks, submarines, and the like.
Now for the spoilers.
The book follows the son of the Archduke, Alek, while on the run from Germans who were secretly trying to force a war by murdering his parents and blaming it on the Serbs. It also follows Deryn, a Scottish girl posing as a boy to join the British Air Force. While Alek, with the help of a few retainers, guides his walker to escape to the Swiss mountains, Deryn ends up a midshipman aboard the Leviathan, a massive whale-like airship. They get attacked above the alps and crash land within sight of Alek's hidden retreat. Unable to stay put, he rushes to help them, offering some of their stockpile of food and the engines from his walker to get them going again. When the ship leaves, so does his group on board, fleeing from Germans in clanker airships. While on board, he befriends Deryn, thinking she is a boy, and discovers the ship was on a mission to deliver something to the Ottoman Empire, who is currently mad at Britain for "borrowing" a warship they were supposed to give to the Ottoman Empire.
In Behemoth, Alek escapes from the airship as the captain is increasingly planning on hauling him back to Britain as a prisoner of war. He ends up stranded in Istanbul. Meanwhile, diplomacy between the Ottomans and Leviathan sour, thanks to German influence, and Deryn is selected for a mission to undermine the warchains in the Bosporus Straight so they can attack the German ships that took refuge there. She is unable to make it back to the Leviathan, so goes in search of her friend Alek. Alek has made allies and is helping fund a relatively peaceful revolution against the Sultan. Deryn joins him and coordinates it for the night that the Leviathan is returning with the Behemoth, an underwater kraken fabrication to destroy the German warships. They discover a large Tesla cannon, an electricity device, has been constructed and the Leviathan is in danger, and so split forces to save the Leviathan. The Leviathan dips to pick up Deryn and Alek realizes that he wants to follow his friend back on board, and so joins him. He becomes an ally and is no longer in danger of being thrown in the brig and hauled back to England.
In Goliath, the Leviathan is instructed to pick up a crazy inventor named Tesla, responsible for the lightning cannons. He claims he has built a huge cannon called the Goliath, capable of raining destruction down anywhere in the world. He is currently in a remote blasted portion of Russia, where the devastation goes on for miles, and he says that is the work of his machine. But he doesn't want war, he just wants peace, and Alek is willing to help him achieve his goals. The Leviathan starts heading toward New York. Meanwhile Alek finds out that Deryn is actually a girl and feels angry and betrayed until he realizes that the reason she couldn't tell him her secret was because she had feelings for him... and he was a prince and she a commoner. He still avoids her for a while before he gets used to the idea and promises to help keep her secret before finding out how difficult that can be. In New York, they must part ways. Deryn discovers an impending attack on Goliath by Germans and the Leviathan attempts to foil it, while Alek discovers his friend Tesla is really a madman willing to destroy a city for attacking him and Alek does what he must.
I really like these books. The imagination in construction the clankers and the Darwinists is fantastic and the illustrations are beautiful. The storyline is interesting and compelling. Deryn talks with a strong slang, but it makes sense and adds character to the book. And I love how much common sense Deryn and Alek have even though they are in a young adult novel and young adult characters often seem devoid of common sense. Deryn starts having feelings for Alek and wants to tell him her secret, that she is a girl. But she also scolds herself for her feelings, calling herself names for behaving like a girl twisting her skirt, and doesn't tell Alek because she knows he can't be with a commoner and she'd rather have the friendship than nothing at all. Alek has a bizarre sense of fate and destiny, but is willing to keep an eye out, knowing that fate isn't going to save him from stupidity. They do stupid things every now and then, but everyone makes mistakes. Also, the books are practical, not drawing out long moments of awkwardness. Deryn gets mad at one point because of Alek's disregard for girls, but she doesn't carry that over him in a grudge. When Alek finds out Deryn is a girl, he could have potentially pouted for pages about how she didn't tell him the truth... but he quickly realizes why, and doesn't hold that against her.
The Leviathan series is a good story with compelling dialogue and characters that you just end up rooting for. It is a fun alternate take on actual history, explained at the end of each book. A really good read and I recommend it.
The floodgates opened. With the help of Google, Wikipedia.org, and my local library, I am now decently obsessed.
The series is Leviathan, Behemoth, and Goliath. It follows an alternate history timeline around 1914 following the assassination of the Archduke of Austria. The nations are grouped by their preference in war machines. Britain and Russia and their allies are "Darwinists" that use "fabricated creatures," live animals made of blended DNA. The airships are made from the DNA of whales with a host of other creatures, like hydrogen-sniffing spider-dogs, bats that excrete metal darts, talking "messenger lizards" and so on. Even their technology that isn't alive is usually fabricated, like wood made to be stronger and lighter. The other countries, like Germany, Austria, and the Ottoman Empire, are "clankers" and use mechanical walkers, tanks, submarines, and the like.
Now for the spoilers.
The book follows the son of the Archduke, Alek, while on the run from Germans who were secretly trying to force a war by murdering his parents and blaming it on the Serbs. It also follows Deryn, a Scottish girl posing as a boy to join the British Air Force. While Alek, with the help of a few retainers, guides his walker to escape to the Swiss mountains, Deryn ends up a midshipman aboard the Leviathan, a massive whale-like airship. They get attacked above the alps and crash land within sight of Alek's hidden retreat. Unable to stay put, he rushes to help them, offering some of their stockpile of food and the engines from his walker to get them going again. When the ship leaves, so does his group on board, fleeing from Germans in clanker airships. While on board, he befriends Deryn, thinking she is a boy, and discovers the ship was on a mission to deliver something to the Ottoman Empire, who is currently mad at Britain for "borrowing" a warship they were supposed to give to the Ottoman Empire.
In Behemoth, Alek escapes from the airship as the captain is increasingly planning on hauling him back to Britain as a prisoner of war. He ends up stranded in Istanbul. Meanwhile, diplomacy between the Ottomans and Leviathan sour, thanks to German influence, and Deryn is selected for a mission to undermine the warchains in the Bosporus Straight so they can attack the German ships that took refuge there. She is unable to make it back to the Leviathan, so goes in search of her friend Alek. Alek has made allies and is helping fund a relatively peaceful revolution against the Sultan. Deryn joins him and coordinates it for the night that the Leviathan is returning with the Behemoth, an underwater kraken fabrication to destroy the German warships. They discover a large Tesla cannon, an electricity device, has been constructed and the Leviathan is in danger, and so split forces to save the Leviathan. The Leviathan dips to pick up Deryn and Alek realizes that he wants to follow his friend back on board, and so joins him. He becomes an ally and is no longer in danger of being thrown in the brig and hauled back to England.
In Goliath, the Leviathan is instructed to pick up a crazy inventor named Tesla, responsible for the lightning cannons. He claims he has built a huge cannon called the Goliath, capable of raining destruction down anywhere in the world. He is currently in a remote blasted portion of Russia, where the devastation goes on for miles, and he says that is the work of his machine. But he doesn't want war, he just wants peace, and Alek is willing to help him achieve his goals. The Leviathan starts heading toward New York. Meanwhile Alek finds out that Deryn is actually a girl and feels angry and betrayed until he realizes that the reason she couldn't tell him her secret was because she had feelings for him... and he was a prince and she a commoner. He still avoids her for a while before he gets used to the idea and promises to help keep her secret before finding out how difficult that can be. In New York, they must part ways. Deryn discovers an impending attack on Goliath by Germans and the Leviathan attempts to foil it, while Alek discovers his friend Tesla is really a madman willing to destroy a city for attacking him and Alek does what he must.
I really like these books. The imagination in construction the clankers and the Darwinists is fantastic and the illustrations are beautiful. The storyline is interesting and compelling. Deryn talks with a strong slang, but it makes sense and adds character to the book. And I love how much common sense Deryn and Alek have even though they are in a young adult novel and young adult characters often seem devoid of common sense. Deryn starts having feelings for Alek and wants to tell him her secret, that she is a girl. But she also scolds herself for her feelings, calling herself names for behaving like a girl twisting her skirt, and doesn't tell Alek because she knows he can't be with a commoner and she'd rather have the friendship than nothing at all. Alek has a bizarre sense of fate and destiny, but is willing to keep an eye out, knowing that fate isn't going to save him from stupidity. They do stupid things every now and then, but everyone makes mistakes. Also, the books are practical, not drawing out long moments of awkwardness. Deryn gets mad at one point because of Alek's disregard for girls, but she doesn't carry that over him in a grudge. When Alek finds out Deryn is a girl, he could have potentially pouted for pages about how she didn't tell him the truth... but he quickly realizes why, and doesn't hold that against her.
The Leviathan series is a good story with compelling dialogue and characters that you just end up rooting for. It is a fun alternate take on actual history, explained at the end of each book. A really good read and I recommend it.
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