Leviathan

It is 1914, and the world stands on the brink of war. The Clanker Powers, Austria-Hungary and Germany, march with steam-powered war machines. The Darwinists, Britain and its allies, have used genetic engineering to fabricate living airships and beasts of war. Prince Aleksandar, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, is on the run after his parents’ assassination. Deryn Sharp, a girl disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service, serves aboard the Leviathan, a living whale-airship. Their paths collide in ways neither could have predicted.

Why Start Here

Leviathan is Westerfeld’s most ambitious and original work. The Uglies series is excellent, but the Leviathan trilogy shows a writer operating at the peak of his imaginative powers. He constructs two complete technological civilizations, Clanker machines and Darwinist biotech, with enough internal logic and detail to fill an encyclopedia, then throws them into a world war.

What elevates Leviathan beyond spectacle is the dual-perspective structure. Alek and Deryn come from opposite sides of the conflict, and watching them navigate their differences while discovering common ground gives the story emotional depth. Deryn’s secret identity adds another layer of tension. Keith Thompson’s illustrations bring the world to life with technical precision and beauty. The novel won the 2010 Locus Award for Best Young Adult Fiction.

What to Expect

An illustrated adventure novel that moves at a brisk pace. At 448 pages, including illustrations, it reads faster than its length suggests. The world-building is detailed but delivered through action rather than exposition. The tone balances wartime danger with humor and warmth. Behemoth and Goliath continue the trilogy, and the story benefits from reading all three.