Leviathan

Resource type: book (fiction)

Cover (Westerfeld, 2009)

"Hey, all you sods, I can fly and you can't! A natural airman, in case you haven't noticed. And in conclusion, I'd like to add that I'm a girl and you can all get stuffed" (Westerfeld, 2009, p. 36)

…Is what Deryn (or Dylan as she's know to everyone else) would like to yell down to all the other new recruits and commanding officers on the ground as she soars through the air harnessed in to a flying jellyfish type creature. Except she doesn't, because she's had to disguise herself as a boy to get in the British Air Service.

Welcome to Europe, 1914, in an alternate universe. One half of the continent, the Darwinists, have embraced genetic modification and crossbreeding to develop a society powered by animals, including lupine tigeresques (half-wolf tigers), talking messenger lizards (who can relay sound byte messages - kind of like a very smart talking parrot), and a huge flying self-sufficient airship ecosystem, housed in a massive whale. The other half are the Clankers: so adept at Steampunk machinery that they can create robots that house a small crew and run, crawl and fight on 2 legs, and who win a fight not with subtlety but through brute force. And a fight does develop! The two sides are at war!

The story is told from two viewpoints - the young Clanker prince named Alek, who's parents' assassination was what started the whole war, and is now on the run from his own country. And Deryn, who we met earlier, the girl disguised as a boy to allow her to join the airforce. She's relishing life and work on the giant airship - the Leviathan.

But what happens when these two stories collide?

The writing is lively, disgusting and full of action and adventure. There are large squid balloons who burp gaseous dead insects to float in the air, a whole slew of new swear words to learn: "barking spiders", "bum-rag", "clart" and "diddies" (I'll leave it to you to read and work out what these mean).

Leviathan is a fast-paced exciting Steampunk story, and is highly recommended.

Bibliographic details:

Westerfeld, S. (2009). Leviathan. New York: Penguin Books.