"Leviathan" Book Review

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"Prince Aleksander, would-be heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battletorn war machine and a loyal crew of men.

"Deryn Sharp is a commoner, disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She's a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.

"With World War I brewing, Alek and Deryn's paths cross in the most unexpected way…taking them on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure that will change both their lives forever."

Excellent book! I'm loving this series! I can't wait to get my mitts on the second book!

Usually I don't like steampunk stories - usually they rely way too much on mechanics that I cannot see to tell the story and it becomes dry just reading description after description. But this one is good and fully realized.

I am so sympathetic to Alek and Deryn is so awesome! I love this history and how it was set up for the Great War. After reading the book, even though I know this is fiction, it's hard to think the Germans and Serbs weren't just itching for a war and those two people had to be killed to start it. I wondered how the disproved that theory.

The technical machines were things I had already read and seen, so that was interesting but also kind of old hat. But the animal fabricated things were fascinating. Probably only something you would see in straight up science fiction, steampunk not quite being science fiction or historical fiction. (I don't really read science fiction, so I'm assuming here.)

I also love the artwork - it is brilliant and beautiful and exciting. And to be honest even with Mr. Westerfeld's excellent descriptions I had trouble picturing everything - so technical and weird - so that helped a lot.

I'm enjoying this immensely. I might even read Mr. Westerfeld's other books. I would compare this to the "Peter Pan and the Starcatchers" series in terms of how good it is and I loved that series.

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I give this book 5 out of 5 books.