The year is 1914 and Europe, armed with futuristic machines and biotechnology, is on the precipice of war. Prince Aleksandar is fleeing for his life, having discovered that his parents have been assassinated and that he is now a target for the Clanker Powers, a group determined to take over the globe with their mechanical machinery. They will stop at nothing to get what they want, so Alek knows his only choice is to keep on running. When he meets Deryn Sharpe, an orphan girl who has disguised herself as a boy so she can to join the British Air Service, they form an uneasy, but necessary, alliance. But the pair will soon discover that their emerging friendship will dramatically change their lives and the entire course of the Great World War...
As the first in the series, there was definitely a lot of development done in order to get the story moving along. Overall, I thought that the writing was too slow and I had a hard time getting into it. I'm rusty on my history, and I thought that it would have helped me a lot to understand what was going on.
However, I do believe that Leviathan has a lot of potential. I was fascinated by the "beasties" in the story and how they worked against the clankers' machines. The descriptions were vivid, and I was able to get a good sense of these futuristic objects, though the beautiful illustrations did a lot of help to paint the picture.
Though I am disappointed with the first book, I will continue to read the series and see where it leads to.
Reading updates
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Started reading
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20 April, 2010:
Finished reading
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20 April, 2010:
Reviewed