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Leviathan #3
Goliath
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction (2011)Alek and Deryn are abroad the Leviathan when the ship is ordered to pick up an unusual passenger. This brilliant/maniacal inventor claims to have a weapon called Goliath that can end the war. But whose side is he really on?
While on their top-secret mission, Alek finally discovers Deryn's deeply kept secret. Two, actually. Not only is Deryn a girl disguised as a guy...she has feelings for Alek.
The crown, true love with a commoner, and the destruction of a great city all hang on Alek's next--and final--move.
The thunderous conclusion to Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan series, which was called "sure to become a classic" (SLJ).
While on their top-secret mission, Alek finally discovers Deryn's deeply kept secret. Two, actually. Not only is Deryn a girl disguised as a guy...she has feelings for Alek.
The crown, true love with a commoner, and the destruction of a great city all hang on Alek's next--and final--move.
The thunderous conclusion to Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan series, which was called "sure to become a classic" (SLJ).
543 pages, Hardcover
First published January 24, 2011
About the author
Scott Westerfeld
88 books20.9k followersScott Westerfeld is a New York Times bestselling author of YA. He is best known for the Uglies and Leviathan series. His current series, IMPOSTORS, returns to the world of Uglies.
The next book in that series, MIRROR'S EDGE, comes out April 6, 2021.
The next book in that series, MIRROR'S EDGE, comes out April 6, 2021.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,686 reviews
November 23, 2011
SCOTT WESTERFELD, WHY YOU SO AMAZING? Like, seriously. It's not fair.
I don't think I've ever been disappointed by a Scott Westerfeld book. Sure, some are better than others, but they always have such awesome world-building, they're always exciting, and they're always a ton of fun to read. It's hard to beat his previous series like Uglies and Midnighters, but I think he just may have done it with the Leviathan trilogy.
First of all, the premise is so freaking awesome I want to explode when I think about it. In case you haven't read these books and know nothing about them (shame on you), they're about an alternate WWI, fought between the "Darwinists" and the "Clankers." The Clankers use machines as airships/weapons, while the Darwinists use giant, fabricated animals.
The story takes place on one of the "airbeasts" called the Leviathan. Our two main characters are Alek, the prince of Austria whose parents have recently been murdered, and Deryn, a girl pretending to be a boy named Dylan so that she can fight in the air service.
Well, I guess that's about all I can say without giving a rundown of the entire plot. But it already sounds awesome, yes?
So let's just say ... These books rock my socks off. And they just get better as they go along. I really liked Leviathan and Behemoth, but I LOOOVED Goliath. It's such a wonderful book and such a terrific ending to the series.
First of all, as I've already mentioned, Westerfeld's world-building never disappoints. And he really steps it up with this series. It's awesome how he draws inspiration from actual history and puts such an original spin on it. The machines and creatures he creates are super cool, and the books in general have a very distinct, gritty atmosphere to them that separates them from his other novels.
Secondly, the illustrations are just ... the bomb. A lot of credit for these books' awesomeness must go to Keith Thompson, because his drawings are stunning. Sometimes I would just want to sit there and stare for five minutes. He draws everything in such amazing detail, with so much to look at. There's already a lot of great world-building in the prose, but the illustrations really help to bring the story to life.
Thirdly, the characters. Ahhh, I love them! I think Deryn is a slightly stronger character than Alek––both literally and figuratively. (I feel like Westerfeld's female characters are always more kickass than his male characters. Which is awesome and all ... I just happened to realize it. :P) But anyway, they're both still very likable characters and you can't help but sympathize with them.
And I have to say, the romance is just ... perfect. YA literature needs more romance like this! I'm tired of all the books where the girl is all wimpy and the guy has to come and save her butt. In these books, it's pretty much the opposite. ;) Not only that, but the relationship actually takes time to develop. Sure, there's the whole "Oh dear, he thinks I'm a boy" thing standing in the way, but even so it's a carefully crafted romance and I appreciate that. I didn't really know how it was going to play out, and I was afraid it was going to be too dramatic or whatever, but it wasn't. It was great. Gah, I don't want to give too much away.
But basically, if you've read the other books and haven't read this one yet, YOU NEED TO READ THIS ONE. And I'm pretty sure it'll make you happy. :) If you haven't read these books at all ... well, read them.
And now I'm going to run around shouting "BUM RAGS!" and "BARKING SPIDERS!"
Good day.
I don't think I've ever been disappointed by a Scott Westerfeld book. Sure, some are better than others, but they always have such awesome world-building, they're always exciting, and they're always a ton of fun to read. It's hard to beat his previous series like Uglies and Midnighters, but I think he just may have done it with the Leviathan trilogy.
First of all, the premise is so freaking awesome I want to explode when I think about it. In case you haven't read these books and know nothing about them (shame on you), they're about an alternate WWI, fought between the "Darwinists" and the "Clankers." The Clankers use machines as airships/weapons, while the Darwinists use giant, fabricated animals.
The story takes place on one of the "airbeasts" called the Leviathan. Our two main characters are Alek, the prince of Austria whose parents have recently been murdered, and Deryn, a girl pretending to be a boy named Dylan so that she can fight in the air service.
Well, I guess that's about all I can say without giving a rundown of the entire plot. But it already sounds awesome, yes?
So let's just say ... These books rock my socks off. And they just get better as they go along. I really liked Leviathan and Behemoth, but I LOOOVED Goliath. It's such a wonderful book and such a terrific ending to the series.
First of all, as I've already mentioned, Westerfeld's world-building never disappoints. And he really steps it up with this series. It's awesome how he draws inspiration from actual history and puts such an original spin on it. The machines and creatures he creates are super cool, and the books in general have a very distinct, gritty atmosphere to them that separates them from his other novels.
Secondly, the illustrations are just ... the bomb. A lot of credit for these books' awesomeness must go to Keith Thompson, because his drawings are stunning. Sometimes I would just want to sit there and stare for five minutes. He draws everything in such amazing detail, with so much to look at. There's already a lot of great world-building in the prose, but the illustrations really help to bring the story to life.
Thirdly, the characters. Ahhh, I love them! I think Deryn is a slightly stronger character than Alek––both literally and figuratively. (I feel like Westerfeld's female characters are always more kickass than his male characters. Which is awesome and all ... I just happened to realize it. :P) But anyway, they're both still very likable characters and you can't help but sympathize with them.
And I have to say, the romance is just ... perfect. YA literature needs more romance like this! I'm tired of all the books where the girl is all wimpy and the guy has to come and save her butt. In these books, it's pretty much the opposite. ;) Not only that, but the relationship actually takes time to develop. Sure, there's the whole "Oh dear, he thinks I'm a boy" thing standing in the way, but even so it's a carefully crafted romance and I appreciate that. I didn't really know how it was going to play out, and I was afraid it was going to be too dramatic or whatever, but it wasn't. It was great. Gah, I don't want to give too much away.
But basically, if you've read the other books and haven't read this one yet, YOU NEED TO READ THIS ONE. And I'm pretty sure it'll make you happy. :) If you haven't read these books at all ... well, read them.
And now I'm going to run around shouting "BUM RAGS!" and "BARKING SPIDERS!"
Good day.
February 2, 2015
4.5 stars rounded up to 5 stars
Update 12/20/11 - Bonus chapter to Goliath posted on Scott Westerfeld's blog. Here's the link.
Barking spiders! What a great way to end a series! I want more!
The third and final book in Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan series did not disappoint. Set during WWI, our heroes Dylan (actually Deryn, a young woman) and Alek are on board the living airship the Leviathan (a giant floating whale!) as it flies eastward towards the orient and beyond. Goliath is an alternative history and retelling of WWI. History buffs will enjoy this book as they see some of the historical characters of the period appear in this book. Steampunk fans will marvel at all of the contraptions and gadgets. The book is geared towards young adult readers, but many adults will enjoy this book as well.
Westerfeld builds a unique world where Darwinists create machinery and weapons using DNA to battle against the mechanical steam powered contraptions of the Clankers. The Clankers favor machinery on legs rather than wheels. Whimsical creatures populate the pages. There are beasties such as strafing hawks, flechette bats, fighting bears, message lizards and my favorite: the perspicacious loris.
Beautifully detailed illustrations by Keith Thompson make this world come alive. Thanks to the illustrations, I was able to imagine all of the cool contraptions and gadgets developed by the Clankers and even the strange creatures engineered by the Darwinists. I found myself lingering on these pages. I would read a little, flip back to the illustrations, and just stare at them. I must say that my e-reader did not do justice to these illustrations. I think (and your results may vary depending on your e-reader) that a dead tree book may be preferable for this series.
The story is captivating. There are some pretty intense moments, great on the edge of your seat reading. I enjoyed the astute observations of the perspicacious loris. I loved the specialized vocabulary from this book. I might just have to use some of those words, they may come in handy.
Thank you, Scott Westerfeld for writing such an engaging series. My 12 year old reluctant reader is enjoying this series. I fully expect him to start calling his brothers “bumrags” and “dummkopfs” sometime soon.
*Thank you Simon & Schuster Galley Grab for an advanced reader copy of this book*
Review posted on Badass Book Reviews
Update 12/20/11 - Bonus chapter to Goliath posted on Scott Westerfeld's blog. Here's the link.
Barking spiders! What a great way to end a series! I want more!
The third and final book in Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan series did not disappoint. Set during WWI, our heroes Dylan (actually Deryn, a young woman) and Alek are on board the living airship the Leviathan (a giant floating whale!) as it flies eastward towards the orient and beyond. Goliath is an alternative history and retelling of WWI. History buffs will enjoy this book as they see some of the historical characters of the period appear in this book. Steampunk fans will marvel at all of the contraptions and gadgets. The book is geared towards young adult readers, but many adults will enjoy this book as well.
Westerfeld builds a unique world where Darwinists create machinery and weapons using DNA to battle against the mechanical steam powered contraptions of the Clankers. The Clankers favor machinery on legs rather than wheels. Whimsical creatures populate the pages. There are beasties such as strafing hawks, flechette bats, fighting bears, message lizards and my favorite: the perspicacious loris.
Beautifully detailed illustrations by Keith Thompson make this world come alive. Thanks to the illustrations, I was able to imagine all of the cool contraptions and gadgets developed by the Clankers and even the strange creatures engineered by the Darwinists. I found myself lingering on these pages. I would read a little, flip back to the illustrations, and just stare at them. I must say that my e-reader did not do justice to these illustrations. I think (and your results may vary depending on your e-reader) that a dead tree book may be preferable for this series.
The story is captivating. There are some pretty intense moments, great on the edge of your seat reading. I enjoyed the astute observations of the perspicacious loris. I loved the specialized vocabulary from this book. I might just have to use some of those words, they may come in handy.
Thank you, Scott Westerfeld for writing such an engaging series. My 12 year old reluctant reader is enjoying this series. I fully expect him to start calling his brothers “bumrags” and “dummkopfs” sometime soon.
*Thank you Simon & Schuster Galley Grab for an advanced reader copy of this book*
Review posted on Badass Book Reviews
January 9, 2014
darwinists take the strands ClankerS TakE ThE FormS
of life and weave them into OF MachineS, RemakE TheM.
new forms – a new kind of NeW ShapeS - A NeW WaY
life, a new way of living. TO SeE, A NeW WaY TO BE!
cute talking animals! HugE WalkinG MachineS.
living dirigibles! A TeslA CannoN.
all sorts of strange beasties AlL SortS OF ContraptionS
now at our beck and call. NoW AvailableE FoR AlL.
but are these darwinists BuT ArE ThesE ClankerS
unholy manipulators of WarlikE BrutalizerS OF
nature? they control TechnologY? TheY RulE
england, france, russia... GermanY, AustriA-HungarY...
they wage a sort of war TheY WagE A KinD OF WaR
in america... will they IN AmericA... WilL TheY
control the world itself? ControL ThE WorlD ItselF?
fortunately, if darwinist FortunatelY, IF ClankeR
ranks include the likes of RankS IncludE Folks LikE
– DERYN SHARP – – PRINCE ALEK –
a brave young lady whose A BravE YounG GenT WhosE
sharp mind and sharp eye LoyaltY & WitS
frequently save the day FrequentlY SavE ThE DaY
and whose need to hide her AnD WhosE NeeD TO BE A
gender is its own sort of ParT OF A GreateR WholE
darwinist transformation... IS SO VerY ClankeR...
then maybe these TheN MaybE ThesE
brilliant scientists UbeR-CraftsmeN
aren’t so bad at all. maybe Aren't AlL SO BaD. MaybE
they are only one side TheY ArE OnlY OnE SidE
of the same coin. OF ThE SamE CoiN.
of ThE SamE CoiN!
This is a wonderful conclusion to a charming steampunk trilogy for children. I enjoyed the preceding novels but this third volume impressed me even more. It seamlessly threads together classic Young Adult tropes, various steampunk motifs, actual history and historical characters from World War I and beyond, and a breathlessly paced series of fun adventures into one rather grand story. It is more than just a joy to read – it’s also often surprising and genuinely moving. There were moments that shocked me and there were moments that struck me right in my so-called heart. Appealing characters, superb illustrations, and even a thoughtful and touching afterward. A great achievement by Westerfeld.
The cleverness of these novels also inspired my own attempts to be clever, here and in the prior two novels' reviews:
Leviathan
Behemoth
of life and weave them into OF MachineS, RemakE TheM.
new forms – a new kind of NeW ShapeS - A NeW WaY
life, a new way of living. TO SeE, A NeW WaY TO BE!
cute talking animals! HugE WalkinG MachineS.
living dirigibles! A TeslA CannoN.
all sorts of strange beasties AlL SortS OF ContraptionS
now at our beck and call. NoW AvailableE FoR AlL.
but are these darwinists BuT ArE ThesE ClankerS
unholy manipulators of WarlikE BrutalizerS OF
nature? they control TechnologY? TheY RulE
england, france, russia... GermanY, AustriA-HungarY...
they wage a sort of war TheY WagE A KinD OF WaR
in america... will they IN AmericA... WilL TheY
control the world itself? ControL ThE WorlD ItselF?
fortunately, if darwinist FortunatelY, IF ClankeR
ranks include the likes of RankS IncludE Folks LikE
– DERYN SHARP – – PRINCE ALEK –
a brave young lady whose A BravE YounG GenT WhosE
sharp mind and sharp eye LoyaltY & WitS
frequently save the day FrequentlY SavE ThE DaY
and whose need to hide her AnD WhosE NeeD TO BE A
gender is its own sort of ParT OF A GreateR WholE
darwinist transformation... IS SO VerY ClankeR...
then maybe these TheN MaybE ThesE
brilliant scientists UbeR-CraftsmeN
aren’t so bad at all. maybe Aren't AlL SO BaD. MaybE
they are only one side TheY ArE OnlY OnE SidE
of the same coin. OF ThE SamE CoiN.
of ThE SamE CoiN!
This is a wonderful conclusion to a charming steampunk trilogy for children. I enjoyed the preceding novels but this third volume impressed me even more. It seamlessly threads together classic Young Adult tropes, various steampunk motifs, actual history and historical characters from World War I and beyond, and a breathlessly paced series of fun adventures into one rather grand story. It is more than just a joy to read – it’s also often surprising and genuinely moving. There were moments that shocked me and there were moments that struck me right in my so-called heart. Appealing characters, superb illustrations, and even a thoughtful and touching afterward. A great achievement by Westerfeld.
The cleverness of these novels also inspired my own attempts to be clever, here and in the prior two novels' reviews:
Leviathan
Behemoth
May 12, 2020
"Reality had no gears, and you never knew what surprises would come spinning out its chaos."
Dear Alek,
I know in my review for Behemoth I told you that I was going to dedicate this final review to you and I would think of a theme tune for you.
Well, I haven’t.
I thought that, instead of writing a proper review that will help readers decide whether to read this book or not (you’d think this was a review site or something), I’d write you a letter.
It’s not going to be a fancy one (or one with paragraphs set out correctly) but it will be a simple one.
Now I love Deryn as much as the next person (she truly is spectacular) but I feel a lot of people look over you as a hero of this series.
I guess heroes come in all shapes and sizes and sometimes they are even shorter than some girls. You are proof that you don’t have to have guns blazing (Although I find walking sticks to be just as useful) all the time to show how brave you are.
For in your understated-ness (Shh, it’s a word) you are intelligent, strong, trustworthy, loyal and caring.
And you are not a “waste of hydrogen”.
I have a feeling you’ll have plenty of time to get your sea-legs in the future.
Um… air-legs?
What do you call them if your vessel is a flying whale?
…..
Basically, I just wanted to say that I think you are one of the most underrated characters in YA literature.
You can have your vampires, your werewolves, your angels, your ones with a destiny or the ones who survive fighting in arenas but I’m an Alek girl, through and through.
Anyway I won’t keep you because I know you and a certain Mr Sharp have better things to do.
Lots of love,
Jo.
PS. I’m not sure how often you see Mr Westerfeld but if you do get chance to catch up, will you please thank him for writing such an exciting and beautiful ending to one of the most innovative, original, sweetest and completely-head-over-heels-in-love-and-best-friends-and-ohmygod-it’s-so-lovely-and-butterflies-in-my-tummy romantic series of YA books that will always have a special place on my bookshelf.
And also, Mr Thompson- tell him that that final picture almost slayed me.
And the picture of the loris with the moustache is probably my favourite thing in the entire world.
PPS. Hey, remember when I said that I loved to collect wonderful dedications from books?
This one takes the biscuit:
♥
And I really, really love biscuits.
Dear Alek,
I know in my review for Behemoth I told you that I was going to dedicate this final review to you and I would think of a theme tune for you.
Well, I haven’t.
I thought that, instead of writing a proper review that will help readers decide whether to read this book or not (you’d think this was a review site or something), I’d write you a letter.
It’s not going to be a fancy one (or one with paragraphs set out correctly) but it will be a simple one.
Now I love Deryn as much as the next person (she truly is spectacular) but I feel a lot of people look over you as a hero of this series.
I guess heroes come in all shapes and sizes and sometimes they are even shorter than some girls. You are proof that you don’t have to have guns blazing (Although I find walking sticks to be just as useful) all the time to show how brave you are.
For in your understated-ness (Shh, it’s a word) you are intelligent, strong, trustworthy, loyal and caring.
And you are not a “waste of hydrogen”.
I have a feeling you’ll have plenty of time to get your sea-legs in the future.
Um… air-legs?
What do you call them if your vessel is a flying whale?
…..
Basically, I just wanted to say that I think you are one of the most underrated characters in YA literature.
You can have your vampires, your werewolves, your angels, your ones with a destiny or the ones who survive fighting in arenas but I’m an Alek girl, through and through.
Anyway I won’t keep you because I know you and a certain Mr Sharp have better things to do.
Lots of love,
Jo.
PS. I’m not sure how often you see Mr Westerfeld but if you do get chance to catch up, will you please thank him for writing such an exciting and beautiful ending to one of the most innovative, original, sweetest and completely-head-over-heels-in-love-and-best-friends-and-ohmygod-it’s-so-lovely-and-butterflies-in-my-tummy romantic series of YA books that will always have a special place on my bookshelf.
And also, Mr Thompson- tell him that that final picture almost slayed me.
And the picture of the loris with the moustache is probably my favourite thing in the entire world.
PPS. Hey, remember when I said that I loved to collect wonderful dedications from books?
This one takes the biscuit:
“To everyone who loves a long-secret romance, revealed at last.”
♥
And I really, really love biscuits.
March 21, 2012
To everyone who loves a long-secret romance, revealed at last.
Oh, what a beautiful dedication. Just reading it made me more hopeful about the conclusion of the romantic plot, even before reading the first chapter.
This was a great book. I'm unsure how to compare it to its predecessors, but rest assured that it's just as good, if not better. According to me.
So, it has come as a bit of a surprise to me that I've enjoyed the Leviathan trilogy so much. At first glance it doesn't seem like my kind of thing at all. The Darwinist/Clanker technologies are interesting, but nothing that gets me excited. I'm not into war fiction, and historical fiction has been very hit-or-miss in the past.
The reason I love these books is the characters. So in this review I will try to briefly illuminate these people. They are real and don't try to tell me they're not.
Alek. He is nearly heartbreaking with his unique blend of naive hopefulness and high sense of honor. This boy is serious to the core. So unlike the male heroes of most YA books these days.
Deryn. I've probably been unfair to Mr. Sharp in my previous reviews. Alek had taken hold of my heart and I had no room for her. Fear no more, dear, for now I am all yours! What I appreciated about her was how different she was from His Serene Highness. Deryn is spontaneous, irreverent, and recklessly brave. Not to mention a bit of a show-off. I love the description of her as the "bell captain" and I long to be one myself. Only in my dreams, sadly.
Bovril. LOVE. He/she/its perspicacious-ness was only getting stronger in this final installment! I found myself longing, absolutely longing, for a Leviathan movie, simply to get to bask in Bovril's cuteness on the big screen. Bovril forever.
Tesla. Aka MR. BAMF. Fighting off multiple monstrous Russian fighting bears with just his walking stick was a fitting introduction for this marvelous man. Yes sir.
Count Volger. He is consistently great. Also, the Count was responsible for one of my favorite lines (in response to Alek irritably telling Volger to have some faith in him): "I have great faith, tempered with vast annoyance."
Honorable Mentions go out to Dr. Barlow, Klopp, Miss Rogers the girl reporter (LOVE HER), and the Leviathan itself. ABSOLUTELY NO LOVE WHATSOEVER goes out to Eddie Malone. Bum-rag.
I'm going to wrap this up with a quote that made my heart swell with joy and I kind of want to cry:
"Let others wage war. You, lucky Austria, shall marry."
*dies*
Oh, what a beautiful dedication. Just reading it made me more hopeful about the conclusion of the romantic plot, even before reading the first chapter.
This was a great book. I'm unsure how to compare it to its predecessors, but rest assured that it's just as good, if not better. According to me.
So, it has come as a bit of a surprise to me that I've enjoyed the Leviathan trilogy so much. At first glance it doesn't seem like my kind of thing at all. The Darwinist/Clanker technologies are interesting, but nothing that gets me excited. I'm not into war fiction, and historical fiction has been very hit-or-miss in the past.
The reason I love these books is the characters. So in this review I will try to briefly illuminate these people. They are real and don't try to tell me they're not.
Alek. He is nearly heartbreaking with his unique blend of naive hopefulness and high sense of honor. This boy is serious to the core. So unlike the male heroes of most YA books these days.
Deryn. I've probably been unfair to Mr. Sharp in my previous reviews. Alek had taken hold of my heart and I had no room for her. Fear no more, dear, for now I am all yours! What I appreciated about her was how different she was from His Serene Highness. Deryn is spontaneous, irreverent, and recklessly brave. Not to mention a bit of a show-off. I love the description of her as the "bell captain" and I long to be one myself. Only in my dreams, sadly.
Bovril. LOVE. He/she/its perspicacious-ness was only getting stronger in this final installment! I found myself longing, absolutely longing, for a Leviathan movie, simply to get to bask in Bovril's cuteness on the big screen. Bovril forever.
Tesla. Aka MR. BAMF. Fighting off multiple monstrous Russian fighting bears with just his walking stick was a fitting introduction for this marvelous man. Yes sir.
Count Volger. He is consistently great. Also, the Count was responsible for one of my favorite lines (in response to Alek irritably telling Volger to have some faith in him): "I have great faith, tempered with vast annoyance."
Honorable Mentions go out to Dr. Barlow, Klopp, Miss Rogers the girl reporter (LOVE HER), and the Leviathan itself. ABSOLUTELY NO LOVE WHATSOEVER goes out to Eddie Malone. Bum-rag.
I'm going to wrap this up with a quote that made my heart swell with joy and I kind of want to cry:
"Let others wage war. You, lucky Austria, shall marry."
*dies*
January 3, 2013
And he sticks the landing! This is a fantastic end to what is possibly my favorite steampunk series. What makes these books rise to the top isn't just the fine writing. It's the whole package. The illustrations. The heavy, higher quality paper. The thoroughness of the world-building. To me, it's exactly what reading a book written in that world would be/feel/smell like. The moral feud between the Darwinists and the Clankers is endlessly fascinating, and both Deryn and Alek are wonderfully likable characters.
Still mad I can't have an actual perspicacious loris, though.
Still mad I can't have an actual perspicacious loris, though.
December 20, 2011
The next time you're going to get on a plane, pick up one of these books. Whichever you haven't read, if you have yet to finish the series, or your favorite if you have. Reading about action atop the back of a flying genetically engineered whale takes on a whole new level of awe and enjoyment when you yourself can glance sideways and down at the puffy backs of clouds.
Which is basically to say that on a 2.5 hour plane ride yesterday, I somehow plowed through 250 pages of this book without noticing the time at all. It was disorientating in the best sort of way. I think 'engrossed' is the right word for how the plot affected me.
I think I sort of lose my reviewing ability when I hit book 3 in a trilogy. There are a couple of reasons: one, it's the culmination of an experience. I've heard people say they have trouble reviewing the first book of a series because it should be judged by how it fits in to everything else; I am the opposite. I can't review the last, because my feelings about it are tangled up in my feelings for the first and second and are generally far too complicated to put into words. If you asked me about this book, or about The Hero Of Ages, in person you would get a lot of flailing and some squeaks and a whole heap of inarticulateness. That might be considered a mostly accurate portrayal of my emotions.
Oh, the second reason: dancing around spoilers. Talk about a pain.
So. A review that is as specific as I can make it while still letting it be necessarily vague. This series is insanely readable: suck-away-your-time readable, but also damn-where-did-the-pages-go-I-want-more readable. It is also insanely good. Just, you know, good in an essential way, because it is good on several levels. The history is really cool, as are the deviations from it. (Japan with its more integrated Darwinist and Clanker technologies and those horrifying kappa. Russia's bears - dear god those things are terrifying when they're starved; creepiest illustration to date - and then America with a civil war about technology and not just ideology.) Also the characters! Okay, so Alek's nonstop blather about his DESTINY and FATE and whatnot bother me. I'm not a huge fan of the concept of destiny in general. But he's still a great guy, and a great character. And every now and again, Deryn calls him on it, or at least thinks something very eyerollish about it, so all is well. Deryn is just head-to-toe pure wonderful. I love her strength and her determination and her iron will and her self-control and her spine and her courage and her secrets and her intelligence and basically everything.
Oh, and TESLA. How did I enjoy Tesla in this book? Let me count the ways. He was fucking crazy, that's for sure. But the way that his machine echoed the atomic bomb? Or am I reading too much into it as an aftereffect of my freshman seminar on the Manhattan Project? I don't think so, not really. Maybe Westerfeld didn't do it consciously, but Tesla's machine definitely resonated in the same way - the thing that could both level cities and provide power; a weapon designed to bring peace. As I was reading, I imagined the Bomb in the hands of one desperate, hurt, brilliant man and got chills.
Umm. I am not very articulate tonight. Thinking and writing in fragments. Here is the point: read this series. There are authors who treat YA as a low-quality cesspit for their corniest blather; Westerfeld is not one of them. This is the good stuff, the cream of the crop. Set it up in a place of honor next to the Chaos Walking and Thief Errant series, in the lineup of the best YA being published right now.
(oh, and Mr. Westerfeld, if you read this: should you ever be inclined to write a series about the Adventures of Deryn and Alek Kicking Ass FOR SCIENCE! And Also Lots Of Snogging And Being Adorable, I'll read it. I'll even pre-order it in hard cover and my college student budget be damned. My priorites are in the right order, dammit.)
Which is basically to say that on a 2.5 hour plane ride yesterday, I somehow plowed through 250 pages of this book without noticing the time at all. It was disorientating in the best sort of way. I think 'engrossed' is the right word for how the plot affected me.
I think I sort of lose my reviewing ability when I hit book 3 in a trilogy. There are a couple of reasons: one, it's the culmination of an experience. I've heard people say they have trouble reviewing the first book of a series because it should be judged by how it fits in to everything else; I am the opposite. I can't review the last, because my feelings about it are tangled up in my feelings for the first and second and are generally far too complicated to put into words. If you asked me about this book, or about The Hero Of Ages, in person you would get a lot of flailing and some squeaks and a whole heap of inarticulateness. That might be considered a mostly accurate portrayal of my emotions.
Oh, the second reason: dancing around spoilers. Talk about a pain.
So. A review that is as specific as I can make it while still letting it be necessarily vague. This series is insanely readable: suck-away-your-time readable, but also damn-where-did-the-pages-go-I-want-more readable. It is also insanely good. Just, you know, good in an essential way, because it is good on several levels. The history is really cool, as are the deviations from it. (Japan with its more integrated Darwinist and Clanker technologies and those horrifying kappa. Russia's bears - dear god those things are terrifying when they're starved; creepiest illustration to date - and then America with a civil war about technology and not just ideology.) Also the characters! Okay, so Alek's nonstop blather about his DESTINY and FATE and whatnot bother me. I'm not a huge fan of the concept of destiny in general. But he's still a great guy, and a great character. And every now and again, Deryn calls him on it, or at least thinks something very eyerollish about it, so all is well. Deryn is just head-to-toe pure wonderful. I love her strength and her determination and her iron will and her self-control and her spine and her courage and her secrets and her intelligence and basically everything.
Oh, and TESLA. How did I enjoy Tesla in this book? Let me count the ways. He was fucking crazy, that's for sure. But the way that his machine echoed the atomic bomb? Or am I reading too much into it as an aftereffect of my freshman seminar on the Manhattan Project? I don't think so, not really. Maybe Westerfeld didn't do it consciously, but Tesla's machine definitely resonated in the same way - the thing that could both level cities and provide power; a weapon designed to bring peace. As I was reading, I imagined the Bomb in the hands of one desperate, hurt, brilliant man and got chills.
Umm. I am not very articulate tonight. Thinking and writing in fragments. Here is the point: read this series. There are authors who treat YA as a low-quality cesspit for their corniest blather; Westerfeld is not one of them. This is the good stuff, the cream of the crop. Set it up in a place of honor next to the Chaos Walking and Thief Errant series, in the lineup of the best YA being published right now.
(oh, and Mr. Westerfeld, if you read this: should you ever be inclined to write a series about the Adventures of Deryn and Alek Kicking Ass FOR SCIENCE! And Also Lots Of Snogging And Being Adorable, I'll read it. I'll even pre-order it in hard cover and my college student budget be damned. My priorites are in the right order, dammit.)
September 19, 2012
I have to say I that I thoroughly enjoyed this entire series. I don’t think that it is for everyone, as it is quite odd, but I know I quite liked it. Rating clarification: 4 & ½ stars
Plot
I cannot speak highly enough of the plot. It completely captivates you, and is action-packed from start to finish, there is never a dull moment from cover to cover. If you are looking for an easy and fun page turner, look no further!
Potential spoilers ahoy. In this installment, Alec figures out that Darrin is a girl and not only that, she is in love with him. Add that in with a voyage from Tokyo to California, Mexico and then New York – in a genetically modified flying whale specimen. All the while World War I, battles, and drama ensue. Suffice to say, you have no room for boredom.End mild spoilers
Characters
Let me reiterate from my first review of the series how much I loved Deryn Sharp. What an excellent character. She has to be one of my most favorite characters in any novel that I have read, ever. And that is saying something.
This is how I pictured Darrin Sharp:
As for the rest of the characters, even though I didn’t have an affinity for them like I do Deryn; I still found each of their personalities to be original.
And honestly, how do you make a book with a pet Thylacine even better? Why, add in a Perspicacious talking Loris of course! “Mister Sharp.”
Why not five stars then? You clearly loved the book and the series. 2 reasons; first, although it was a lot of fun, there was really not much substance to it. Second, I reserve the full 5 stars ranking for my very most favorite books, i.e. Lord of the Rings, and sorry, while this was good, but not quite up to that caliber.
All in all, I think this book would come off way too weird and too farfetched for many people, but if you have similar tastes to me and like steampunk, I would definitely give this series a whirl, you won’t be bored, that is for sure! Easy 4 & ½ stars from me.
Plot
I cannot speak highly enough of the plot. It completely captivates you, and is action-packed from start to finish, there is never a dull moment from cover to cover. If you are looking for an easy and fun page turner, look no further!
Potential spoilers ahoy. In this installment, Alec figures out that Darrin is a girl and not only that, she is in love with him. Add that in with a voyage from Tokyo to California, Mexico and then New York – in a genetically modified flying whale specimen. All the while World War I, battles, and drama ensue. Suffice to say, you have no room for boredom.End mild spoilers
Characters
Let me reiterate from my first review of the series how much I loved Deryn Sharp. What an excellent character. She has to be one of my most favorite characters in any novel that I have read, ever. And that is saying something.
This is how I pictured Darrin Sharp:
As for the rest of the characters, even though I didn’t have an affinity for them like I do Deryn; I still found each of their personalities to be original.
And honestly, how do you make a book with a pet Thylacine even better? Why, add in a Perspicacious talking Loris of course! “Mister Sharp.”
Why not five stars then? You clearly loved the book and the series. 2 reasons; first, although it was a lot of fun, there was really not much substance to it. Second, I reserve the full 5 stars ranking for my very most favorite books, i.e. Lord of the Rings, and sorry, while this was good, but not quite up to that caliber.
All in all, I think this book would come off way too weird and too farfetched for many people, but if you have similar tastes to me and like steampunk, I would definitely give this series a whirl, you won’t be bored, that is for sure! Easy 4 & ½ stars from me.
August 24, 2014
A satisfying conclusion to the fantasy steampunk trilogy which features two teenagers taking a role in trying to head off World War 1 between the machine-loving Clankers and bioengineering Darwinists (aka the Germans and Brits and their allies). Deryn, who poses as a boy (Dylan) to serve as a midshipman, carries out numerous feats of derring do as the British biological airship Leviathan wends its way around the world from Istanbul. Alek, the son of the assassinated Serbian archduke, draws her into his ambitions to support the scientist Tesla in forcing an end to the war through the threat of a powerful death ray weapon. The potential of the powers-that-be to demonstrate the weapon without a Hiroshima-like attack on Berlin or Vienna has Alek tormented over how to intervene.
The travels in this volume take them first to the Siberian site of the mysterious explosion that leveled a whole forest. With Tesla aboard, they travel on to Japan, across the Pacific to California, across Mexico, then to New York City. There are colorful roles for movie stars, reporters, and Pancho Villa in the plot, and periodic thrills of combat with Imperial German forces who intend to keep the Darwinists from exploiting Tesla’s mad genius.
Along the way, Alek finally learns that Dylan is a girl. There is still the barrier of class to the future of any romance between them, as Alek is Hapsburg nobility and Deryn is a commoner. Do you suppose love will find a way?
The travels in this volume take them first to the Siberian site of the mysterious explosion that leveled a whole forest. With Tesla aboard, they travel on to Japan, across the Pacific to California, across Mexico, then to New York City. There are colorful roles for movie stars, reporters, and Pancho Villa in the plot, and periodic thrills of combat with Imperial German forces who intend to keep the Darwinists from exploiting Tesla’s mad genius.
Along the way, Alek finally learns that Dylan is a girl. There is still the barrier of class to the future of any romance between them, as Alek is Hapsburg nobility and Deryn is a commoner. Do you suppose love will find a way?
February 12, 2016
*3.5 stars*
This last book was amazing. Best thing about this series was the world building and setting.
Even though I really enjoyed the book overall, I didn't like the romance. .
I liked the ending and I was worried about it because last trilogy I read from Westerfeld ended in a shitty way.
I really really really liked the Leviathan trilogy, it was my first try with the steampunk genre and now I'm intrigued to read and know more about it.
This last book was amazing. Best thing about this series was the world building and setting.
Even though I really enjoyed the book overall, I didn't like the romance. .
I liked the ending and I was worried about it because last trilogy I read from Westerfeld ended in a shitty way.
I really really really liked the Leviathan trilogy, it was my first try with the steampunk genre and now I'm intrigued to read and know more about it.
June 16, 2011
Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan series is a favorite among steampunk fans so it's no surprise that the finale book would set new levels of awesome. I was going to attempt to hold off reviewing this book since it doesn't come out until September but I simply couldn't resist. This is a series that I would liken with Harry Potter because it's very action-adventure, boy/girl friendly and PG. Just because there are historical references in this series doesn't mean it will be boring. In fact, it makes the story more interesting than your average story about genetically engineered beasties or steampunk contraptions. And as the finale book, Goliath had everything it needed to wrap up the the compelling plot in this trilogy and appease fans.
Goliath picks up where Behemoth left off. After the revolution in Istanbul, Alek and Deryn find themselves back on the Leviathan and heading east. Alek's princely status has been outted but Deryn is still struggling to keep her gender secret, all while she has feelings for Alek. Even if he knew she was a girl, he couldn't be with a commoner. And when he finds out the secret she has been keeping, he might feel betrayed learning the boy he looked up to, was in fact a girl. Unfortunately Deryn has to contend with Count Volger. He knows her secret and he intends to use that knowledge to black mail her.
Alek is unsure if he will ever be the Archduke regardless of his letter from the now dead pope. Regardless, he feels he is in a position to put an end to the war and when opportunities (and important people) arise, he goes all diplomat. Unfortunately, this puts a rift between him and Deryn whom he doesn't seem to have much time for anymore.
New characters will be introduced like the imposing Mr Tesla and old characters will resurface like the meddling reporter Eddie Malone. Trust me when I say the plot balances the novel perfectly with Scott Westerfeld's outlandishly awesome characters, imaginative world and creative writing. I will read anything he writes because he is just THAT phenom. The ending was nothing short of perfection and I will admit that I did sigh dreamily with satisfaction. Everything comes to a head and no loose ends are left untied including secrets and deceptions. I can't tell you how frustrating it was wanting Deryn's secret out so I was happy to finally see it happen even though it wasn't quite in the way she had hoped.
I loved reading the Author's Notes at the end about the real history that was included. To be honest, I didn't know much about World War One before reading the series and it was like an ingenious way to teach me some history. Who knew I could learn things out side of school? Amazing. And Scott definitely did his research. You can totally tell there was nothing half-done where that was concerned.
This was probably my favorite book in the series and is my favorite steampunk of all time. If you haven't picked up this series please do so we can gush about it together. This finale book will be released September 20th!
For this review and more visit my blog at http://looksielovitz.blogspot.com
Goliath picks up where Behemoth left off. After the revolution in Istanbul, Alek and Deryn find themselves back on the Leviathan and heading east. Alek's princely status has been outted but Deryn is still struggling to keep her gender secret, all while she has feelings for Alek. Even if he knew she was a girl, he couldn't be with a commoner. And when he finds out the secret she has been keeping, he might feel betrayed learning the boy he looked up to, was in fact a girl. Unfortunately Deryn has to contend with Count Volger. He knows her secret and he intends to use that knowledge to black mail her.
Alek is unsure if he will ever be the Archduke regardless of his letter from the now dead pope. Regardless, he feels he is in a position to put an end to the war and when opportunities (and important people) arise, he goes all diplomat. Unfortunately, this puts a rift between him and Deryn whom he doesn't seem to have much time for anymore.
New characters will be introduced like the imposing Mr Tesla and old characters will resurface like the meddling reporter Eddie Malone. Trust me when I say the plot balances the novel perfectly with Scott Westerfeld's outlandishly awesome characters, imaginative world and creative writing. I will read anything he writes because he is just THAT phenom. The ending was nothing short of perfection and I will admit that I did sigh dreamily with satisfaction. Everything comes to a head and no loose ends are left untied including secrets and deceptions. I can't tell you how frustrating it was wanting Deryn's secret out so I was happy to finally see it happen even though it wasn't quite in the way she had hoped.
I loved reading the Author's Notes at the end about the real history that was included. To be honest, I didn't know much about World War One before reading the series and it was like an ingenious way to teach me some history. Who knew I could learn things out side of school? Amazing. And Scott definitely did his research. You can totally tell there was nothing half-done where that was concerned.
This was probably my favorite book in the series and is my favorite steampunk of all time. If you haven't picked up this series please do so we can gush about it together. This finale book will be released September 20th!
For this review and more visit my blog at http://looksielovitz.blogspot.com
February 22, 2021
THIS ENDING WAS PERFECT. THANK YOU SCOTT WESTERFELD. He did not pull a Victoria Aveyard on me.
Lies will be told and secrets will be revealed. Deryn and Alek have gone on so many adventures, but their journey isn't over yet. This series hasn't had a tiring moment. It's action or anticipation and it's great. Scott Westerfeld can write any genre and they will all be amazing. Sci-fi, dystopian, steampunk, romance, alternate history... I will love it. The Leviathan Trilogy is no different.
Each character learns something important. All the MCs develop and grow. Even the minor characters are developed but not overly so. These characters are so likable, understandable and I care for them. When I don't care about the main characters, something feels off. This trilogy had my heart pounding.
The worldbuilding and creatures. I know Scott Westerfeld can perfectly imagine hoverboards and future technology. It turns out, he can also master whale-airplane hybrids. His creatures and technologies were so well done and I could picture every scale and bolt perfectly. There were also incredible illustrations throughout this series. Westerfeld's alternate world is just- chef's kiss.
The Leviathan trilogy is my favorite alternate history AND favorite steampunk series!!
Here, have a ~flawless~ bonus story: https://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/2011...
Lies will be told and secrets will be revealed. Deryn and Alek have gone on so many adventures, but their journey isn't over yet. This series hasn't had a tiring moment. It's action or anticipation and it's great. Scott Westerfeld can write any genre and they will all be amazing. Sci-fi, dystopian, steampunk, romance, alternate history... I will love it. The Leviathan Trilogy is no different.
Each character learns something important. All the MCs develop and grow. Even the minor characters are developed but not overly so. These characters are so likable, understandable and I care for them. When I don't care about the main characters, something feels off. This trilogy had my heart pounding.
The worldbuilding and creatures. I know Scott Westerfeld can perfectly imagine hoverboards and future technology. It turns out, he can also master whale-airplane hybrids. His creatures and technologies were so well done and I could picture every scale and bolt perfectly. There were also incredible illustrations throughout this series. Westerfeld's alternate world is just- chef's kiss.
The Leviathan trilogy is my favorite alternate history AND favorite steampunk series!!
Here, have a ~flawless~ bonus story: https://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/2011...
January 9, 2016
Odlican zvrsetak ovog serijala koji je mozda za zericu previse predvidljiv. Al dobro to je boljka dosta YA knjiga pa cu joj progledati kroz prste.
Sto se kvaliteta tu je otalo slicno ko i ranije, odlicno zamisljen i opisan svet sa vrlo detaljnim prikazom tehnologija i pratecom atmosferom koja drzi citaoca stalno zainteresovanog. Odlicni crtezi koji samo podizu atmosferu. Slabi glavni likovi koji su dosta neubedljivi za stvari koje odrade u celom serijalu. Al dobro.
Zabavno i brzo bez dosadnih detalja, u svakom slucaju preporuka.
P.S. I Tesla se pojavljuje ovde ali mi se ne svidja nacin na koji je prikazan posto bas nema previse dodira sa stvarnom licnoscu sem par detalja.
Sto se kvaliteta tu je otalo slicno ko i ranije, odlicno zamisljen i opisan svet sa vrlo detaljnim prikazom tehnologija i pratecom atmosferom koja drzi citaoca stalno zainteresovanog. Odlicni crtezi koji samo podizu atmosferu. Slabi glavni likovi koji su dosta neubedljivi za stvari koje odrade u celom serijalu. Al dobro.
Zabavno i brzo bez dosadnih detalja, u svakom slucaju preporuka.
P.S. I Tesla se pojavljuje ovde ali mi se ne svidja nacin na koji je prikazan posto bas nema previse dodira sa stvarnom licnoscu sem par detalja.
August 10, 2017
Trigger warnings: war, murder.
9/8/2017
On reread, I don't think I enjoyed this as much as I did last time around. A lot of the story is just the Leviathan flying from place to place - they travel from Turkey to Vladivostok to Japan to California to New York, so there's a LOT of flying - while Deryn and Alek try to keep their identities secret and work out how they feel about each other.
It felt like it took a long time to actually get to the point of the story, and then everything that happens in New York felt rushed. Still, it was a satisfying ending to the trilogy. It's just on the low side of 4 stars, whereas I think last time it was more like a 4.5.
4/9/2012
Plot summary: Following the events of "Behemoth", Deryn and Alek are back on the Leviathan and en route to Russia to pick up an unexpected passenger, who claims to have a weapon capable of stopping the war. Shortly thereafter, the Leviathan is en route to America, where new wonders - and unexpected surprises - await.
Thoughts: I loved it. It wasn't perfect, it's true. If you're nearly 30 and watched The X-Files religiously as a teenager, you'll know all about Tunguska, so the potential twist around that section of the story will be not even remotely surprising. Eddie Malone is back, and he's just as much of a pain as he was in "Behemoth". The addition of was not wholly unexpected, but still enjoyable. Right up until the point where he went completely bonkers.
The change in Alek and Deryn's relationship is also a little predictable, but after this much build up, it's hugely welcome. A very enjoyable conclusion to the trilogy, with the possibility for more in the future.
9/8/2017
On reread, I don't think I enjoyed this as much as I did last time around. A lot of the story is just the Leviathan flying from place to place - they travel from Turkey to Vladivostok to Japan to California to New York, so there's a LOT of flying - while Deryn and Alek try to keep their identities secret and work out how they feel about each other.
It felt like it took a long time to actually get to the point of the story, and then everything that happens in New York felt rushed. Still, it was a satisfying ending to the trilogy. It's just on the low side of 4 stars, whereas I think last time it was more like a 4.5.
4/9/2012
Plot summary: Following the events of "Behemoth", Deryn and Alek are back on the Leviathan and en route to Russia to pick up an unexpected passenger, who claims to have a weapon capable of stopping the war. Shortly thereafter, the Leviathan is en route to America, where new wonders - and unexpected surprises - await.
Thoughts: I loved it. It wasn't perfect, it's true. If you're nearly 30 and watched The X-Files religiously as a teenager, you'll know all about Tunguska, so the potential twist around that section of the story will be not even remotely surprising. Eddie Malone is back, and he's just as much of a pain as he was in "Behemoth". The addition of was not wholly unexpected, but still enjoyable. Right up until the point where he went completely bonkers.
The change in Alek and Deryn's relationship is also a little predictable, but after this much build up, it's hugely welcome. A very enjoyable conclusion to the trilogy, with the possibility for more in the future.
August 16, 2020
Final installment of the YA adventure and world tour started in Leviathan. Happy endings for all, speampunk and biopunk heroes make friends, etc., etc.
Felt like the the third book was the least of the trilogy here -- title was a stretch, after using up the two biblical monsters in I and II... . Then, the plot hinged less upon the characters or their... character, and more upon trying to fit a steampunk, semi-authentic, semi-sympathetic villian into the picture. Oh, and a whirlwind tour of Siberia, Japan, western America, Hollywood, New York.
But, Westerfield delivers the YA goods, and it was a pleasant novel to listen to. Strike that -- it was narrated by Alan Cummings, so it was a DOG'S KNOB FREAKIN' AWESOME AUDIO EXPERIENCE of a decent YA trilogy-capper.
Felt like the the third book was the least of the trilogy here -- title was a stretch, after using up the two biblical monsters in I and II... . Then, the plot hinged less upon the characters or their... character, and more upon trying to fit a steampunk, semi-authentic, semi-sympathetic villian into the picture. Oh, and a whirlwind tour of Siberia, Japan, western America, Hollywood, New York.
But, Westerfield delivers the YA goods, and it was a pleasant novel to listen to. Strike that -- it was narrated by Alan Cummings, so it was a DOG'S KNOB FREAKIN' AWESOME AUDIO EXPERIENCE of a decent YA trilogy-capper.
March 20, 2022
سه و نیم نمرۀ واقعی.
از پایانش انتظار بیشتری داشتم.
May 16, 2012
As seen on my blog! Breakdown of a Heroine for Deryn Sharp. (Because let's be honest I'm too lazy to write a second review)
Who is Deryn?
Deryn Sharp, or Dylan Sharp as she like's to be called when she's in disguise, is a midshipman on Leviathan, an airship in Her Majesties Navy during the Great War. Flying has always been her dream and she wants to serve her country, which requires pretending to be a boy.
Strength of Character?
Deryn is so many things I admire in a person. She's brave enough to serve in the military and never shies away from danger. She's loyal to her friends, keeping their secrets even when it goes against orders, particularly Prince Alex heir to the Austrian throne. She manages to find the balance between her duty to her country and doing what's right for herself and her friends.
Deryn's Storyline
Deryn's story really gets underway in Leviathan when her airship crashes in the Swiss Alps. It's there she encounters our other protagonist Alek (a hero in his own right) when he tries to save the airship's crew from starvation in the glacial wilderness. From there they go on an adventure that spans the globe. From helping start a revolution in the Ottoman empire, to trying to avoid intrepid reporters in America, to fighting the Germans-- Deryn does it all and bravely.
Romantic Entanglements
This series has one of my favorite YA romances. For the most part it stays in the background. There's a war to fight, assassination attempts to avoid and a revolution to start. The characters don't ever forget what's important or their priorities. At the same time the book doesn't ignore that your feelings affect your decisions, especially in life and death situations.
Conclusions
I feel like me and this series were meant to be together. The story of an alternative steampunk WWI, a girl dressed in boy clothes and a global adventure is just my style. This series is spectacular and highly recommended, especially if you like history. Deryn is near the top of heroines I love. She's brave, clever and such a loyal friend. She's the type of girl anyone would be fortunate to know.
Right after I finished I tweeted about how I'd stayed up late to finish Goliath and that I loved it. Scott Westerfeld tweeted me back a link to some bonus material. Trust me it's worth having a look. http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/2011/...
My blog if your interested in following me there as well. http://galavantinggirlscout.blogspot.com
Who is Deryn?
Deryn Sharp, or Dylan Sharp as she like's to be called when she's in disguise, is a midshipman on Leviathan, an airship in Her Majesties Navy during the Great War. Flying has always been her dream and she wants to serve her country, which requires pretending to be a boy.
Strength of Character?
Deryn is so many things I admire in a person. She's brave enough to serve in the military and never shies away from danger. She's loyal to her friends, keeping their secrets even when it goes against orders, particularly Prince Alex heir to the Austrian throne. She manages to find the balance between her duty to her country and doing what's right for herself and her friends.
Deryn's Storyline
Deryn's story really gets underway in Leviathan when her airship crashes in the Swiss Alps. It's there she encounters our other protagonist Alek (a hero in his own right) when he tries to save the airship's crew from starvation in the glacial wilderness. From there they go on an adventure that spans the globe. From helping start a revolution in the Ottoman empire, to trying to avoid intrepid reporters in America, to fighting the Germans-- Deryn does it all and bravely.
Romantic Entanglements
This series has one of my favorite YA romances. For the most part it stays in the background. There's a war to fight, assassination attempts to avoid and a revolution to start. The characters don't ever forget what's important or their priorities. At the same time the book doesn't ignore that your feelings affect your decisions, especially in life and death situations.
Conclusions
I feel like me and this series were meant to be together. The story of an alternative steampunk WWI, a girl dressed in boy clothes and a global adventure is just my style. This series is spectacular and highly recommended, especially if you like history. Deryn is near the top of heroines I love. She's brave, clever and such a loyal friend. She's the type of girl anyone would be fortunate to know.
Right after I finished I tweeted about how I'd stayed up late to finish Goliath and that I loved it. Scott Westerfeld tweeted me back a link to some bonus material. Trust me it's worth having a look. http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/2011/...
My blog if your interested in following me there as well. http://galavantinggirlscout.blogspot.com
June 13, 2018
Goliath was the third and final installment of the Leviathan series. It was an okay kind of book but I honestly didn't care about the whole slow romance between Deryn and Alek. I am, however, super happy he finally opened his god damn eyes and saw that Deryn was a girl. Holy shit, that took forever.
The details on how the machines work was still entertaining as hell. Even though I still hate scientific shit.. I basically just nodded and agreed with everything. Like a robot that hates science. The clankers and beasties were every growing in this book. Meeting new creatures or machinery was, again, entertaining.. yet, I was bored a lot while listening to this book.
Alek and Deryn were kind of meh in this book. Previously I loved Deryn, but in this book she just annoyed me. Her constant whining about loving Alek.. and how the world would crash and burn once he and everyone knows about her secret identity. UGH! I was just annoyed. Spoiler alert: the world didn't crash and burn.
Then there was Alek who was dramatic as fuck after finding out about her being a girl. He was annoying me too. I seriously just wanted to slap these two silly because of how they were acting. I also didn't like the little blackmailing people were doing to Deryn. Yeah, they knew her secret and shit.. but I honestly didn't see the big deal. Has no one seen Mulan?? She got a happy ending - so I assumed Deryn would too.
Overall, the book was a little bit entertaining and there was some sort of happy ending for these two. The romance was a slow and unnecessary burn because I didn't care about it. I'm glad that I took a dive into the Leviathan pool and a chance on Scott Westerfeld. I will definitely try another book of his.
The details on how the machines work was still entertaining as hell. Even though I still hate scientific shit.. I basically just nodded and agreed with everything. Like a robot that hates science. The clankers and beasties were every growing in this book. Meeting new creatures or machinery was, again, entertaining.. yet, I was bored a lot while listening to this book.
Alek and Deryn were kind of meh in this book. Previously I loved Deryn, but in this book she just annoyed me. Her constant whining about loving Alek.. and how the world would crash and burn once he and everyone knows about her secret identity. UGH! I was just annoyed. Spoiler alert: the world didn't crash and burn.
Then there was Alek who was dramatic as fuck after finding out about her being a girl. He was annoying me too. I seriously just wanted to slap these two silly because of how they were acting. I also didn't like the little blackmailing people were doing to Deryn. Yeah, they knew her secret and shit.. but I honestly didn't see the big deal. Has no one seen Mulan?? She got a happy ending - so I assumed Deryn would too.
Overall, the book was a little bit entertaining and there was some sort of happy ending for these two. The romance was a slow and unnecessary burn because I didn't care about it. I'm glad that I took a dive into the Leviathan pool and a chance on Scott Westerfeld. I will definitely try another book of his.
May 25, 2019
Goliath is the final book in Westerfeld’s steampunk Leviathan trilogy. The entire trilogy was a fun, mostly light adventure story with likeable characters and a good dose of humor. This series worked very well for me as reading material while traveling for a business conference. I was very tired for most of the week due to a not-ideal travel schedule combined with a time zone change, and this was entertaining without being too demanding.
I was pretty satisfied with how the story was wrapped up. I did think it had a little less of the fun adventure that the previous two books were chock full of, becoming a little more introspective. It didn’t hold my interest quite as consistently as the previous two, but I still enjoyed it. I’m going to give this one 3.5 stars and round up to 4 on Goodreads.
I have some spoilery comments for the spoiler tags…
I was pretty satisfied with how the story was wrapped up. I did think it had a little less of the fun adventure that the previous two books were chock full of, becoming a little more introspective. It didn’t hold my interest quite as consistently as the previous two, but I still enjoyed it. I’m going to give this one 3.5 stars and round up to 4 on Goodreads.
I have some spoilery comments for the spoiler tags…
October 16, 2012
http://www.rantingdragon.com/review-o...
Goliath is the concluding volume in Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan trilogy, a young adult series that follows an alternate World War I with steampunk elements.
In Goliath, Alek and Deryn have left the Ottoman Empire aboard the Leviathan in order to pick up a mysterious new passenger deep in the heart of Siberia. At the behest of this passenger, they proceed to travel across the world on a journey to New York, where the possibility of a deadly new weapon called Goliath awaits—a weapon that could potentially bring an end to the war…but at the price of millions of innocent lives.
Around the world
While Leviathan and Behemoth took place in relatively small areas (a glacier in the Alps and Istanbul, respectively), Goliath broadens the scope of the series considerably. The Leviathan travels the world in this installment, taking Alek and Deryn to Russia, Japan, Mexico, and America. They meet an assortment of fascinating characters along the way, many of whom, such as William Randolph Hearst and “Pancho” Villa, actually existed in the early 20th century. These characters are all interesting and provide neat anchors to the real world, but it sometimes feels as though Westerfeld creates excessive tangents simply for the sake of meeting these real-life characters. Alek and Deryn take a backseat to actual historical figures far more than is necessary in Goliath, and the story grinds to a halt every time they do.
Just going through the motions
Goliath doesn’t offer much in the way of surprises. The story’s predictability goes from being annoying to a major flaw, and this proves to be a serious detriment considering that Goliath is the longest entry in the Leviathan trilogy. Everything that was established in the first two books comes to fruition in Goliath, but nothing happens in even a remotely surprising way. More than anything, it feels as if Westerfeld is simply going through the motions rather than trying to create an actual plot.
Predictably, Deryn’s secret begins to leak out, complicating her relationship with Alek, and Alek himself becomes more and more obsessed with the idea that he is destined to put an end to the war. The perspicuous lorises bring humor to the book but don’t really serve the story, and Dr. Barlow continues to remain more of a plot device than a character. And of course, the inevitable romance between Alek and Deryn finally surfaces, only to feel extraordinarily forced. There isn’t a shred of romantic chemistry between these two characters, and the romantic subplot between them seems to exist more out of obligation than out of any genuine attraction.
A story that lacks intensity
Simply put, Goliath lacks conflict. The majority of the book consists of the Leviathan traveling across the world, encountering new cultures and meeting new people. In many ways, this feels like a reflection of the story itself: it lacks the focus of the first two installments and instead meanders aimlessly, touching on numerous potential conflicts and storylines but abandoning them just as quickly. Furthermore, the war—which is, essentially, the driving force of the series—always feels distant and irrelevant. While in the previous novels the characters were constantly fighting for their lives, throughout most of Goliath their biggest worries consist of petty personal problems. The characters rarely feel like they’re in any real danger, and this results in a dull story that stretches over 500-plus pages. Frankly, Goliath was boring.
The lack of conflict shows through in Keith Thompson’s illustrations as well: while they remain as beautiful as ever, the exciting battles and life-threatening moments that he captured in the first two books give way mostly to drawings of settings and characters standing around talking. I breezed through Leviathan and Behemoth because the stories were intense and exciting, but I honestly struggled through Goliath; I probably would have given up on it if I hadn’t already invested the time to read the first two installments. Even the book’s climax was, frankly, anticlimactic; to make matters worse, it strays dangerously close to deus ex machina territory. After everything that Alek and Deryn go through in the Leviathan series, the resolution of the story and their characters feels cheap and unsatisfying.
Why should you read this book?
If you’ve read Leviathan and Behemoth, you’re probably going to want to finish the series. There’s no harm in doing so if you’ve got the time, but be warned that Goliath may be a disappointment after the first two entries in the series. It lacks the intensity and excitement of the previous installments, and the novelty of the Clanker machines and the Darwinist “beasties” that originally gave Westerfeld’s take on World War I a unique twist has worn off by this point in the series. Ultimately, Goliath fails to live up to its predecessors and proves to be disappointing conclusion to a promising series.
Goliath is the concluding volume in Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan trilogy, a young adult series that follows an alternate World War I with steampunk elements.
In Goliath, Alek and Deryn have left the Ottoman Empire aboard the Leviathan in order to pick up a mysterious new passenger deep in the heart of Siberia. At the behest of this passenger, they proceed to travel across the world on a journey to New York, where the possibility of a deadly new weapon called Goliath awaits—a weapon that could potentially bring an end to the war…but at the price of millions of innocent lives.
Around the world
While Leviathan and Behemoth took place in relatively small areas (a glacier in the Alps and Istanbul, respectively), Goliath broadens the scope of the series considerably. The Leviathan travels the world in this installment, taking Alek and Deryn to Russia, Japan, Mexico, and America. They meet an assortment of fascinating characters along the way, many of whom, such as William Randolph Hearst and “Pancho” Villa, actually existed in the early 20th century. These characters are all interesting and provide neat anchors to the real world, but it sometimes feels as though Westerfeld creates excessive tangents simply for the sake of meeting these real-life characters. Alek and Deryn take a backseat to actual historical figures far more than is necessary in Goliath, and the story grinds to a halt every time they do.
Just going through the motions
Goliath doesn’t offer much in the way of surprises. The story’s predictability goes from being annoying to a major flaw, and this proves to be a serious detriment considering that Goliath is the longest entry in the Leviathan trilogy. Everything that was established in the first two books comes to fruition in Goliath, but nothing happens in even a remotely surprising way. More than anything, it feels as if Westerfeld is simply going through the motions rather than trying to create an actual plot.
Predictably, Deryn’s secret begins to leak out, complicating her relationship with Alek, and Alek himself becomes more and more obsessed with the idea that he is destined to put an end to the war. The perspicuous lorises bring humor to the book but don’t really serve the story, and Dr. Barlow continues to remain more of a plot device than a character. And of course, the inevitable romance between Alek and Deryn finally surfaces, only to feel extraordinarily forced. There isn’t a shred of romantic chemistry between these two characters, and the romantic subplot between them seems to exist more out of obligation than out of any genuine attraction.
A story that lacks intensity
Simply put, Goliath lacks conflict. The majority of the book consists of the Leviathan traveling across the world, encountering new cultures and meeting new people. In many ways, this feels like a reflection of the story itself: it lacks the focus of the first two installments and instead meanders aimlessly, touching on numerous potential conflicts and storylines but abandoning them just as quickly. Furthermore, the war—which is, essentially, the driving force of the series—always feels distant and irrelevant. While in the previous novels the characters were constantly fighting for their lives, throughout most of Goliath their biggest worries consist of petty personal problems. The characters rarely feel like they’re in any real danger, and this results in a dull story that stretches over 500-plus pages. Frankly, Goliath was boring.
The lack of conflict shows through in Keith Thompson’s illustrations as well: while they remain as beautiful as ever, the exciting battles and life-threatening moments that he captured in the first two books give way mostly to drawings of settings and characters standing around talking. I breezed through Leviathan and Behemoth because the stories were intense and exciting, but I honestly struggled through Goliath; I probably would have given up on it if I hadn’t already invested the time to read the first two installments. Even the book’s climax was, frankly, anticlimactic; to make matters worse, it strays dangerously close to deus ex machina territory. After everything that Alek and Deryn go through in the Leviathan series, the resolution of the story and their characters feels cheap and unsatisfying.
Why should you read this book?
If you’ve read Leviathan and Behemoth, you’re probably going to want to finish the series. There’s no harm in doing so if you’ve got the time, but be warned that Goliath may be a disappointment after the first two entries in the series. It lacks the intensity and excitement of the previous installments, and the novelty of the Clanker machines and the Darwinist “beasties” that originally gave Westerfeld’s take on World War I a unique twist has worn off by this point in the series. Ultimately, Goliath fails to live up to its predecessors and proves to be disappointing conclusion to a promising series.
April 23, 2015
4.5 Go and read this trilogy now.
Voy a extrañar a Alek y Deryn :')
En esta entrega final de la Trilogía Leviathan, la acción sigue el mismo ritmo implacable, los personajes siguen siendo realistas, y mas secretos salen a la luz, mientras nuestro personaje principal Alek lucha por la PAZ!
A decir verdad, me gusto un poco mas Behemoth, osea, si tuviera que elegir un libro de la trilogía seria ese, el segundo.
Aunque eso no quiere decir que este sea malo, ni mucho menos, de hecho es un final excelente.
De verdad espero que mas gente le de una oportunidad, la trilogía Midnighters sigue siendo mi favorita de Scott, pero Leviathan debería de ser leída por mas gente, porque esta increíblemente bien escrita, tienen una trama muy bien elaborada, y es muy imaginativa sin salirse tanto de la realidad de WWI.
Para no hacerla larga....
Un aplauso para Keith Thompson, las ilustraciones se lucieron.
Muy bien manejado el final, el capitulo final fue justo lo que se necesita, abierto, pero con respuestas.
A pesar de que en esta entrega el romance y los sentimientos llevan a los personajes a tomar muchas de las decisiones mas importantes, no arruina la historia central, si no que la complementa bastante bien.
ADEMAS: todo el asuntillo de Tesla y Goliath, fue muy bueno.
PD: MEXICO sale en este libro y PANCHO VILLA, no puedo evitarlo, me gusta. :D Revolución Mexicana no te acabes! y somos Clankers. Genial porque yo también.
#TEAMCLANKER
Voy a extrañar a Alek y Deryn :')
En esta entrega final de la Trilogía Leviathan, la acción sigue el mismo ritmo implacable, los personajes siguen siendo realistas, y mas secretos salen a la luz, mientras nuestro personaje principal Alek lucha por la PAZ!
A decir verdad, me gusto un poco mas Behemoth, osea, si tuviera que elegir un libro de la trilogía seria ese, el segundo.
Aunque eso no quiere decir que este sea malo, ni mucho menos, de hecho es un final excelente.
De verdad espero que mas gente le de una oportunidad, la trilogía Midnighters sigue siendo mi favorita de Scott, pero Leviathan debería de ser leída por mas gente, porque esta increíblemente bien escrita, tienen una trama muy bien elaborada, y es muy imaginativa sin salirse tanto de la realidad de WWI.
Para no hacerla larga....
Un aplauso para Keith Thompson, las ilustraciones se lucieron.
Muy bien manejado el final, el capitulo final fue justo lo que se necesita, abierto, pero con respuestas.
A pesar de que en esta entrega el romance y los sentimientos llevan a los personajes a tomar muchas de las decisiones mas importantes, no arruina la historia central, si no que la complementa bastante bien.
ADEMAS: todo el asuntillo de Tesla y Goliath, fue muy bueno.
I think you're trying to do something good. But doing good is rarely easy, and no weapon has ever stopped a war.
PD: MEXICO sale en este libro y PANCHO VILLA, no puedo evitarlo, me gusta. :D Revolución Mexicana no te acabes! y somos Clankers. Genial porque yo también.
#TEAMCLANKER
June 18, 2016
¡Así es como se termina una historia!
El libro final de la trilogía Leviathan, nos lleva a una misión de rescate a la helada Siberia. Allí, subirá a bordo el excéntrico Nikola Tesla, que dice haber construido un arma de destrucción de largo alcance que detendrá la guerra. Nuestros protagonistas experimentaran de primera mano los horrores del Goiliath, que ha destruido una vasta extensión de bosques siberianos
Alex ve en el científico la clave para la paz y, convencido que su destino lo ha guiado en el camino, decide ayudar a Tesla con su monstruosa invención.
“Hacer el bien pocas veces es fácil y un arma jamás ha detenido una guerra.”
Mientras tanto, el Leviathan continua con su misión a Japón, donde vemos que, sin importar en que universo, los japoneses son unos enemigos temibles.
Nuestros protagonistas también se verán involucrados, de manera fortuita, en la revolución Mexicana en su paso hacia la costa este de Estados unidos.
Finalmente (y luego de muchas vueltas) llegaran a Nueva York, donde el Goliath aguarda a ser disparado.
Esta historia es mucho más oscura y cargada de sentimientos que las anteriores entregas. Hay una pelea constante entre los afectos, el deber y las mentiras.
La historia de amor se da de un modo tan lento y entrelazada con la trama, que no llega a ser molesta ni empalagosa. ¡Bien por eso! Y tampoco fue un insta-love… ¡Gracias señor Westerfeld!
Alek siempre es opacado por losestúpidos actos heroicos de Deryn, pero esta vez, sentí que el final es puramente de Alek. Él termina siendo el héroe, todo por salvar a la chica de la que se enamoro.
El final es magnífico, un poco abierto, lleno de posibilidades y con la certeza de que puede haber un mundo mejor.
Y por eso el autor escribió un capítulo extra, que sirve como epilogo y cierre para la trilogía. Este se sucede unas semanas después del incidente del Goliath y nos relata una fiesta de año nuevo en la Sociedad Zoológica de Londres.
No quiero terminar esta reseña sin recalcar que el señor Thompson se ha superado a sí mismo con los dibujos de este libro. (¡Este si lo tengo! ¡Yay!)
Adore el final de esta trilogía. ¡Todos los libros en realidad! Me he quedado con una gran sonrisa con esta conclusión, pero aún así estoy tremendamente triste.
¡Voy a extrañar a Alek y Deryn!
Cómo me gustaría que el autor continuara escribiendo sobre este par, ya sea sobre sus aventuras en la Sociedad Zoológica o sobre la segunda guerra mundial.
Westerfeld combina de manera única la historia real con las desviaciones propias de este universo steampunk, retratando exactamente hechos y personajes que existieron conviviendo con sus maravillosos personajes. Llena de acción, aventura y romance, estos libros valen la pena. Realmente no puedo entender porque esta trilogía no ha sido leída por más gente…
¡Deja ya mismo lo que estés haciendo y sube a bordo del Leviathan!
El libro final de la trilogía Leviathan, nos lleva a una misión de rescate a la helada Siberia. Allí, subirá a bordo el excéntrico Nikola Tesla, que dice haber construido un arma de destrucción de largo alcance que detendrá la guerra. Nuestros protagonistas experimentaran de primera mano los horrores del Goiliath, que ha destruido una vasta extensión de bosques siberianos
Alex ve en el científico la clave para la paz y, convencido que su destino lo ha guiado en el camino, decide ayudar a Tesla con su monstruosa invención.
“Hacer el bien pocas veces es fácil y un arma jamás ha detenido una guerra.”
Mientras tanto, el Leviathan continua con su misión a Japón, donde vemos que, sin importar en que universo, los japoneses son unos enemigos temibles.
Nuestros protagonistas también se verán involucrados, de manera fortuita, en la revolución Mexicana en su paso hacia la costa este de Estados unidos.
Finalmente (y luego de muchas vueltas) llegaran a Nueva York, donde el Goliath aguarda a ser disparado.
Esta historia es mucho más oscura y cargada de sentimientos que las anteriores entregas. Hay una pelea constante entre los afectos, el deber y las mentiras.
La historia de amor se da de un modo tan lento y entrelazada con la trama, que no llega a ser molesta ni empalagosa. ¡Bien por eso! Y tampoco fue un insta-love… ¡Gracias señor Westerfeld!
Alek siempre es opacado por los
El final es magnífico, un poco abierto, lleno de posibilidades y con la certeza de que puede haber un mundo mejor.
Y por eso el autor escribió un capítulo extra, que sirve como epilogo y cierre para la trilogía. Este se sucede unas semanas después del incidente del Goliath y nos relata una fiesta de año nuevo en la Sociedad Zoológica de Londres.
No quiero terminar esta reseña sin recalcar que el señor Thompson se ha superado a sí mismo con los dibujos de este libro. (¡Este si lo tengo! ¡Yay!)
Adore el final de esta trilogía. ¡Todos los libros en realidad! Me he quedado con una gran sonrisa con esta conclusión, pero aún así estoy tremendamente triste.
¡Voy a extrañar a Alek y Deryn!
Cómo me gustaría que el autor continuara escribiendo sobre este par, ya sea sobre sus aventuras en la Sociedad Zoológica o sobre la segunda guerra mundial.
Westerfeld combina de manera única la historia real con las desviaciones propias de este universo steampunk, retratando exactamente hechos y personajes que existieron conviviendo con sus maravillosos personajes. Llena de acción, aventura y romance, estos libros valen la pena. Realmente no puedo entender porque esta trilogía no ha sido leída por más gente…
¡Deja ya mismo lo que estés haciendo y sube a bordo del Leviathan!
December 2, 2011
"I sure did like the first cover of Leviathan without the kids' faces on it more than these other ones."
I do still agree that this cover doesn't hold a candle to the first book (before they put on the face) But this book in almost every other way is just as good, better in a few respects. Actually, it's been quite some time since I nearly cried at the end of a book simply because it was over. I was very excited to read this but I didn't realize until halfway through (as the book seemed to simply MELT into my brain I was reading so fast) how entirely un-ready I was for it to conclude.
If I could kiss Scott Westerfield's feet for one reason only it would be that he never betrayed any of the characters or themes that we all adored. Maybe that is a pretty cynical view of story-telling at large on my part given that I always expect the things I love to be ruined by their own creators but I'm so jaded when it comes to falling in love with my heroes and heroines because there will always come a moment where the girl in drag gets stuffed into a corsett and dress or the dashing prince with a heavy concience gets petulant and whiney.
This actually doesn't happen. I should think it's hardly a spoiler that Alek does discover Daeryn's secret but what is so shocking is that, unlike anything before it and most impressively unlike what the actual characters in the book predicted themselves, he deals quite well. He loses none of his integrity, doesn't dwell TOO much on the girl thing (aside from a few genuinely cute notions) and it doesn't get stupid dramatic. These two young characters have their entire relationship rocked to its foundation but the never forget they're still in the middle of a barking war.
Additionaly, we NEVER find out how pretty Daeryn is. There is breif mention of the unfortunate existence of her breasts (from a practical stand-point) and otherwise the nicest compliment she gets (aside from valour) is that she makes quite a dashing boy.
I simply cannot get over how supremely satisfied I feel right now.
OH and of course the little stars of the show. When the Lorises first hatched in the second book I wasn't really sure what sort of tool they'd be to the story or how they'd be treated. Lets just say the Disney ages has taught me to be wary of talking animals. But they were perfect, adorable even. The two lorises may actually have been my favourite characters, and Westerfield did a fantastic job of including them JUST enough. They provided no major plotpoints but injected steady doses of entertainment in every scene and helped very much to paint us a mental picture for the moments that did not already have an illustration. Additionally they ARE important in a few ways and they always carry an air of mystery given that Alek basicaly owns one and does not entirely know just how smart they get.
Looking back I guess you could argue that there is a little less action in this one, at least less important action. Even the final climactic scene feels a little muted compared to the Ottoman revolution. I guess I could consider this point a little negative. I also feel the final book used Tesla as just a tiny bit too much but I love the ultimate role he plaeyed.
Finally and mostly I adored how the author treated our main characters. As I said, they were never ruined or betrayed and finally the fact that the two loved the adventure about as much as they loved each other, finally a novel with a love story that isn't the backbone of the characters' motivation. Normally I roll my eyes and scoff when an author decided to make a series longer than they planned (though on a whole I understand how stories can change when you get into them and it's not always possible to tell how long it will be) but in this case at the final pages continued melt before my eyes I found myself frequenting the front cover to verify that it does, indeed, say "The conclusion of the Leviathan Trilogy" And it does conclude...but I would be so happy to find out that he decided to do another trilogy in the same world following the leviathan story.
I do still agree that this cover doesn't hold a candle to the first book (before they put on the face) But this book in almost every other way is just as good, better in a few respects. Actually, it's been quite some time since I nearly cried at the end of a book simply because it was over. I was very excited to read this but I didn't realize until halfway through (as the book seemed to simply MELT into my brain I was reading so fast) how entirely un-ready I was for it to conclude.
If I could kiss Scott Westerfield's feet for one reason only it would be that he never betrayed any of the characters or themes that we all adored. Maybe that is a pretty cynical view of story-telling at large on my part given that I always expect the things I love to be ruined by their own creators but I'm so jaded when it comes to falling in love with my heroes and heroines because there will always come a moment where the girl in drag gets stuffed into a corsett and dress or the dashing prince with a heavy concience gets petulant and whiney.
This actually doesn't happen. I should think it's hardly a spoiler that Alek does discover Daeryn's secret but what is so shocking is that, unlike anything before it and most impressively unlike what the actual characters in the book predicted themselves, he deals quite well. He loses none of his integrity, doesn't dwell TOO much on the girl thing (aside from a few genuinely cute notions) and it doesn't get stupid dramatic. These two young characters have their entire relationship rocked to its foundation but the never forget they're still in the middle of a barking war.
Additionaly, we NEVER find out how pretty Daeryn is. There is breif mention of the unfortunate existence of her breasts (from a practical stand-point) and otherwise the nicest compliment she gets (aside from valour) is that she makes quite a dashing boy.
I simply cannot get over how supremely satisfied I feel right now.
OH and of course the little stars of the show. When the Lorises first hatched in the second book I wasn't really sure what sort of tool they'd be to the story or how they'd be treated. Lets just say the Disney ages has taught me to be wary of talking animals. But they were perfect, adorable even. The two lorises may actually have been my favourite characters, and Westerfield did a fantastic job of including them JUST enough. They provided no major plotpoints but injected steady doses of entertainment in every scene and helped very much to paint us a mental picture for the moments that did not already have an illustration. Additionally they ARE important in a few ways and they always carry an air of mystery given that Alek basicaly owns one and does not entirely know just how smart they get.
Looking back I guess you could argue that there is a little less action in this one, at least less important action. Even the final climactic scene feels a little muted compared to the Ottoman revolution. I guess I could consider this point a little negative. I also feel the final book used Tesla as just a tiny bit too much but I love the ultimate role he plaeyed.
Finally and mostly I adored how the author treated our main characters. As I said, they were never ruined or betrayed and finally the fact that the two loved the adventure about as much as they loved each other, finally a novel with a love story that isn't the backbone of the characters' motivation. Normally I roll my eyes and scoff when an author decided to make a series longer than they planned (though on a whole I understand how stories can change when you get into them and it's not always possible to tell how long it will be) but in this case at the final pages continued melt before my eyes I found myself frequenting the front cover to verify that it does, indeed, say "The conclusion of the Leviathan Trilogy" And it does conclude...but I would be so happy to find out that he decided to do another trilogy in the same world following the leviathan story.
February 24, 2019
What a book! I really liked the deep and complex story, the incredible characters and writing style. It is normally rare for me to read alternate history books - I guess I don't encounter with many, so it was also a nice experience.
The best part of the book were real and relatable characters and imaginative creatures! I would love to have a loris for myself. It would be come handy in certain situations. And the ending of the story was quite sweet and heartwarming. I was so afraid that the conflicts wouldn't be resolved in a way that's not heartbreaking. Thank the author! My only complaint would be that the plot was a bit dragged for my taste. Other than that it was a wonderful story that I recommend people to read. 4.5 stars
The best part of the book were real and relatable characters and imaginative creatures! I would love to have a loris for myself. It would be come handy in certain situations. And the ending of the story was quite sweet and heartwarming. I was so afraid that the conflicts wouldn't be resolved in a way that's not heartbreaking. Thank the author! My only complaint would be that the plot was a bit dragged for my taste. Other than that it was a wonderful story that I recommend people to read. 4.5 stars
July 10, 2017
I felt that this series was best reviewed as one coherent narrative given the relatively short period of time the books cover, the continuous story that was told, and the similarities between them.
The Leviathan series is a fun mix of steampunk, adventure, and historical/alternative history that, for the most part, delivered a satisfying and enjoyable reading experience (even if the end of the series does sink a bit too deeply into some annoying YA qualities). I was able to devour these books at a rapid clip and rarely felt the writing or story lagged significantly. If you are looking for a unique and adventurous take on both the steampunk genre and WWI historical fiction this could be the series for you if you can stand some YA elements mixed in.
First off I really liked the setting. This series imagines a world very much on the brink of WWI, but instead of the world split between the Central Powers and the Allied Powers, it is instead split between the Clankers (the Central Powers that utilized technologically driven war machines) and the Darwinists (the Allied Powers that manipulate biology to create tools and war machines). I was happy to see WWI used as a backdrop for the story because it is a criminally underused setting (present Wonder Woman movie excluded). It has just as many fascinating aspects as WWII but is often overshadowed by the sequel.
In any event Westerfeld did an excellent job blending his new scientific reality with the conditions of WWI Europe. He used actual events from history to inform his story's plot and had a deft enough understanding of the war to adjust its trajectory to match the changes he was making in his story. Even better, he took time at the end of each book to explain what parts of the story were real, what parts he adapted from historical events, and what parts he created. It showed a real respect he had for the war he was borrowing for his own story and educates the reader at the same time.
The story itself follows, for the most part, a great British Leviathan (a biologically engineered creature that serves as sort of a floating battleship with all sorts of neat biological weapons) that the two main characters, Austrian Prince Alek and Deryn, a British girl who masquerades as a boy to join the military. Through circumstances not of their own control they are thrown together on this great beast as it carries out war critical missions for the Allies. As you can imagine a crown prince from a Clanker nation on a Darwinist war beast can raise some problems, but Westerfeld does a very good job with the story putting Alek in positions to help out and maintain a position on the Leviathan (though not without the occasional complication).
I thought the characters of Alek and Deryn were well constructed. They had their own motivations and goals and Westerfeld let that lead the decisions they made. They are both quite young and find themselves in a completely new environment so there is naturally some growing pains for both of them as they have to learn what it means to literally have the lives of others in their hands. Both make stupid mistakes from time to time but mistakes that feel right in the context of their characters' motivations and histories. All in all I felt like both of these main characters were sympathetic and real enough for me to care about.
The secondary characters, on the other hand, I thought got a bit of a short shrift. A few of them got some decent back story but they seemed more to be extensions of Alek or Deryn's character arc than living breathing characters of their own. We do run into some historical figures but they, for the most part, tended to be more window dressing than terribly crucial to the plot (Tesla being the exception). To a degree this didn't bother me much since this was very much an Alek and Deryn story, but a richer cast of secondary characters could have enriched the story further.
Being a story that takes place during an immense war I thought Westerfeld do a very good job balancing military engagements with plot progression. The fights that did occur were both creative and well described (which they sort of have to be given it had giant floating monsters squaring off with coal powered fighting mechs). I was impressed with how thoroughly Westerfeld thought out the details of his world and the novel ways he saw the overall Clanker and Darwinist philosophies inform their military decisions. He also took time to explore and integrate the political situations into the story, showing that diplomacy could be just as important in the war as military prowess.
I was disappointed in a few aspects of this story though.
The story centers around the journeys and adventures of Alek and Deryn so the reader doesn't get much of any view of the fighting that is occurring in Europe. We never get to see full on Clanker and Darwinist forces tangle. The first World War was (in)famous for its trench warfare and I would have liked to see Westerfeld take on just what that would look like in his imagined world. The reader would get oblique references to the fighting, but always second hand and very general. I understand why Westerfeld told the story the way he did but I was disappointed as the narrow view of this nifty world we were given.
I also thought the final book in the series was a bit weak. It got a bit too deep in some of the weaker parts of the YA genre (seriously guys, just sit down and talk it out, don't spend hundreds of pages wallowing in your own "woe is me" funk) and I felt the overall level of action in the third book paled in comparison to the first two. The fighting wasn't as interesting, the politics was not as engaging, and the characters could not carry the increased load of the story (hence the three stars for the third book).
Overall I was very pleased with the series even if the third book fell a bit flat. Westerfeld's imaginative world building and understanding of WWI really made this series a compelling and enjoyable read.
The Leviathan series is a fun mix of steampunk, adventure, and historical/alternative history that, for the most part, delivered a satisfying and enjoyable reading experience (even if the end of the series does sink a bit too deeply into some annoying YA qualities). I was able to devour these books at a rapid clip and rarely felt the writing or story lagged significantly. If you are looking for a unique and adventurous take on both the steampunk genre and WWI historical fiction this could be the series for you if you can stand some YA elements mixed in.
First off I really liked the setting. This series imagines a world very much on the brink of WWI, but instead of the world split between the Central Powers and the Allied Powers, it is instead split between the Clankers (the Central Powers that utilized technologically driven war machines) and the Darwinists (the Allied Powers that manipulate biology to create tools and war machines). I was happy to see WWI used as a backdrop for the story because it is a criminally underused setting (present Wonder Woman movie excluded). It has just as many fascinating aspects as WWII but is often overshadowed by the sequel.
In any event Westerfeld did an excellent job blending his new scientific reality with the conditions of WWI Europe. He used actual events from history to inform his story's plot and had a deft enough understanding of the war to adjust its trajectory to match the changes he was making in his story. Even better, he took time at the end of each book to explain what parts of the story were real, what parts he adapted from historical events, and what parts he created. It showed a real respect he had for the war he was borrowing for his own story and educates the reader at the same time.
The story itself follows, for the most part, a great British Leviathan (a biologically engineered creature that serves as sort of a floating battleship with all sorts of neat biological weapons) that the two main characters, Austrian Prince Alek and Deryn, a British girl who masquerades as a boy to join the military. Through circumstances not of their own control they are thrown together on this great beast as it carries out war critical missions for the Allies. As you can imagine a crown prince from a Clanker nation on a Darwinist war beast can raise some problems, but Westerfeld does a very good job with the story putting Alek in positions to help out and maintain a position on the Leviathan (though not without the occasional complication).
I thought the characters of Alek and Deryn were well constructed. They had their own motivations and goals and Westerfeld let that lead the decisions they made. They are both quite young and find themselves in a completely new environment so there is naturally some growing pains for both of them as they have to learn what it means to literally have the lives of others in their hands. Both make stupid mistakes from time to time but mistakes that feel right in the context of their characters' motivations and histories. All in all I felt like both of these main characters were sympathetic and real enough for me to care about.
The secondary characters, on the other hand, I thought got a bit of a short shrift. A few of them got some decent back story but they seemed more to be extensions of Alek or Deryn's character arc than living breathing characters of their own. We do run into some historical figures but they, for the most part, tended to be more window dressing than terribly crucial to the plot (Tesla being the exception). To a degree this didn't bother me much since this was very much an Alek and Deryn story, but a richer cast of secondary characters could have enriched the story further.
Being a story that takes place during an immense war I thought Westerfeld do a very good job balancing military engagements with plot progression. The fights that did occur were both creative and well described (which they sort of have to be given it had giant floating monsters squaring off with coal powered fighting mechs). I was impressed with how thoroughly Westerfeld thought out the details of his world and the novel ways he saw the overall Clanker and Darwinist philosophies inform their military decisions. He also took time to explore and integrate the political situations into the story, showing that diplomacy could be just as important in the war as military prowess.
I was disappointed in a few aspects of this story though.
The story centers around the journeys and adventures of Alek and Deryn so the reader doesn't get much of any view of the fighting that is occurring in Europe. We never get to see full on Clanker and Darwinist forces tangle. The first World War was (in)famous for its trench warfare and I would have liked to see Westerfeld take on just what that would look like in his imagined world. The reader would get oblique references to the fighting, but always second hand and very general. I understand why Westerfeld told the story the way he did but I was disappointed as the narrow view of this nifty world we were given.
I also thought the final book in the series was a bit weak. It got a bit too deep in some of the weaker parts of the YA genre (seriously guys, just sit down and talk it out, don't spend hundreds of pages wallowing in your own "woe is me" funk) and I felt the overall level of action in the third book paled in comparison to the first two. The fighting wasn't as interesting, the politics was not as engaging, and the characters could not carry the increased load of the story (hence the three stars for the third book).
Overall I was very pleased with the series even if the third book fell a bit flat. Westerfeld's imaginative world building and understanding of WWI really made this series a compelling and enjoyable read.
August 5, 2011
Goliath even the title hints at the effort I put into reading it... not necessarily a bad thing just different. Thinking back to Leviathan, I remember having shelved it; only catching on to what others saw half way through, my second time around with it. I'm used to 'give me fast and easy books', Leviathan and Behemoth are not any of those. Instead, I had to pace myself, pay a little more attention to Dylan's and Alek's world. It was a chore at first, for sure... but once the I'd grown accustomed to set pace, there was no way I wouldn't see it through. Fast forward to Goliath, and I still got the same feeling of 'I must read carefully.' Because, yes, I couldn't rush through it for fear of missing something big.
OK so after much thought, I'm going to say that I'm happy where things ended. I really didn't know what I wanted to happen. Prior to reading, I'd imagined the reveals done in the most shocking manner; I'd imagined someone being heartbroken; I'd even considered something tragic taking place. I'd also wondered where the story would take me in terms of them as a couple. Would there be a couple? Would there be an HEA? Did I really want an HEA? Especially since I'd lauded/praised/raved about how different Deryn/Dylan was from her peers with her tough and independent manner? Did I want her girl side to show up? I mean, her girly side was showing with the hints of crushes and love-unlikely. But... did I want an HEA? Or would going there take away the what made Leviathan and Behemoth different?
Anyhoot, I am happy with how things turned out: Dylan/Deryn is still tough and goal oriented. Alek had reverted to the Alek he was in Leviathan, the boy playing at being soldiers because upon his return he was feeling a tad out of place and functionless... and suspicious. Things got even more complicated with the introduction of a new character who'd been alluded to in the previous books: Tesla.
The war between the Clankers vs Darwinists is still in full throttle, but the best thing about this aspect of the story was how it affected Alec. He was so conflicted about his place. There's a lot of indecision from him. To trust or not? To Love or not? To Reveal or not?
This last installment manages to strike a balance between action and emotion.
4/5
Thank you Simon & Schuster!
OK so after much thought, I'm going to say that I'm happy where things ended. I really didn't know what I wanted to happen. Prior to reading, I'd imagined the reveals done in the most shocking manner; I'd imagined someone being heartbroken; I'd even considered something tragic taking place. I'd also wondered where the story would take me in terms of them as a couple. Would there be a couple? Would there be an HEA? Did I really want an HEA? Especially since I'd lauded/praised/raved about how different Deryn/Dylan was from her peers with her tough and independent manner? Did I want her girl side to show up? I mean, her girly side was showing with the hints of crushes and love-unlikely. But... did I want an HEA? Or would going there take away the what made Leviathan and Behemoth different?
Anyhoot, I am happy with how things turned out: Dylan/Deryn is still tough and goal oriented. Alek had reverted to the Alek he was in Leviathan, the boy playing at being soldiers because upon his return he was feeling a tad out of place and functionless... and suspicious. Things got even more complicated with the introduction of a new character who'd been alluded to in the previous books: Tesla.
The war between the Clankers vs Darwinists is still in full throttle, but the best thing about this aspect of the story was how it affected Alec. He was so conflicted about his place. There's a lot of indecision from him. To trust or not? To Love or not? To Reveal or not?
This last installment manages to strike a balance between action and emotion.
4/5
Thank you Simon & Schuster!
April 11, 2015
There are a lot of books that I love and a lot of series I'm especially fond of. But it takes a special book and a special series to give me the kind of massive book hangover I received after reading the final pages of Goliath.
You guys, I love this series so effing much.
Scott Westerfeld has created a world that I want to live in; a world I wish had really come about instead of this one (no offense to this world, but guys, there is an airship that is an entire ecosystem of living creatures HOLY CRAP). And even though this world is freaking super awesome, I don't know if it would have had the same appeal if it weren't for the incredible characters through whose eyes I got to experience this world.
Deryn Sharp, oh my god. I love her to pieces. I want to know her and be friends with her and then brag to everyone about how I'm friends with her because she is the BEST. I mean, it's no wonder ... well, I won't go throwing any spoilers out there. But the point is, she is clever and capable and hilarious and noble and filled with the kind of derring-do that I wish I could strum up within myself. She is the best kind of character.
The rest of the cast is equally colorful and I really experienced them as people, not plot points. The turmoil and situations that popped up were only predictable in that I felt like I knew these characters so well I could tell what they would choose to do next. That is the best kind of character writing.
The story was brilliant, all the way through, and I struggled with wanting to gobble it up and wanting to slowly savor it. (In the end, I read the last 250 pages in one day because I couldn't help myself.) It's rare for me to put a book on my favorites shelf, and even rarer that each book within a series gets put on that shelf. Goliath -- and therefore, the entire Leviathan series -- has won that honor from me.
You guys, I love this series so effing much.
Scott Westerfeld has created a world that I want to live in; a world I wish had really come about instead of this one (no offense to this world, but guys, there is an airship that is an entire ecosystem of living creatures HOLY CRAP). And even though this world is freaking super awesome, I don't know if it would have had the same appeal if it weren't for the incredible characters through whose eyes I got to experience this world.
Deryn Sharp, oh my god. I love her to pieces. I want to know her and be friends with her and then brag to everyone about how I'm friends with her because she is the BEST. I mean, it's no wonder ... well, I won't go throwing any spoilers out there. But the point is, she is clever and capable and hilarious and noble and filled with the kind of derring-do that I wish I could strum up within myself. She is the best kind of character.
The rest of the cast is equally colorful and I really experienced them as people, not plot points. The turmoil and situations that popped up were only predictable in that I felt like I knew these characters so well I could tell what they would choose to do next. That is the best kind of character writing.
The story was brilliant, all the way through, and I struggled with wanting to gobble it up and wanting to slowly savor it. (In the end, I read the last 250 pages in one day because I couldn't help myself.) It's rare for me to put a book on my favorites shelf, and even rarer that each book within a series gets put on that shelf. Goliath -- and therefore, the entire Leviathan series -- has won that honor from me.
September 27, 2011
I think everyone else has summed up the plot and highlights pretty well, but what really struck me (in the "OMG, this is amazing" way) was the nonchalant disposal of gender norms and most heteronormative ideas. The exchange between Lilit and Deryn was particularly striking (paraphrased because I already returned the book to the library):
Lilit: You do make a dashing boy, you know.
Deryn: I don't think Alek wants a dashing boy.
Lilit: You'll never know unless you ask him!
As I was gushing about the book, my husband commented, "Wouldn't it be more interesting if Alek lost interest in Deryn because she's a girl?" It was a joke, but it made me realize that Alek actually does really like Deryn as a boy. And their relationship will likely always have elements of Deryn's masculine persona. And there's never any doubt that it's ok. Alek (to our knowledge) never grapples with falling in love with someone he thought was a boy for several months. How radical and amazing is that? (Very.)
Also, the final full-page illustration? Yeah. That sums up my entire review on this issue.
Lilit: You do make a dashing boy, you know.
Deryn: I don't think Alek wants a dashing boy.
Lilit: You'll never know unless you ask him!
As I was gushing about the book, my husband commented, "Wouldn't it be more interesting if Alek lost interest in Deryn because she's a girl?" It was a joke, but it made me realize that Alek actually does really like Deryn as a boy. And their relationship will likely always have elements of Deryn's masculine persona. And there's never any doubt that it's ok. Alek (to our knowledge) never grapples with falling in love with someone he thought was a boy for several months. How radical and amazing is that? (Very.)
Also, the final full-page illustration? Yeah. That sums up my entire review on this issue.
September 5, 2017
Симпатичната янг адълт трилогия, чудесно паснала и на непорасналото дете у мен, намери своя логичен/или пък не толкова (краят остана леееко отворен) завършек. Прочитането на всяка книга ми отнемаше около два дена, следователно съм прекарал почти цяла седмица, изпълнена с приключения и общото ми впечатление е - Скот Уестърфийлд, свършил си добра работа, братче!
July 3, 2020
گولیات (جلد سوم از مجموعه لویاتان )
بزودی از نشر باژ 🔥
این نظر و ریویو بیشتر روی تمام ��جموعه تمرکز داره :)
مجموعه لویاتان با داستانی بهشدت جذاب و سرگرمکنندهش من رو با خودش و همراه شخصیتهاش به سفر روی عرشه لویاتان، درون کوچه پسکوچههای شهرهای دنیا، داخل محفظه طوفانرو و در مرکز فرماندهی دستگاههای عظیم فولادی برد ^_^
نویسنده با مهارت و خبرگی تمام اتفاقات و حوادث دنیای واقعی و زمان جنگ جهانی اول رو درون داستان تخیلی خودش جا داده و تونسته با همین وقایع ریز و درشت داستانی بهغایت جالب توجه رو به خوانندگان عرضه کنه.
داستان مجموعهی لویاتان برخی مفاهیم جامعهشناختی منجمله نابرابری جنسیتی رو که گاهی حتی در قرن 21 مسئله چالشبرانگیزی بهشمار میآد رو مطرح میکنه و تفکرات قرن بیستم رو با زبان و به روش خودش نامعقول معرفی میکنه! مفاهیم دیگری مثل عدم موازنه صحیح قدرت و تعادل بین نظامهای سیاسی-اجتماعی هم بهخوبی لابهلای داستان گنجونده شدن و خوانندهی داستان رو با این مفاهیم آشنا میکنن و ازش توقع تفکر و داوری دارن!!
جهانآفرینی نویسنده طی سهگانه پیشرفت محسوسی پیدا میکنه و ما همراه شخصیتهای داستان سفر و ماجراجویی میکنیم و با این دنیای وسیع و رنگارنگ آشنا میشیم!
مجموعه لویاتان رو پیشنهاد میکنم به دوستداران ژانر علمیتخیلی و علاقهمندان به تاریخ جهان
ممنون از زحمات مترجم و نشر باژ 🔥_🔥
بزودی از نشر باژ 🔥
این نظر و ریویو بیشتر روی تمام ��جموعه تمرکز داره :)
مجموعه لویاتان با داستانی بهشدت جذاب و سرگرمکنندهش من رو با خودش و همراه شخصیتهاش به سفر روی عرشه لویاتان، درون کوچه پسکوچههای شهرهای دنیا، داخل محفظه طوفانرو و در مرکز فرماندهی دستگاههای عظیم فولادی برد ^_^
نویسنده با مهارت و خبرگی تمام اتفاقات و حوادث دنیای واقعی و زمان جنگ جهانی اول رو درون داستان تخیلی خودش جا داده و تونسته با همین وقایع ریز و درشت داستانی بهغایت جالب توجه رو به خوانندگان عرضه کنه.
داستان مجموعهی لویاتان برخی مفاهیم جامعهشناختی منجمله نابرابری جنسیتی رو که گاهی حتی در قرن 21 مسئله چالشبرانگیزی بهشمار میآد رو مطرح میکنه و تفکرات قرن بیستم رو با زبان و به روش خودش نامعقول معرفی میکنه! مفاهیم دیگری مثل عدم موازنه صحیح قدرت و تعادل بین نظامهای سیاسی-اجتماعی هم بهخوبی لابهلای داستان گنجونده شدن و خوانندهی داستان رو با این مفاهیم آشنا میکنن و ازش توقع تفکر و داوری دارن!!
جهانآفرینی نویسنده طی سهگانه پیشرفت محسوسی پیدا میکنه و ما همراه شخصیتهای داستان سفر و ماجراجویی میکنیم و با این دنیای وسیع و رنگارنگ آشنا میشیم!
مجموعه لویاتان رو پیشنهاد میکنم به دوستداران ژانر علمیتخیلی و علاقهمندان به تاریخ جهان
ممنون از زحمات مترجم و نشر باژ 🔥_🔥
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