Leviathan

Westerfeld, S. (2009). Leviathan. NY: Simon Pulse. History is reimagined with a possible world war on the horizon with Darwinist creating living vessels and weapons from animal life strands pitted against the Clankers who depend on machines.  Caught at the center of the turmoil are two teens, Alek and Daryn, pretending to be people they are not for different reasons. Alek is heir to the thrown of Austria after his parents have been murdered to start the war; he pretends to be a boy from no significant origins while the world believes him to also be dead.  Daryn is a girl pretending to be a boy so that she may join the military and fly like her father once did.  As they are both hiding and venturing, the both end up on the same glacier in the Swiss Alps. What would be enemies, soon depend on each other as allies in a race against time and the impending war. The book ends with a cliffhanger. This is a sequel and would be perfect for a book study in World history to compare the parallels between the real World War I and the reimagined version. This book is more of a hybrid in terms of genre. I think of fractured fairy tales and this just might be fractured historical fiction which I guess would make it fantasy. There are a lot of connections to pre WWI and yet many aspects that are pure fantasy. I do however believe that this book might be responsible for the steam punk movement.