Robots and Vamps

Reviewed by Matt

Disclosure: This novel was purchased by the reviewer’s own hard earned cash.

Scott Westerfeld has been one of my favorite author’s over the last several years. His Succession novels and Ugly series are ones that I enjoyed immensely so I was really looking forward to his entry into Steampunk. A word of caution though, this is a first book in a series and the novel ends without resolving any of the major plot threads. This is good news as this looks to be a highly entertaining series.

As with any Steampunk book the author picks a point in history, rearranges some of the facts and introduces some advances in technology. Mr. Westerfeld picks his time period as 1914 and the events that lead into World War I. This is an excellent choice because it was a turbulent and bloody period that has the world moving out of the Victorian Era and into modern times. The were numerous and convoluted events that lead the European countries into World War I but the final spark was the assassination of the Archduke to the Austria-Hungry empire by Serbia nationalists. Leviathan follows the same path but the Archduke actually lives through the initial fire fight but is poisoned later in the day by unknown assassins. The Germans quickly begin to move on Serbia which is under the protection of Russia. Once Germany declares war on Russia, this forces France into the war due to their treaties with Russia. From this point it is free for all with Great Britain jumping in on the side of the Allies. The real historical events led to the tragic 4 year war that killed an estimated 15 million people and hopefully will never be repeated.

The novel alternates between the two main characters, Aleksander Ferdinand and Deryn Sharp. Alek is the son of the Austria-Hungry Archduke but not the legally recognized heir because his mother did not have sufficient royal blood and he is detested by the German Emperor. When Alek’s parents are assassinated this sets off a series of plans to protect him from also being killed. Count Volger, Alek’s fencing instructor, and Otto Klopp, Alek’s instructor on Clankers, steal Alek away in the middle of night by borrowing a Stormwalker. A Stormwalker is very large two-legged battle machine that has one cannon and two machine guns. Their plan is to race to Swiss border and dodge German troops who are out to kill him as he is the last heir to the Empire. In Mr. Westerfeld’s world, the Germans, Austria-Hungary’s, etc use Clankers and other various machines as their weapons of war.

Deryn Sharp is a young British girl who pretends to be boy in order to join the British Air Service. Through a series of crazy events Deryn gets assigned to the airship Leviathan. The Leviathan is dispatched to take Dr. Nora Barlow on secret mission to the Ottoman Empire. Unfortunately the Leviathan is forced to cross hostile territory as war is breaking out between Germany and Great Britain.

The British are known as Darwinists, which are at the opposite end of the spectrum as are the Clankers. The Darwinists design their weapons of war by cross-breading and alternating an animals DNA to create their beasties. Think of the Leviathan as a extremely large flying whale that contains numerous living creatures that make up individual components.

The real impressive part of this novel is the illustrations. The publishers went old school by including between one to two illustrations per chapter. The illustrations were done by Keith Thompson and are incredible adding a whole new level of enjoyment to the story that is rarely seen into today’s books. The purchase price alone is worth the artwork contained in this novel.

One again, Mr. Westerfeld did not let me down. This is a solid, well written story that has certain cool factor to it. It is one of the few YA novels that will really appeal to young men as it does not involve vampires, super natural romance, etc. In addition, there are no sexually suggestive scenes and no foul language that I can remember. It is truly one that can be enjoyed by parents and their kids equally and maybe even inspire them to learn about the real history of The Great War.

Mr. Westerfeld has another creative and highly imaginative series on his hands that will entertain young and old alike. It was a joy to read this novel and I am excited for the future volumes in this series.

Author’s website: Scott Westerfeld