The Leviathan is a Monster Hit

by Nathan B.

Scott Westerfeld made a fantastic hit called the Leviathan. This book's genre is a fiction book that is action packed. It takes place in old London, around World War I, but it has an alternate version of it.  The book swaps between a young girl, named Deryn, who goes into the British Air Force as a boy named Dylan Sharp.  In the war there are two types of war machines:   the Clankers and the Darwinists. The Clankers are mechanical war machines and the Darwinists use genetically fabricated animals.  The other character is the Aleksandar Ferdinand who is the prince of Austro-Hungarian Empire.  The two powers are on the verge of war when something happens to Aleksander's parents which sparks the war.

I liked how the author told the story from the view of two different characters:  Deryn and Aleksandar.  There's two different super powers wanting a reason to quarrel.  I liked Deryn's personality but I didn't care for the way Aleksandar's evolved.  Deryn had an outgoing, friendly persona portrayal while Aleksandar went from being a coward to a hero and then reverting back to a coward.  

Besides these main characters, there were two other categories of machines:  Darwinists and Clankers.  The Darwinists were fabricated animals such as the Leviathan, a mammoth whale that was like a living machine, and a risky hot air balloon called the Huxley.  Huxley was used to train the British air force and to scout. The Clankers had vehicles like Walkers, which were training vehicles and scouts, and airplanes.

When reading the introduction of the two superpowers, it seems like the Clankers and the Darwinists would be evenly matched. But when the Leviathan was versed in the air by German airplanes, it seemed easily taken down.  It seemed like it wasn't as fair of a match as depicted by the author's first unveiling.

I think this book is worth reading because it does put a twist on history. Imagine if this really was history. It does a good job of actually being in the realm of,"it's possible but not likely", and not flying off into,"way out of this world."

You can find this book at the Nashua Public Library or Nashua South's library.