It's 1914 and Europe is on the brink of war. But the alternative world created by the author depicts the nations, the weapons, and the politics in a different way than we normally think about WWI. Alek, teenage prince of the Austro-Hungarian empire, is thrust into the middle of things when his parents are assassinated, an event that brings about the war (both in our world and the world of this novel). World powers are divided into the Darwinists and the Clankers. Darwinists, lead by England, use fabricated animals as their weapons and transportation. The Clankers, lead by Germany and Austria, use mechanical steam-driven contraptions. The reader follows Alek (a Clanker) and Deryn, a girl who pretends to be a boy to join England's Darwinist air troops. They both end up on the Leviathan, a living entity of an airship that includes a whale, birds, bats, and countless other creatures that make it function.
The story and setting of the novel are intriguing, but what really sets this book apart are its illustrations. The end pages alone are worth a look as the familiar map of Europe is divided into Clankers, Darwinists, and Neutrals. The black and white drawings throughout the book help us understand the strange machines and events as they are described.
No comments:
Post a Comment