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Loading... Leviathan (edition 2009)by Scott Westerfeld, Keith Thompson (Illustrator)
Work InformationLeviathan by Scott Westerfeld
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I thought it was just another young adult book with a slightly interesting concept, but it turned out to be captivating and I read most of it in one sitting. Westerfeld has a way of doing that. He's also a first-class world builder. ( ) This was an enjoyable, but largely unbelievable, steampunk story. The implausibility of Victorians being able to accomplish feats of DNA manipulation of which we today are completely incapable, however, might not necessarily distract or bother the youthful target audience.
That quibble aside, I liked the characters. They were believable and interesting and sympathetic. Their lives were both exciting and harrowing. It made for good reading. Until the abrupt ending. A fun young adult steampunk adventure set in an alternate WWI Europe. I particularly liked how it presented the war as a conflict between (admittedly improbable) biotechnology versus steampunk mecha. The characters were pretty much stock characters but the action scenes were nicely written and the illustrations were a very nice touch.
The novel is a study in opposites, of boy versus girl, working class versus aristocracy, British versus German, and its overlying thematic division of Darwinists and Clankers gives all of these a distinctive torque, while avoiding mapping neatly to any specific agenda. The novel’s concluding set piece features a grand, elegant and very satisfying hybridization that suggests that opposites can meet, collapse and mingle, and that this story has natural sequels, which I will undoubtedly read. Westerfeld writes gripping, relentless coming-of-age novels that are equally enjoyable by boys and girls, adults and kids, and Leviathan is no exception. I'm looking forward to volume two -- and many more to come. Is contained inAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
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. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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