Module 5 - Leviathan

Book Cover

Book Summary
Deryn poses as a boy to join the British Air Service.  Alek is the son of the Archduke.  It is the beginning of World War I, but not quite.  In this story, the Germans and their allies use giant steam-powered war machines.  And the British and their allies use genetically altered animals.  The Darwinists and the Clankers are heading into war when Deryn and Alek meet and must figure out how to work together for the good of both.

APA Reference of Book
Westerfeld, S. (2009). Leviathan. New York, NY: Simon Pulse.

Impressions
I really enjoyed this book.  The steampunk take on a historical situation works really well.  The historical parts of the story are pretty accurate and the invented technology is fascinating.  Westerfeld finds a good balance between explaining the technology of both sides enough that the reader can understand the good and bad of each way of thinking without going into so much detail that the reader is bored or confused.  I look forward to finishing the series.

Professional Review
"The fate of many rests in the hands of an Austrian schoolboy and a British airman, both in disguise. Alek is the son of the recently assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, hiding from European nations hostile to his father. Midshipman Dylan is really Deryn, a girl passing as a boy in order to serve in the British Air Service. Alek has fled home in a steam-powered Stormwalker, one of the great manned war machines of the Central Powers. Meanwhile, Deryn's berth is on a massive airbeast, a genetically engineered hydrogen-breather, one of the Darwinist ships of the Allied Powers. The growing hostilities of what is soon to become the Great War throw the two together, and Darwinists and Clankers must work together if they all want to survive. Two Imperial forces meet, one built with steam and the other built with DNA, producing rich, vivid descriptions of the technologies that divide a continent. The setting begs comparisons to Hayao Miyazaki, Kenneth Oppel and Naomi Novik, but this work will stand--or fly--on its own. (Science fiction. 12-15)"

[Review of Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld]. (2009). Kirkus Reviews, 77(17), 965.  Retrieved from: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/

Library Uses
This book would be a great lead in to discussing World War I.  Even thought the book is a science fiction version of the events, the basics are there and Alek's story makes the events more relatable for students.  The scene where Count Volger and Alek are fencing in the barn and Volger keeps asking him questions about politics would be a great starting place for describing how all the alliances led to the war.  The Afterward gives the historical background for the events of the book and would help with tying the book into the history lesson.