Book #24: Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld
Jul. 12th, 2010 03:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grav_ityAlternate history (WW I), steampunk, Girls Are Awesome, Boys Are Awesome Too, semi-real politics, friendship, messed up science, general fabulousness, etc.
Oh, f-list! I barely know where to START! I went to Starbucks today thinking I'd been there for an hour trying not to World Build for the book I'm not writing, and brought this along for company, and four hours later, I read the last page and then NEARLY DIED OF GLEE.
BECAUSE, f-list, this is a very good book. It's a brilliant alternate take on World War One, mixing the fictional with the non-fictional, and adding just the right amount of PURE CRAZINESS to give it that wonderful steampunk feel. (I think this book is my frist true steampunk, though there was an AU SGA story last year that was set in a Steampunk version of North America, even though all I can remember was that Jeannie Miller was Queen of Canada.)
ANYWAY, in addition to having an AMAZING WORLD it also had REALLY GREAT CHARACTERS. With LAYERS. And FLAWS. And also BRILLIANCE.
And speaking of Brilliance, I love this world's version of Charles Darwin. Who saw Nature and wasn't afraid of it, who discovered DNA and did such miraculous things with it. Who knew where to draw The Line but appreciated all the other lines and how they were interconnected. Who understood God, probably better than anyone else in the world. And the Leviathan itself? I WANT ONE. Except I have nowhere to put it. Think Moya, but made for Earth and of Earth and A BUNCH OF DIFFERENT CREATURES instead of just the two.
I also very much appreciated the Austrians and their struggle with a) staying alive and b) staying loyal. I appreciated that Volger was so exceptionally true, even when it made him a bit of a jerk. I am already 'shipping him with Dr. Barlow, because the two of them together could probably conquer the world. ;)
I AM SO GLAD THE SECOND BOOK COMES OUT SOON! Well, October. BUT STILL. I can't wait to read what happens next. And not just because I am hoping for a CANADIAN in the next one. ;)
The fact that it had a map and I read it in less than four hours probably constitutes a 10, eh? Thank goodness I went back to "Poison Study" and retroactively knocked it up a point. ;)
Oh, f-list! I barely know where to START! I went to Starbucks today thinking I'd been there for an hour trying not to World Build for the book I'm not writing, and brought this along for company, and four hours later, I read the last page and then NEARLY DIED OF GLEE.
BECAUSE, f-list, this is a very good book. It's a brilliant alternate take on World War One, mixing the fictional with the non-fictional, and adding just the right amount of PURE CRAZINESS to give it that wonderful steampunk feel. (I think this book is my frist true steampunk, though there was an AU SGA story last year that was set in a Steampunk version of North America, even though all I can remember was that Jeannie Miller was Queen of Canada.)
ANYWAY, in addition to having an AMAZING WORLD it also had REALLY GREAT CHARACTERS. With LAYERS. And FLAWS. And also BRILLIANCE.
And speaking of Brilliance, I love this world's version of Charles Darwin. Who saw Nature and wasn't afraid of it, who discovered DNA and did such miraculous things with it. Who knew where to draw The Line but appreciated all the other lines and how they were interconnected. Who understood God, probably better than anyone else in the world. And the Leviathan itself? I WANT ONE. Except I have nowhere to put it. Think Moya, but made for Earth and of Earth and A BUNCH OF DIFFERENT CREATURES instead of just the two.
I also very much appreciated the Austrians and their struggle with a) staying alive and b) staying loyal. I appreciated that Volger was so exceptionally true, even when it made him a bit of a jerk. I am already 'shipping him with Dr. Barlow, because the two of them together could probably conquer the world. ;)
I AM SO GLAD THE SECOND BOOK COMES OUT SOON! Well, October. BUT STILL. I can't wait to read what happens next. And not just because I am hoping for a CANADIAN in the next one. ;)
The fact that it had a map and I read it in less than four hours probably constitutes a 10, eh? Thank goodness I went back to "Poison Study" and retroactively knocked it up a point. ;)
