Worldshaker

Worldshaker by Richard Harland is a steampunk YA novel. There must be something about Australian authors and YA steampunk, one of the others I know is Michael Pryor's marvelous The Laws of Magic series.

Worldshaker is set in an alternate world where a fifty year war between the large European imperial powers of the 18th and 19th century has devastated the landscape to make it unliveable. The imperial powers have abandoned their colonies and taken to giant ships that travel over land and sea, known as juggernauts.

The book is set on the Worldshaker, Britain's great juggernaut. There are 3 distinct classes of people aboard Worldshaker; the Upper Deck, representing the upper class, the Menials who are the servants and working class and then show more below decks are the Filthies, they would have been factory fodder in the old world. There are also sub classes amongst the Upper Deck. The whole thing is overseen by the ship's Supreme Comander who is under the rubber stamp authority of Queen Victoria III and her consort Prince Albert.

The two central characters are Colbert Porpentine, the grandson of the Supreme Comannder; Sir Mormus Porpentine, and Sir Mormus' chosen successor. The other main character is Riff, a fiery young Filthy, who is part of the Revolutionary Council, and determined to overthrow the current ruling class.

Col and Riff meet and she forces Col to investigate his life and history of the world. He finds out that the Filthies are not a separate species of subhuman as everyone has been told. The Menials are people who have been lobotomised to make them more obedient and his family are as guilty if not more so of abusing their servants. Circumstances force Col into action and he and Riff are at the forefront of the new order, it turns out that they are the only ones who can prevent Sir Mormus from blowing up the ship in order to preserve his own legend.

For a YA story it's not too bad, interesting idea and settings. There are echoes of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World in the Menials and the Filthies put me in mind of those below the cities in David Williamson's Chung Kuo. In fact the themes of class were present in both of those novels and in Chung Kuo civilisation had been forced into giant domed cities.

The book was a little uneven in terms of pacing and characterisation. I became convinced that Col and Riff were about 12 or 13 only to be told that Col was in fact 16 and Riff was 15, they both often seemed, especially Col, so much younger, he was also a very passive protagonist for most of the narrative, springing into action in the last section, the sub story with his sister; Gillabeth, was also never satisfactorily resolved. The last section was all action, which was rather at odds with all the setup that had taken place throughout the majority of the story. For the YA set it was an involving and interesting story with sympathetic protagonists and a rather novel idea and setting. I did enjoy it, although I accept that I'm not the intended audience. The fact that it's standalone is another point in it's favour. show less

This book gets one star for having an interesting premise (a juggernaut on wheels that travels the earth after Europe is devastated in an alternate version of the Napoleonic Wars). Beyond that, though, this book is terrible.

Every author is faced with the question of how to convey needed information to the reader. After all, the reader must somehow learn the background of the characters and something of the world in which the book is set. Some authors choose to do this through the voice of the narrator, others use dialogue and allow one or more characters to explain what's needed to another. Both choices can work if done properly, and each has inherent narrative pitfalls that must be avoided.

The biggest problem that an author who chooses show more the dialogue approach must overcome is that of the ignorant character. This character must be believably ignorant (so that the explanations come in the natural course of the narrative), but not so ignorant as to become unsympathetic. This is the trap into which Harland falls. His main character (Colbert) is the grandson of the Supreme Commander of the Worldshaker (a person second in significance of the juggernaut only to the queen and her consort). The book opens with the announcement that Colbert is to be his grandfather's successor. Colbert is 16, and so ignorant as not to be believable He's never met any of his peers in his relatively small social class (even though it's clear they've all met each other) and has clearly never received any kind of instruction in social skills, let alone in how to run a city-sized juggernaut. If Colbert were actually written to be an idiot, I might have found this easier to believe, but he's not. It turns out that he's a smart, thoughtful boy, who, if he were better-written, would have asked the questions that come up in the book long ago.

Harland would have done better to have a little more faith in his reader and not assumed that his readers are as forcibly ignorant as he makes his main character be. show less

Review by Crisetta MacLeod:

This is a steampunk story told by a master of his craft, and supreme master of his genre. The Worldshaker is a juggernaut, a world in itself. It and the juggernauts of other nations were created after the Industrial Revolution, which has turned out very differently (France conquered England!) Worldshaker trundles greedily around the world seeking coal to keep itself fed and mobile.
The upper decks enjoy a life of decadence, while degraded “Filthies” slave in darkness in the bowels. Even worse, the upper class dredges up a Filthy at will, to be converted into a Menial, a servant for their lavish lifestyle.
The protagonists are Col, heir to the controlling family, and Riff, a fourteen-year-old girl who’s show more plotting a Filthy Revolution. At Col’s school, social class is more important than intelligence, and bullying is trenchantly described. But Col is also learning to fight, trained by Riff. Col’s struggle is between accepting his heritage of power and wealth, or rejecting it as he realises it is based on shocking human rights violations. You want horror? Read about how a Filthy is changed into a Menial! And Col’s sweet old strawberry-scented granny… show less

I had not previously read any of Richard Harland's other books prior to picking up WORLDSHAKER. I had no expectations beyond a great steampunk adventure and WORLDSHAKER delivered.

Col, the Upper Deck privileged grandson of the Supreme Commander, has just been named as his grandfather's successor. When his grandfather gives him a tour of the juggernaut, Col sees for the first time the Filthies, the labor class living and working in the bottom decks of the ship. Later, when he encounters a Filthy girl named Riff, he realizes that everything he has been taught about the Filthies is not true, that they are just as human as he is and not the animals he was led to believe. By helping Riff, Col sets in motion a series of events that lead to show more him questioning his whole upbringing. In the end, Col has to decide which side to choose, helping the Filthies or returning to his Upper Deck life and assuming the mantle of Supreme Commander.

Harland has written a great steampunk novel with dystopian themes, and is a master world builder that leaves a reader wanting more. He skillfully sets the stage for future books involving the characters of Worldshaker. My only complaint is that though this book is considered young adult, the language, sentence structure and grammar are more suited to middle grade readers. Young adults, as well as adults who read in the young adult genre, may find the storyline too simplistic and may be frustrated with the naiveté of Col.

I enjoyed Worldshaker and am looking forward to seeing if Harland will develop this story into a series. I would love to read a second book from Riff's point of view in order to get more character development of her and the other Filthies. show less

While published ten years ago, this story hasn't shown any sign of aging. I don't read a lot of steampunk, but this really appealed to me. I like the cast of characters, the subtle nastiness exhibited by many in Col's social circle, how he and Riff meet and are drawn to each other, the way the ship is constructed and, best of all, the action that takes place. I will look for more by this author.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's a quick read, and not terribly caught up in the gears and science of how the world works. Instead, Harland focuses on making a believable society with well-rounded characters. Even the characters hovering towards the back of the stage feel solid and believable. I could easily see any of the side-liners carrying their own book.

I believe fans of Kenneth Oppel's Airborn series would find this book to their liking.

Brilliant, this book had me hooked from start to finish, While some of the plot was predictable other parts made me gasp. Well worth reading if you like dystopian novels. This is set aboard a juggernaut (huge zeppelin type craft) a huge ship in which the elites live on the top decks while the Filthies toil below. The elites have menials (servants ) who tend to their every need as they go about life living aboard this oversize cruise ship. They are oblivious to the havoc that they are creating to the environment outside of the juggernaut as well as below decks. Then it all changes as the Filthies begin to revolt, led by Riff who is accompanied by Col, the grandson of the elite Supreme Commander. Brilliant vivid writing that is relevant show more to today's world and the havoc that humans are creating upon earth. show less