Leviathan is a young adult book that takes place in an alternate reality, at the beginning of the first World War. The best way to describe it, is to let the author describe it for me (besides, anyone who has been reading this blog for awhile knows what a kick I get out of the fact that there are "book trailers" now).
There are new words that come with this new world, and those take some getting used to, but the author explains those, along with many naval terms, very well.
The story is fast-paced and exciting. We're about half way through the book and I have been enjoying it, but I have had to stop a few times to explain to Blaze what is going on. It would really be better for an older child, maybe 12 and up. The only reason I am reading it to Blaze now, is because I really wanted to read it and reading it aloud to him is the only way I was getting any reading time.
The author of the book, Scott Westerfeld has a truly awesome looking website:
Scott Westerfeld
We've also been enjoying the illustrations by artist Keith Thompson. There are several very detailed black and white drawings, scattered throughout the novel, that Blaze has asked to have time to look over thoroughly before we continue reading. The most impressive illustration, though, is the map at the beginning of the book.
The Great War 1914 Map
If you feel like making a diorama of the story or acting it out as you read, I found this website with free PDFs of paper models of stormwalkers:
http://www.toposolitario.com/workshop/steammecha.html
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