Leviathan

By: Scott Westerfeld

Narrated by: Alan Cumming

Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

It is the cusp of World War I, and all the European powers are arming up. The Austro-Hungarians and Germans have their Clankers, steam-driven iron machines loaded with guns and ammunition. The British Darwinists employ fabricated animals as their weaponry. The Leviathan is a living airship, the most formidable airbeast in the skies of Europe.

Aleksandar Ferdinand, prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battle-torn Stormwalker and a loyal crew of men.

Deryn Sharp is a commoner, a girl disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She's a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.

With the Great War brewing, Alek's and Deryn's paths cross in the most unexpected way - taking them both aboard the Leviathan on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure. One that will change both their lives forever.

©2009 Scott Westerfeld (P)2009 SImon & Schuster

Good clean adventure book for a wide age range

If you could sum up Leviathan in three words, what would they be?

Fun Clean Interesting

Any additional comments?

nice to read a youth fiction book that isn't all about hormonal relationships

Great book!

If you love historical fiction, steampunk and a little romance, this is the book for you! It will set your imagination wild!

A steam punk, well plotted winner. Cummings rules!

What did you love best about Leviathan?

Takes just a wee bit to take off (not long), but very well plotted, wonderfully read by Alan Cummings. You'll really like this a lot.

Less fighting, more characters....

What did you like best about Leviathan? What did you like least?

Loved the idea and the steampunk genre but it ended up being similar too many other war books - LOTS of fighting (yawn) and not enough character development.

Would you ever listen to anything by Scott Westerfeld again?

I might try Uglies

Which character – as performed by Alan Cumming – was your favorite?

Love Alan Cummings - will listen to him again

Did Leviathan inspire you to do anything?

Not read the sequel

Any additional comments?

Wish I could return it but for some reason, I can't.....

great read...er....listen

Simplistic yet intricate. Character driven. A well rounded book. Worth every penny. I woukd recommend this to anyone who enjoys steampunk or want to start reading it

Audiobook is great

What did you love best about Leviathan?

Despite the fact that Leviathan is descent teen adventure book, the audio version is just amazing and great. Printed version has cool images by Keith Thompson though, but not even half as interesting and cool as the audio is.

What about Alan Cumming’s performance did you like?

Alan Cumming is just great. He is the reason that everyone should listen to the book.

Any additional comments?

Get it if you can.

Not Technically Steampunk, but still good.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, I have friends that like other books by the same author that like alternate histories.

Have you listened to any of Alan Cumming’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but I really enjoyed it.

Any additional comments?

Not strictly "Steampunk" this actually falls more inline with "Dieselpunk", both in function of the machines (using diesel as opposed to steam power) and in timeline. Steampunk is usually firmly in the Victorian era. The Great War and the Roaring 20's usually are Dieselpunk.

That being said, this was amazing alternate history that has quite a bit of science fiction. the characters are likeable and colorful.

Nice Steampunk story

What other book might you compare Leviathan to and why?

Leviathan is similar to other steampunk books, notably, the Burton and Swinburne series by Mark Hodder.

Which scene was your favorite?

The action scene were well written and read. I think that the author did a good job of bringing is vision to life in words.

Any additional comments?

I found it interesting that this book breaks from the normal steampunk theme that the English developed mechanics and the Germans developed biomechanics. In this book it was the other way. The English lead by Darwin developed biomachines rather than the German eugenics movement, while the Germans developed huge mechanical weapons. In most other steampunk books it is the other way around. So for that I give the author 4 stars for originality.

4 stars

Leviathan was a good book but doesn't really leave me wanting more, I most likely won't continue with the series

Great Steampunk Adventure

This is one of those audiobooks that took me a bit of time to get in to the story; however, once I did I loved it and didn't want it to end. I liked the friendship that developed between Alek and Deryn and can't wait to see where it goes. The story has tons of mystery of intrigue. I liked how it is close to real history but just slightly different and that difference makes the world a blast. It's taken me forever to start these stories but I think I'll be listening to the rest of them fairly soon.