Review: 28. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld...

I really enjoyed Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series, and love the cover of Leviathan. So. What else was there to do but pick it up and read it?

Title: Leviathan (Leviathan #1)
Author: Scott Westerfeld
ISBN-13: 9781416971740
eBook
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2010
Purchase at IndieBound, Amazon, The Book Depository
Source: Purchased

drey's thoughts:
Scott Westerfeld's world in Leviathan is something like Star Wars vs. Darwin experimentalism, set during the beginning of World War I. The Archduke Ferdinand and his wife are assassinated, and his heir Aleksandar is whisked off into a machine that brings to mind the AT-AT (but with only two legs), hopefully towards safety.

At the same time Deryn Sharp is masquerading as a boy, so she can train to be a airman with the British Air Service. Only thing is, she's not quite going to be in an airplane... Instead she's on a huge floating whale that's kinda like a blimp that's alive (or is it a blimp that's a whale?).

The Darwinists use animals and biology and the ecosystem, and the Clankers use machines. And it looks like they're headed towards a showdown as countries draw sides in the aftermath of the assassination. So what happens when Aleks and Deryn meet in the remote mountains in Switzerland?

Character: Deryn and Aleks are two very different teens. One's fighting convention so she can do what she loves, and the other has his entire world turned upside down when his parents are killed. But both are likable teens. They're smart and sassy and funny and honest, and handle adversity pretty darn unbelievably well for teenagers... I think I like 'em! *grin*

Pace & Plot: Leviathan starts on a good pace, and moves at a good clip. There's a lot of ground to cover, after all, and with two storylines to boot. The plot doesn't veer too far from history, even if WWI never saw flying whales or giant two-legged machines. And there's lots to keep you interested as you turn the pages to see how Aleks and Deryn fare.

drey's rating: 4/5 Excellent: This is my first steampunk novel, and I loved it! I can't wait to pick up Behemoth!

Have you read Leviathan? What did you think?

2011 challenge: Steampunk

35. Extras by Scott Westerfeld...

Extras explores the world after Tally Youngblood's successful overthrow of the super-controlled regimes in Uglies/Pretties/Specials. It's set in a Japanese city, where everything that matters is your reputation, built on the feeds you kick (record, splice, and send) to the world. Why am I not surprised? =P

Aya Fuse is fifteen, with a just-about-invisible reputation rank - around the half-million mark. She takes her hovercam around to try and find something that'll get her rank up. One night she sees some girls hitching a ride on the train (literally, and so what if it's going 300 km/h?), and decides that that'll be her next big feed. So she sets out to infiltrate the clique, only to learn that they don't want to be famous.

Willing to do anything for a story, Aya convinces the Sly Girls that she wants nothing more than to hang with them. And during her first train ride, she finds out that the train tunnel under a mountain hides more than the Sly Girls on the train. When they go back to explore, Aya makes sure she's got her cams recording, and splices together the feed that puts her in the top echelon in the city. Now, whomever's using that mountain is after Aya and her friends, all easily identified by her kick.

This follow-up to the Uglies trilogy can be read as a standalone. Tally isn't the main entree, but does make an appearance (dessert?)... I found it a satisfying what-happens-after story.

Title: Extras
Author: Scott Westerfeld
ISBN-10: 1-416-95117-2
ISBN-13: 978-1-416-95117-9
Hardcover: 372 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse, 2007

34. Specials by Scott Westerfeld...

Title: Specials
Author: Scott Westerfeld
ISBN-10: 0-689-86540-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-689-86540-4
Paperback: 372 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse, 2006

Tally's now a Special, along with Shay and the other Cutters. And boy, are they special. Everything's sharper and brighter. They have better hearing and vision, and can self-heal cuts and wounds.

Zane isn't one, though, and Tally and Shay come up with a plan to convince Dr. Cable to make him one, too. What happens instead provides an excuse for Dr. Cable to take over the City.

Tally leaves, again. She finds that the Smokies have found another safe haven, this one much bigger than a camp in the woods. And they've found another way to be bubbly, one that's safer than the brain-eating nanos. She finds out that there are more Smokies than she could ever imagine, and other Cities are facing the same rebellion against conformity and control.

Tally's been through way lots for only being sixteen. She still makes decisions like a teenager, albeit a little-more-grounded-than-you'd-expect teenager, what with being Special and all. I wonder if this book completes Tally's story, or if Extras brings more chaos into Tally's teenage life.

33. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld...

Title: Pretties
Author: Scott Westerfeld
ISBN-10: 0-689-86539-2
ISBN-13: 978-0-689-86539-8
Paperback: 370 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse, 2005

Pretties continues Tally's story where Uglies left off. Tally is now a Pretty, living in New Pretty Town. She hangs with Shay in a clique called the Crims, and goes to parties and other organized fun events.

While hanging with the Crims, Tally discovers that adrenaline rushes trigger memories that her operation had tucked away. And remembers the time when she was not - not Pretty, not in the City, not conforming.

She leaves the City again, and on this adventure finds a tribal society set up for the sole purpose of being the subjects of an anthropological study. She meets up with David again, only to end up back in the City (I'm trying to not put in spoilers, but it's so difficult!).

Pretties casts more light on society and what people will do to maintain the illusion of control over their surroundings, en masse. Not pretty at all...

I'm off to start Specials, and find out what happens to Tally on this trip back to the City.

Teaser Tuesdays ~ Feb. 3rd...

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall to a random page.
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• Share the title of the book that you're getting your teaser from... That way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

Back in the village the men always at first, and the women and littlies got leftovers. Tally was a god, of course, and in some ways they had treated her as an honorary man, but some habits died hard.

Pretties, Scott Westerfeld ~ pg. 287

28. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Title: Uglies
Author: Scott Westerfeld
ISBN-10: 0-689-86538-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-689-86538-1
Paperback: 425 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse, 2005

The world is very different from the one we know now. Cities are smaller, and very compact. Everything is done with the aid of technology - including walls that absorb discarded items and recycles them. And where you wait until your sixteenth birthday, eagerly anticipating the process that will make you a Pretty. Because, duh, you're just an Ugly till then.

Tally Youngblood is one of those anxiously waiting for her sixteenth birthday. She's the last of her friends to turn Pretty, and she can't wait. She meets Shay, another Ugly, who shares the same birthday. Shay takes Tally adventuring beyond the city limits, telling her that there are people, Uglies, who live "outside," in the Smokes, where they don't have to become Pretty.

Then Shay runs away. And Tally is told that in order to be Pretty, she'll have to track Shay down and lead the Specials (for Special Circumstances) to the Smokes. And even though Tally doesn't want to betray her friend, she has to do this, because she just has to be Pretty. Because what would life be, if you're not Pretty?

Uglies is a captivating story where the main character has her eyes opened to the reality of the world she lives in. One where normal is biologically unacceptable, and everyone goes under the knife to achieve perfection. It is the story of her need to conform, followed by her understanding that there can be a different view of life - one where you don't have to be what you're told, and can be who you want. And as understanding and realization grow, the need to be Pretty doesn't seem so pressing anymore.

I've now got Pretties on my library queue. I cannot wait to read what happens next to Tally...

Teaser Tuesdays ~ Jan. 27...

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall to a random page.
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• Share the title of the book that you're getting your teaser from... That way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

"I didn't want to be around when everyone realized what was happening. In case they got mad at me."
Uglies, Scott Westerfeld ~ pg. 305