![]() ![]() ![]() The worldbuilding is top notch, with spectacular machinery and fabulous Darwinist fabrications - all brought to life with wonderful Keith Thompson illustrations. ![]() From completely different backgrounds, they're forced to fight together against a surprisingly common enemy. We have two central characters - Aleksander, son of the murdered archduke and on the run from his own Clanker people, and Deryn, a girl who disguised as boy to join the British Air Service so she could work with beasties and who's crash landed where she shouldn't. So the war is recast as mechanics against biotech. The Darwinists (Britain) use DNA-fabricated animals. In this world, the Clanker Powers (Germany) use machines we would just about recognise today - except that lots of them have legs. Westerfeld's chosen an alternate history for Leviathan - we're in 1914, the Archduke Ferdinand has just been assassinated and Europe is on the brink of WWI. Often, the world is an alternate history past, but it can be the future too. Basically, steampunk fiction is set in a world in which steam is still the main source of power. ![]() If you're not a trainspotterish fan of the maze of sci-fi and fantasy sub-genres, you may not know what steampunk is, let alone whether or not you or your children will like it. In Leviathan, he's bringing steampunk to junior readers. He writes a great page-turner and he has an enviable eye for a good angle on contemporary interests. ![]()
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