Book Review: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Leviathanis an alternate history, steampunk story of World War I. Prince Aleksander is on the run from his so-called allies, when his parents are unexpectedly killed. Meanwhile, Deryn is joining the British Air Service, disguised as a boy, and ends up on the Leviathan, not your typical airship. When Alek's and Deryn's paths cross, they must learn to trust each other in order to survive.

Things I Liked:
What a fabulous story! This book is full of fun and fantastical creatures - the stuff that steampunk is made of - and wonderfully quirky characters. I became fascinated with the technology from the Austro-Hungarians and the creatures from the Britains. Deryn managed to be at once lovable and prickly, becoming one of my favorite heroines of all time. In addition, the book is filled with gorgeous and accurate (to the book's descriptions) illustrations that add so much to the text. Here are a few of my favorite humorous quotes:

"They endlessly competed to see who could spit farther, drink rum faster, or belch the loudest. It was bloody exhausting, being a boy." p 102-103

"Yes," Alek said. "A frostbitten bum would've been unfortunate." p 236

Things I Didn't Like:
I was only mildly annoyed the story didn't feel like it wrapped up much. Fortunately, this means sequels!

Read-alikes:
Reminded me very much of Airborn, Skybreaker, and Starclimber by Kenneth Oppel
Also, Airman by Eoin Colfer

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !
a very few

mrg-factor: none

v-factor: ->
some mild fighting

Overall rating: *****

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