Leviathan

I was going through my reviews and realized, much to my dismay, that not too many of them were positive. I have lots of books I love, but I like to write mean reviews on books I hated. It’s fun. You should try it some time.

Anyway, this book was good. I will not say it was epically amazingly awesomely mindblowingly good, because it wasn’t. It was just good. Which is saying something. It’s hard to find a good book. This book is something that everyone would like. Not many people would love it, but everyone would like it. To love a book, it kind of has to be specific to you, and who you are, something this book does not do. But I can see many people including this in their top ten.

Now that that rant is done… The artwork in the book is stunning. Absolutely so. If anything made this book mindblowingly awesome it was Keith Thompson’s illustrations. And let’s be clear. This is an young adult novel with illustrations. How can anything be more cool?

Anyway the book takes place in an alternate history, where Darwin discovered genetics, as well as evolution. Yeah, I know, but it makes for a good world. World War 1 is just about to break when we meet Aleksander, son of the Archduke Ferdinand. If you paid any attention in tenth grade history you should know who that is. After his father and mother are killed, Alek is forced to flee, and WW1 effectively swings into motion. The triple entente are the Darwinists and the triple alliance are the Clankers, named aptly after their war machines. The other main character Deryn, wants to join the army, and so disguises herself as a boy. Eventually their paths cross, as well as their ideals and personalities. The second book is coming out October this year.