Westerfeld – Leviathan

Westerfeld, Scott. Leviathan. New York: Simon Pulse, 2009. 440 pp. illustrated by Keith Thompson.

In 1914, Europe’s great powers prepare for war. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand sends the Kaiser’s mighty dreadnaughts stalking across the land while England’s gigantic flying whales take to skies to defend Britannia…

Yup, that’s right – England’s giant flying whales.

Westerfeld’s Leviathan is a sci-fi/ fantasy alternative history of WWI which blends steampunk sensibilities with an incredibly imaginative & innovative take on genetic manipulation. The story follows Alek, the (entirely fictional) only son of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (not to be confused with the other Franz Ferdinand) as he flees the “Clanker” (i.e. Central) Powers of Austria-Hungary & Germany to the relative safety of neutral Switzerland. Meanwhile, Deryn Sharp poses as a boy in order to enlist in England’s royal air corp in order to follow in the footsteps of her aeronaut father & brother. England, France & Russia (the Entente Powers) are all “Darwinist” states; instead of mechanical technology, they use genetics to ‘evolve’ hybrid monsters designed for war – such as the Leviathan of the book’s title; a gigantic hydrogen-filled zeppelin-like flying whale. The Clankers eschew Darwinist ideologies; using instead sophisticated mechanized walkers ranging in size up to the 6-legged warship-like land dreadnaughts.

I have very mixed feelings about Leviathan. This is the first of Westerfeld’s books that I’ve read (I know, I know, shame on me for not reading the Uglies series), so I don’t know how they usually go, but frankly; I found the story clumsy. So clumsy in fact, that I would be sorely tempted to write it off entirely were it not for the INCREDIBLY imaginative world that the story’s set in. The Clanker half of the equation is well done & creative – novel enough in itself, but following an established topos. For the Clankers alone, I would have read the story. However, the whole concept of the Darwinists simply blew me away. The WWI British army using ‘elephantines’ to pull their tank-like war-chariots!? Jellyfish-based living hot air balloons for reconnaissance? Communication lizards which can record & mimic human voice-messages! Flechette bats which eat fruit filled with chunks of metal – only to ‘release’ them upon enemy positions!? Not to mention the Leviathan itself – not just a genetically-engineered flying whale, but an entire ecosystem unto itself; sustained by flocks of designed birds & bees who harvest food for the system from the surrounding countryside. It’s not often that I’m so floored by the power of an author’s imagination, but the world of Leviathan is simply incredible. Furthermore, Keith Thompson’s fantastic illustrations bring the entire world to life in an almost magical way. The Clankers’ mecha is everything you could hope for & Thompson’s Darwinist monsters manage to balance their strange surreality with the mundane everyday feel that they’re supposed to have. If I have any critique of the illustrations, it’s simply that they feel more WWII –era that WWI, but with the advanced technology of the Leviathan world, this is entirely understandable.

So, perhaps you’ll understand my sorrow about how crummy the story itself is. Naturally, Alek & Deryn’s respective stories are brought together & a fast friendship is formed. But here’s the thing: Deryn is a jerk. Her jerkiness is so utterly jerktastic that there is NO WAY her & Alek should become friends. Mr. Westerfeld; the entire situation strains credibility sir! I mean, ok; I’ll believe the whole Alek has to flee to Switzerland thing & then risks his own life & that of his men to save the downed British luftwalfisch which is, by the way, considered a shudderingly-verboten abomination in the eyes of the properly God-fearing Clankers but he approaches it anyway. And, ok; I’ll believe the Deryn-posing-as-a-boy to join the service/ getting rescued by the most famous ship in the sky/ being the best middie on the crew/ becoming the favorite lackey of the famous Boffin thing, too. That stuff’s the meat&potatoes of YA lit. But that Aleksander, son & heir of the Archduke of Austria-Hungary should not only take such jerkitude from a tiny blustering little English jerkshipsman, but then become friends with him(her) is simply too much. I can handle convention, but would it kill the author to provide at least a pretence of natural interaction!? The narrative did a good job giving us a tour of Westerfeld’s amazing world, but as a story it stunk.

So where does this leave Leviathan on mr. eugene’s book rating scale? I’m giving it a Check it Out rating. It really should be read – it is simply mind bogglingly creative & the illustrations make the book itself an absolute gem to flip through (there’s an incredible map of Europe with Clanker & Darwinist states depicted as an amalgam of their collective technologies on the inside of the cover). However, the bummer of the story itself really detracts from the book. It’s so sad when something which really should be so good ends up so bad. There’s obviously a sequel on its way, but I unfortunately can’t look forward to it without cringing just a little.