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Leviathan (Leviathan, #1)

Scott Westerfeld,

Keith Thompson (Illustrator)

Start date: June 1, 2011

Finish date: June 30, 2011

Discussion: 2011 Group Read Discussions

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2011 Group Read Discussions

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What Members Thought

Mar 25, 2011 mark monday rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: rain-man-reviews, fog-and-gears, inbetweenworld

this is a zippy, high-spirited breeze of a novel, aimed at the lucrative TROPE(1) audience - and with clear appeal for even younger folks. as far as characterization and narrative go, there is not much here that will suprise or challenge the reader...but the novel does have charm, lots of it. don't expect to get your mind blown, but it is certainly a pleasant way to spend a few hours. and there are many enjoyable elements in the now-almost-played-out use of TROPE(2): big clanky walking-machines, ...more

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May 16, 2011 Jon rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-my-40s, fantasy, fiction, alternate-history, young-adult, steampunk

I read this in mid June 2011 as a member of the Fantasy Book Club group read. A quick, easy read, as I expected from a young adult novel, and one of my first (if not the first) steampunk stories. I learned quite a bit about pre-World War I Europe through my tangential research to better understand the alternate view of those events presented by the author. I definitely related to the Clankers, one of the political powers of this world represented by the familiar Austrian-Hungarian Empire. The Da ...more

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Oct 25, 2009 Athira (Reading on a Rainy Day) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2010, fiction, format-print, aud-ya, source-library, f-general, f-fantasy-scifi, list-series

World War I is on the horizon and the European powers are gearing up. On one side are the Clankers, who live and breathe machines. On the other side are the Darwinists, whose weaponry consist of fabricated animals. Prince Aleksander, would-be heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, is on the run, after his father was murdered and his own people have turned against him. All he has is a battle-torn Stormwalker and a loyal crew of men. Deryn Sharp, is a commoner and a girl disguised as a boy in the Br World War I is on the horizon and the European powers are gearing up. On one side are the Clankers, who live and breathe machines. On the other side are the Darwinists, whose weaponry consist of fabricated animals. Prince Aleksander, would-be heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, is on the run, after his father was murdered and his own people have turned against him. All he has is a battle-torn Stormwalker and a loyal crew of men. Deryn Sharp, is a commoner and a girl disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. When their paths cross in the most unexpected way, they go on an adventure aboard the Leviathan.

Leviathan is the first steampunk novel I read, and I was very unsure of how I would find it. Besides, alternate reality is not some thing I usually enjoy. I like my history untouched and untainted, thank you. But all these elements together worked really well for me. I was absolutely fascinated by the world in which Leviathan is set in. There is enough history in this book to anchor the reader to the specific time period and the catalyst that kicks off the World War I. But it is not overdone so I didn't really have to worry much about my history getting messed-up.

Leviathan is alternately told from Alek's and Deryn's viewpoints. One is a boy, the other a girl. One is from a Clanker country, the other from a Darwinist country. Both speak English differently and uses different idioms. And when they meet up, each struggle with the other's manner of speaking. I loved how both characters remained strong and authentic all the way to the end. They behaved as they would. Scott Westerfeld adds more credibility to Alek's mannerisms by using spellings that reflect their time and language, such as "mechanikal". Deryn especially impressed me with her oh-so-hilarious humor sense. Although she is disguised as a boy, I never felt that she was so boyish that I forgot that fact. Instead, I saw a character who acted boyish enough to fool the others, and yet thinking like a girl as she went through her duties as a midshipman.

Deryn had always reckoned herself a tomboy, between Jaspert's bullying and Da's balloon training. But running with the other middies was more than just punchups and tying knots - it was like joining a pack of dogs. They jostled and banged for the best seats at the middies' mess table. They taunted each other over signal reading and navigation scores, and whom the officers had complimented that day. They endlessly competed to see who could spit farther, drink rum faster, or belch the loudest.

It was bloody exhausting, being a boy.

At the core, Leviathan is not just a fantasy story set in WW1. It is also about machines looking like living creatures vs living creatures being used as machines. Clankers find the Darwinist creations surreal. I agreed with them too. Fabricated animals of the magnitude mentioned in Leviathan are not going to find acceptance in a world where even cloning for medicinal reasons is frowned upon. The Clanker inventions however resemble giant versions of humans, and animals, including some eight-legged machines. While this way of life is a lot easier to imagine, considering that we live in a world dominated by machines, we do see several cons to the Clanker inventions as well. I liked how Scott Westerfeld used this novel to encourage a debate between the two sides. ...more

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Mar 06, 2011 Serenity rated it liked it

Shelves: ya, sci-fi, historical

5.5/10. This book reads a lot more juvenile than I expected for a "YA" book. The characterization, plotting, dialogue, prose, etc, are all quite simple and depthless. None of them were bad - certainly entertaining, but definitely not gripping.

The book was more focused on the "fabricated beasties" and machines than the characters or even plot. I felt like the author was trying too hard for the whole "steampunk" vibe to the exclusion of every other component. I'm no expert on steampunk fiction, b ...more

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Feb 05, 2010 Katy rated it liked it

I really liked this book, but then I realized at the end that it is a set up for book # 2, and when does that come out so that I can finish my story?

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Oct 20, 2012 Stacia rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, owned-read, young-adult, alt-history-fantasy, 2016-scifi-fantasy-club-challenge, scififantasyclubbooks

A light, fun read - very young adult (closer to the youth side than the adult side truthfully). Steampunk, sci-fantasy with a society that embraces Darwinian science (fabricated animals that are blended creatures) vs an alternate society that rejects manipulation on the cellular level and embraces mechanical invention. In this alt-history, the events of World World I play out with those two societies. It's an intriguing possibility that made for a great read. ...more

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Oct 05, 2010 Roshio rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, alternate-history, steam-punk

Deadly! Great new world (well alternative history)...machines...new ideas mixed in with history (which is a big plus for me!!), what more could you ask for? Also quite liked the illustrations used, normally I'm all for wanting my imagination to do all the work, but the illustrations were much better than my imagination sadly. ...more

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