Review: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Title: Leviathan
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Publisher:  Simon Pulse

Age Group: Middle-grade

Category: Steampunk

Release date: October 6th, 2009
Pages:  440 (Hardcover)

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Source: Won

Goodreads Summary:
Prince Aleksander, would-be heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battletorn war machine and a loyal crew of men.

Deryn Sharp is a commoner, disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She's a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.

With World War I brewing, Alek and Deryn's paths cross in the most unexpected way…taking them on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure that will change both their lives forever.


Santiago's Thoughts:
First I wanna say, HI! For those who follow Chey, you probably know she has a Colombian boyfriend who is currently visiting her. Surprise! It is I who is writing this review instead of her. Fortunately for her, I’m a bookworm as well and ever since she got Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld in the mail, I had a desire for reading it. Also, I must say this is my first review and I’m not nearly as good a writer as Chey but bear with me.

The story has two main characters, Aleksandar Ferdinand (A real cheesy name in my opinion but pretty suited for the lad), son of the Archduke of Austria-Hungary and prince of the empire and Deryn Sharp, a girl whose ultimate passion is to fly. I really love when a book changes perspectives between two characters and Westerfeld did an amazing job with this aspect. You can go from the excitement of little prince Alek trying to escape his home with the help of Klopp, his piloting teacher and chief mechaniks of the family, and Wildcount Volger, his fencing master and loyal friend of his father, to the busy city life in London as seen from the eyes of Deryn or soon to be known as “Dylan”.

This book is situated in an alternative steampunk version of our Earth and combines a lot of real life situations, such as the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand (in this case Alek’s father) as an attempt from the Germans to start what would be called World War I, and other not so real characteristics like the existence of incredible technology in the form of Darwinist Frabrications or Clanker machines.

Before I started to read the book, Chey told me it was a Middle Grade book but even so I found it to be fascinating, with a great, action filled story, the characters are very complete and well thought, the two main ones both have a lot of grief bottled up inside but still carry a great impulse to keep going forward and helping others in their own ways. The secondary characters also play a major role in the story and tend to take the spotlight for themselves.

The book is not perfect but I liked it a lot and I seriously can’t wait to read Behemoth (If you have a copy you don’t want anymore be sure to send it my way ;D). This story gets a 4.5 from me and I recommend that you start with the series in case you haven’t already.

That’s it from me folks, take good care and be sure to check out and follow my beautiful girl, Chey (which you should by now, if not, click follow already!) and spread the word about this blog so we get 100+ followers and have an awesome giveaway!