Scott Westerfeld

In an alternate 1914 Europe, fifteen-year-old Austrian Prince Alek, on the run from the Clanker Powers who are attempting to take over the globe using mechanical machinery, forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn who, disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service, is learning to fly genetically-engineered beasts.

Leviathan

Jamieson

IMAGINE it's the mid 1800's, and Charles Darwin presents his groundbreaking research on the origin of species. But alongside that, he also presents a way to harvest "life thread" DNA from animals, and then fuse them with other animals to create new, hybrid species. Thus, the rise of the Darwinist nations -- countries which create these animal hybrids for war. Flying, whale warships, bats which will attack enemy aeroplanes, lizards which speak with human voices to relay messages. 

IMAGINE it's 1914, and Archduke of Austro-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand, has just been assassinated, triggering the beginning of The Great War. 

IMAGINE a world where the great powers of Europe fight not with guns, but instead with something much more advanced. The "Darwinist" nations, Britain, France, Italy -- fight with their animal warships. The "Clanker" nations, Austro-Hungary, Germany, Serbia fight with incredibly advanced and innovative machinery capable of taking down down the "beasties" of the Darwinist nations. ( and I mean, these machines are huge. Think the army of the Fire Nation in Avatar -- or that evil machine in The Incredibles)

and IMAGINE a clash between the two, imagine World War One fought not with guns - but with massive mechanical war machines and animal creatures and flying jellyfish hot-air balloons and spider-dogs and a whole host of other things I cannot describe. 

THIS WORLD is what you get when you pick up Leviathan and I love it ! like, aaah, I can't explain how freaking COOL it is. Like I just don't have any way to explain this world except real freakin' cool. 

So what's it about? Well it's about two main characters - Aleksander, the son of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Deryn, a member of the British Air Force. 

This book basically picks up on one of the great conspiracies of our time -- ( and debunked not too long ago ) who REALLY killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand? Conspiracy puts the blame on the German's, hungry for a war. So does this book. 

It opens on the young prince of Austro-Hungary, Aleksander. He's whisked away in the night after loyal members of his royal staff hear of his parents assassination in Serbia. Suddenly, the young prince is on the run - from the German's who killed his family, and from the Serbian's who are no friend to Austrian's. 

And it also follows Deryn, a young British girl with a passion for the "Darwinist" creations. She's determined to find herself on a Darwinist airship crew, but doing so involves masking her identity and pretending she's a male, since women are not allowed in the army in 1914 -- She's a Joan of Arc type. 

From there, the two stories grow, intertwine, grow some more. It's a real nice tale of the two characters separately, and by the way ! both are such really interesting characters. I enjoyed both their chapters equally. Aleksander was soo precious! he had a good amount of character development just in this one, and I swear I loved everything about him

  "As far as my granduncle is concerned, I don't exist
 So, you're not archduke or anything? 
 He shook his head.  Just a prince
 Only a prince ! Blisters, that's rough" 

Deryn was so feisty! She was absolutely hilarious, really witty and remarkably brave. I loved how she spoke to people and how she acted. She had a "swagger" that really made her stand out and omg she's just so cool like I wanna be her. 

 “She was a soldier, not some girl twisting her skirts at a village dance.”  


WHAT ELSE WAS REAL FUNKY FRESH ABOUT THIS?
Aside from the huge originality of the world building, ( and wow it's really original) there are a tonne of elements I really liked in this. 

 - mix of history and fiction. LISTEN ! so much of this was based in fact. There were stories / characters / events that truly happened, and this was mixed in soo well with the fictional elements of the story. You could tell this was well researched and I am a massive history nerd so it was so cool to see that come across. THE ONLY BAD THING ABOUT IT WAS THAT MY HISTORY KNOWLEDGE SPOILED ME (view spoiler)[ as soon as Nora Barlow popped up I was like ding ding thats my girl Charles Darwin's granddaughter omg (hide spoiler)] 

 - THE. PICTURES holy, moley. The pictures were so neat! I loved having a illustrated representation of the things described. It really helped develop the story in my head - like, they'd describe something and I'd be like hmm say what and then there'd be a picture which would make it so much easier to wrap my mind around the descriptions of the Darwinist creations of the Clankers and just yes. 

 - Incorporation of Urban Legend. Okay, fun fact I'm a conspiracy theory HOE. I love em. Even though I've mentioned this, I love that this story is based around a "what if that conspiracy was real". Also, Aleks adventure gives me hecka lot of "Princess Anastasia survived the Russian Revolution" vibes and I love that. 

 - action. packed. Seriously, the action never let up. It was go, go, go. And it had an element of panic and unrelenting energy which I suppose fits this tumultuous period in 1914. 

 - oh, also did I mention this is really funny? As in, I was laughing out loud at the cheek of some of the characters and how they spoke anD THE LINGO THEY USED (because of course the book has it's own jargon) anyway, it was really hilarious in parts. 


Anyway, I was so totally blown away by this. I went into it knowing little of what it was about, and I was not expecting to absolutely end up falling in love with it. The characters, the world, the mix of history and futuristic elements, JUST YES ! so much yes. 

(ps. Aleksander mUST BE PROTECTED and Deryn is so fcking cute I love her so much omg what a bae)
(p.p.s (view spoiler)[can't wait for Alek to find out Deryn is a girl and freak ye boi (hide spoiler)] 

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Anyway, giving this a 4.5*! because it was just so freakin good - and like, I really want the next one right now and that NEVER HAPPENS. 

Also, this really really makes me wanna read more Steampunk

Kayla Ndife

This book kind of blew my mind.

Alternate history? Totally my thing. World War I? One of my favorite historical periods to study. Mechs? Shyeah! Organic chimeras, Fullmetal Alchemist style? YUS!

I... I didn't realize that a book could have ALL of those things and still be easy to follow. The plot is cohesive and tight and makes sense. It took a while for me to realize what was going on with the chimeras -- the book doesn't actually call them that, but that's what they are, in my head. 

The characters are compelling, and while young, they're not childish -- they've been forced to grow up, and quickly, and it's fascinating to watch them try to reconcile the lost portions of their childhood. The two storylines developing completely separate one another, and then coming together, was beautiful to observe. I can't wait to track down the next book and see how things progress.

Teara 

Janice Hopper

I quite liked this book. It started off with lots of action and never let up through the whole book. I'm not normally a big steampunk fan, but somehow this hit the right notes with me. The biological technology of the Darwinists vs. the mechanical ingenuity of the Clankers mostly worked for me. I did have some trouble visualizing how all the bits worked. I was a little dubious about some of the ways the various devices could work. E.g., could they really refill a giant hydrogen bag of a creature through biological processes as quickly as the did? Could Diesel engines really be effective in making a Walker run?

But I thought it was fun. I do agree with some other reviewers that it seemed like a book for middle grade audiences, rather than for YA. 

I zipped through it and liked it.

Zack

Scott Westerfeld has created a book which has got me hooked. Very few books I fall in love with, but the complexity of the characters and the vivid descriptions paint a clear picture of the book. Of course, Keith Thompson's beautiful pictures help a great deal. I love this book and I'm sure any other reader would too.

Haley Murray

Listened to this for the narrator who was amazing. The book though was just okay.

Todd Luallen

A fun read in a somewhat unique steampunk universe. First of all I am thankful that this book is clean and free of foul language. It seems like every other novel I pick up that happens to be an adventure novel, also happens to be loaded with language I prefer not to read, and also prefer not to read to my daughter. So thank you Mr. Westerfeld for keeping it clean.

I loved the dialogue in this book. The dialogue felt right for the characters and it gave a good deal of insight into their upbringing and their psychological make-up as individuals. It also helped that I listened to the audiobook, which was extremely well done by Alan Cumming. 

I also enjoyed the Clanker vs. Darwinist struggle. I think that conflict has tremendous depth and the book did a wonderful job of touching on that conflict here and there. I'm looking forward to seeing how Westerfeld weaves it into the coming books now that the groundwork has been prepared.

jess

OCTOBER 24, 2021

Wow. It's been 10 years since I last read this series. Like, I was 13 or 14 when I wrote the review underneath this one. I've been on a First World War literature kick recently, and I remembered Leviathan as being one of the stand-out series of my youth. So I wanted to go back and see if this book holds up as alternate history -- and surprise, I do think it does. 

The world of Leviathan takes place in an alternate history steampunk world where the alliance systems are shaped by technologies: there are the historical Entente powers, known as Darwinists, who have learned to shape the threads of life to create new living, breathing creatures; and there are the Central powers, the Clankers, who have created giant mechanized walking creatures of steel and iron. Essentially, this is Pacific Rim in steampunk WWI, and it's so awesome that you're going to want to suspend your disbelief. Of course, basing the alliance system on technologies does simplify the alliances and diplomacy that led to the actual First World War, but it's a good introduction for the target age group -- the actual causes and alliances are so complex and interwoven through years of history that even historians who have studied the causes of the First World War for years have trouble parsing it out fully. 

(If you're interested, I recommend The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914, The Guns of August, July Crisis: The World's Descent into War, Summer 1914, and July 1914: Countdown to War, which I admittedly haven't read in full (except for The Sleepwalkers) but all of which I've used extensively in a few history courses, and, like, there's so much scholarship on this subject that you could deep dive for years and come out far more confused than when you came in, but it's such a fascinating topic and people have been throwing blame one way or another basically since the moment Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated. Dan Carlin's podcast Blueprint for Armageddon is also great and admittedly more engaging than most history books will be.)

As for the characters, I really enjoyed both Deryn and Alek! Deryn is, as Alek says, full of swagger; I remember how much of an inspiration she was to me when I first read this book, and I still think that Deryn is just immensely cool. She gets most of the action scenes; she's brash, impulsive, and quick on her feet. Alek is softer and definitely the more naive of the pair, having been raised as an only child and heir of an archduke. He's more book-smart, honest to a fault, and traditional. They're good foils to each other and both equally compelling characters, though I do find myself drawn somewhat more to Deryn. 

(I looked up the history of women serving in the army during the First World War after reading this and went on one hell of a Deep Dive and to my surprise, there were quite a few known women who served. Most but surprisingly not all of these women masqueraded as men. The only known British woman to have been at the Western Front in a combat capacity went to report on the war as a journalist. She revealed herself after 10 days and was detained as a prisoner of war, believed to have been a spy. There were several women of various ethnicities in the Serbian Army, however, who travelled to fight, often assuming roles in nursing before donning male identities, and many of these women were respected even after they were found to be women. They were promoted and decorated -- one woman was enlisted as a woman and made her way up towards the rank of sergeant major. And of course, there were the Women's Batallions of Russia that were deployed at the Eastern Front towards the end of the war. I find it likely that there are a few women who assumed male identities to fight on the front lines that we don't know about. So that's my Deep Dive on whether or not Deryn's disguise is plausible.)

Leviathan holds up well after twelve years and a history degree, much of which was focused on the nineteenth century and First World War. I think it's a great introduction to the era that gets down the basics of the First World War in an exciting and relatable way to kids, and I think it's still exciting and relatable to a WWI history nerd. 

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[review written 2011]

I’ve just finished reading Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, a truly phenomenal book. I’d read this book only once before and have forgotten how good it was. Alek is a duke on the run from the people who killed his parents and Deryn is a girl masquerading as a guy in the British army. They come together when the great airship Leviathan crashes near Alek’s safe castle. 

The way it was written was fantastic. It was suspenseful and a very easy book to get into. Both characters are quite likable and have their own quirks. 

In fact, the only thing I didn’t like in this book was that Deryn seemed to start to have a tiniest bit of a crush on Alek, and even though her bad-assery outweights the fact, it bothered me a little. Other than that, this book is pretty much perfect.

Elisabeth 

~⭐️3.5⭐️~

At first it was a 2 star for me because all the first half was kinda boring and confusing to me. There were rlly strange words and things it was hard for me to imagine but after that it became more interesting, I became used to the writing and it was easier to understand. 

I think imma give a try to the other two too someday.

Jeni Enjaian

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. This is only my second foray into the steampunk genre. (The first ended being rather lackluster and forgettable.) I've read Westerfeld's Uglies series and enjoyed them greatly but didn't make the connection until a little ways into this book.

First, I read this book as an audiobook and the narrator makes a world of difference in my opinion of a particular book. In this case, it was Alan Cumming. Brilliant. (I kept remembering him in his role in the SyFy miniseries Tin Man.) Not every actor can do voice work but sometimes actors do the best voice work and this was some of the best that I've listened to.

Second, the book got off to a slow start which almost soured my opinion on the work. Westerfeld portrayed Alek as petty and childish. I thought at first that he was 11 or 12 instead of 16. Thankfully, Westerfeld matures the character a bit.

Third, the history nerd in me loved all the connections with the actual events that led to the start of WWI and the steampunk interpretation of those events. Westerfeld did a masterful job of that.

I really liked this book and can't wait to read the other two in the trilogy. However, I'm going to have to wait a while because I want to read them on audiobook. Alan Cumming is simply too fantastic to miss.

 Bruna Acioly Leão

So, this one is weird to talk about.

I was really really bored in the beginning and considered not finishing it at all.
I should have known I would feel this way since a lot of the book has to do with war and battles and machines and hardly deals with emotions.
Not my thing. But not only that, I felt like the plot itself was a bit all over the place and things don't really get going before the middle part.
I also didn't like that this first book didn't have a full ark - it didn't feel complete at the end and sort of requires you to read the second book, which I'm not sure I want to do...

The worldbuilding in this is amazing, though. The creatures and machines and the way actual history is intertwined with the alteration of facts was really well done - and almost got me interested in learning about war history, but like I said, just not the thing for me.

Leviathan

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