Leviathan - Scott Westerfeld

From the mad genius who gave us Uglies and Pretties, we now have... Leviathan.

I'll be honest, I grabbed it purely based on the fact that it was by Scott. I had no idea what to expect. The first couple of pages really threw me for a loop de loop. First off it was written for a younger audience than U&P's. I really enjoy middle readers, I just was not prepared. And then it was so far removed from the U&P world. Oh it was still SciFi, but oh so different. Part steam punk (Heather, did your ears just perk?) Part historical fiction (mostly fiction) Part action adventure. It was ALL fun. Telling the story of Alek, the son of Archduke Franz Ferdinand a (a real person) and his wife who are assassinated, so he and his party escape into the night. Also about Deryn who dresses up as a boy to join the British air force.

Set in an alternate world in which Charles Darwin discovered biotechnology. The British Empire was built on the backs of strange, fabricated beasties. Living airships! Fighting kraken! Message lizards! Called by others Darwinists, the Brits use these beasties for everything. On the other end of Europe are the Clankers. Germans, Austrians, etc who are the opposites of Darwinists and extreme skilled machinists. Walking tanks, flying zeppelin's, etc. And at the beginning of the war these two worlds collide. It was just pure imagination and fun.

I can not do this book credit with out mentioning the illustrations. Keith Thompson provided an addition to this story that not only helped me understand the crazy inventions of either side with detail, but they were just so beautiful I just couldn't stop staring at them. Would make cool artwork to add to my library.