Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

This week’s theme was cyberpunk and steampunk, so I chose to read Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. Cyberpunk most often takes place in space or on different planets, but Leviathan leans more toward steampunk and it takes place in an altered World War I Europe. The biggest difference, however, is that one side of the War is using high tech robots (Clankers) and the other side is using genetically engineered animals (Darwinists).

            Like many sci-fi fantasy novels, the author throws you right into the story without too much pretext. It begins by upending the lives of two youths on opposite sides of the war. Alek is a young noble who embarks on a long journey in an armored walker, fleeing for his life before the escalating war consumes him as it had his parents. Deryn Sharp, a British aeronaut who finds herself working on the airship "Leviathan," a huge hydrogen-breathing whale. Deryn spends most of the book keeping her gender a secret to be in the military as a man. Through Deryn and Alek's viewpoints, the audience gets an idea of the Clanker and Darwinist cultures; how they operate their daily lives, their core values, and through what lens they view each other.

            In this genre, often the world is dystopian instead of utopian. Alek and Deryn’s world is war-ridden and terrifying and dangerous: the perfect dystopian. The heroin trope is also successfully fulfilled through Deryn. It is very popular to have a strong female character that guys can fan-boy over. I would say she is dominant over Alek. Alek gives off a kind of air of preppy superiority that is seen with royal and spoiled characters. Deryn is rugged and experienced and independent that makes her a stronger character.