Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Leviathan is a war fantasy by the American author, Scott Westerfeld. He’s quite famous for having written science fiction novels. This book is quite related to Science even though it’s a war fiction. It was first published in 2009, and became one of best sellers in the US. Leviathan continues its adventures in the book, Behemoth, and is a historical fiction about World War 1, adding some science developments to it.

The plot is simple. In 1914, the war seems inevitable. Alek is the prince of Austrian Hungary and he hears that his father has been killed by Germans who want war. So he flees for his life with his faithful servants. In Britain, a girl named Deryn, who wants to be a boy joins the military, hiding her gender. She changes her name to Dylan and rides in a big airship, Leviathan. Then, days later, the war breaks out and the whole of Europe goes into war mode.

The story is told in third person, which allows the settings to keep changing between Alek and Deryn every 2 chapters till chapter 23. This is a quite well paced story written in a thought provoking way. You have to think about why; the characters acted in such weird way. For example, Deryn bets her life to save a high ranking military solider. Why?

To me, Leviathan is a very exciting novel. It’s mixed of the past & the future. The warships and the beasts are all science fiction like, but the story itself is based on events from World War 1. Characters do have emotions. It’s got a message of how war can affect others, even a prince. The author and highly recommend this book for teenagers and I agree, because this book looks to me that it’s suitable for teenagers.