Leviathan

Written by Scott Westerfeld

Narrated by Alan Cumming

It is the cusp of World War I. The Austro-Hungarians and Germans have their Clankers, steam-driven iron machines loaded with guns and ammunition. The British Darwinists employ genetically fabricated animals as their weaponry. Their Leviathan is a whale airship, and the most masterful beast in the British fleet.

Aleksandar Ferdinand, a Clanker, and Deryn Sharp, a Darwinist, are on opposite sides of the war. But their 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Oct 6, 2009
• ISBN: 9780743583893

Scott Westerfeld

Scott Westerfeld is the author of the Leviathan series, the first book of which was the winner of the 2010 Locus Award for Best Young Adult Fiction. His other novels include the New York Times bestseller Afterworlds, the worldwide bestselling Uglies series, The Last Days, Peeps, So Yesterday, and the Midnighters trilogy. Visit him at ScottWesterfeld.com or follow him on Twitter at @ScottWesterfeld.

Reviews for Leviathan

[Matthew Jennings · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Leviathan is a fun listen. The setting is fantastical but still feels fairly grounded. The narrator put the effort in with approximating Austrian and Scottish accents which I appreciate in an audiobook. Perfect intersection of althistory and steampunk. Overall just a good solid book with not a ton of issues. Not that it matters a whole lot but it even passes the bechdel test haha

[ddbrown201 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my favorite books this year (and no, I don't say that about every book I read.) Full of exciting adventure and unusual creatures. Love the steampunk combination of past and present rolled into one. A MUST READ for my middle school students who love Fantasy and Adventure books

[readerspeak_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Barking spiders! I can see why this is a popular book with students - a lot of action, secrets the characters are terrified to reveal, and a lot of weird creatures and war machines.

[aubergine_mood · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld is an amazing step into a totally new yet familiar territory. A world of war where two young adventurers with living machines and mechanoids battling for survival. The book has black and white illustrations by Keith Thompson throughout that help bring the story alive. If you like steampunk then you should enjoy this series.

[tpausilver · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I did enjoy this book. It's a good, solid young adult book with steampunk themes. An alternate reality set around world war 1 with our two sides, the axis being replaced by the clankers who drive machines and the alies replaced by the Darwinists who use aircraft and such manufactured out of living organisms. And I do get sick of the way sci-fi in general warps biology but that's just my inner biologist speaking. So we suspend disbeliefe and on with the story. We have two characters, one from each side (only not realy because nobody realy sided with the Nazis). Alex, the son of Archduke Ferdinand, is on the run to save his own life and, representing the Darwinists, a girl disguised as a man so that she can work for the air foces. Both kind of cliche and the book does nothing to break the cliches but whatever. The airship goes down (really, there's a reason we don't use zeplins for war. I mean, come on! You're inventing giant floating beasts, surely you can think of something better to fill them with then a highly explosive gas?) and the protagonists meet. There is friendship, the inevitable hint of potential future romance, and the set up for the next book in the series. I have to admit that bugs me a little. A solid set up for the next book in the series. I feel almost as though the book doesn't work as a book on it's own, it's a set up for the next book. Which is fine but title it "The levianthan trilogy part 1" or whatever. Picking up what I expect to be an independent book and finding it to be just a set up for another book annoys me no end. But it is a good, solid, non-boundary-pushing example of young adult steampunk. So, yeah.

[angevon · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved it until the end. I panicked when I flipped the page after the last chapter and found the afterword there instead of another chapter. It ended arbitrarily, moving straight into the next book. I was grateful to find that there is a sequel (titled Behemoth), but I am still unsettled by it.

The story feels familiar - you've got an orphan prince on the run from people out to kill him, and you've also got a girl pretending to be a boy so that she can join the military. What makes the story interesting is the strangeness of the world.

There's a flying whale and mechas (this is an oversimplification).

More details: England and its allies have developed gene splicing to created "fabs" -- fabricated animals that are built of parts combined from other animals. Germany and its allies have developed steampunk-style machinery, all engines and metal. The story takes place on the cusp of World War I as these very different powers prepare to go to war.

[julie_loves_to_read · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book came well recommended, and unlike some of the other "Steampunk" I've tried, this volume lived up to the recommendations. While shelved under "YA," and while they might miss the incipient romance at the heart of the story, Leviathan would be appropriate for middle-grade readers as well. At heart, this is a coming of age story. I do like a good coming of age story.

[elizajane_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Reason for Reading: I've always wanted to read the author, and the steampunk element appealed to me.This just didn't work for me. I managed to read 142 out of 440 pages. I was bored with it. I had been looking for the steampunk of Arthur Slade or Kenneth Oppel but ended up with the alternate history of Harry Turtledove. I just can't stand alternate military history and this being set in an alternate WWI was too much about the politics of their war which bored me and not enough about the characters' stories away from the war, which I would have liked. And the animals turned into machines was absolutely disgusting to me, not something my stomach could handle. Just not my thing. I still intend to try the author's Uglies series.

[kmartin802_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This story is a combination of alternate history and steampunk. It takes place in 1914 when Europe is on the verge of war. It stars Deryn Sharp who has disguised herself as a boy now named Dylan and joined the air corps. She finds herself as a middie on the Leviathan which is a living ship made up of a number of fabricated animals. Deryn and her people are Darwinists because, in this world, Darwin discovered DNA and a craze for creating all sorts of new living beings began. It also stars Aleksandar who is the son of Archduke Ferdinand. It begins when the Archduke and his wife are assassinated and Alex's loyal subjects are trying to get him to Switzerland and safety. Austia-Hungary is the land of the Clankers. Alex's people have developed all sorts of interesting machines. In fact, they flee in a walker which is sort of like a tank with legs. The two kids converge on a glacier in Switzerland which is where the Leviathan is forced to land after being attacked by German airships. Alex and his cohorts have a secret base there where his men hope he will spend the war. But he has to see if he can help when the ship comes down.They have to work together when the forces searching for him and for the Leviathan converge. Add to this a science boffin named Nora Darwin Barlow who has an urgent need to get some egg to the Ottoman Empire and you have all sorts of action.I loved all the steampunk details both of the Clanker's technology and the Darwinist's beasties. I also like the friendship that grew between "Dylan" and Alex. Deryn was a great character who is determined to be who she wants to be despite the handicap of her gender. She is brave, smart and adventurous.The story continues in BEHEMOTH and I can't wait to read it.

[kordo_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Leviathan" takes place during World War One in an alternate universe divided between the Darwinists (France, England and Russia) who use biologically engineer weapons made from animals and the Clankers (Austria-Hungry and Germany) who use advanced steam punk weapons.The plot follows the stories of Alex, the heir to Austria-Hungary's throne, and Dylan, a young girl who disguised herself as a boy to join the British airship forces. The story follows their two lives as they quickly intertwine, all while an alternate World War One rages around them.

[Summer Wright · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely love this series, and the narrator is great! I read this originally about 7-8 years ago, and honestly a lot of it I couldn't understand at that point. I only remembered the basic premise, but I remembered enjoying what I did understand. Finally, I decided to check out the audio books and binged all 3 of them in 3 days. Love all the different voices and accents, definitely helps make it very immersive.

[paigem-2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was very fun read! WWI meets Star Wars!

[maureene87 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I tore through this one. Very exciting! Alternate realities with living warships and walking machines! I would have loved it around age fifteen or so–which isn’t to suggest that I don’t like it now. I did feel that prose-wise it wasn’t super exciting, and I’m not sure I always believed in Deryn/Dylan. I lent it to my brother today and I’m waiting to see what he thinks. [May 2010]

[carol_w-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I don’t know if this book is intended to be Young Adult fiction. It certainly could be, given the ages of the two central characters. Taken as a YA, some of the book’s absurdities become easier to swallow. I gave it four stars on that basis, and because it’s well-written and I enjoyed it.I found this steampunk/bio-punk alternative history to be an engaging bit of improbable fluff. As a one-time practicing biologist, I can in no way endorse this story as a work of science fiction. Imagine that you could manipulate the life threads (DNA) of various organisms to assemble living machines that could do pretty much whatever you wanted in the way that mechanical engineers assemble bits of hardware and electrical wiring – and remember that this is happening sometime back around 1900 at the onset of World War I. It’s pure fantasy. And to top it off, the people in this story who make non-biological machines have somehow gotten stuck on walkers.I have to say that the world-building is nicely described and well-detailed, even if the world in question is basically pretty ridiculous. The writing quality is generally quite good, which is a major saving grace. The characters are also very well-crafted. It was a pleasure watching the two central characters get brought together by circumstances. They’re a bit young for this to become a full-blown romance, which is probably just as well since he’s the son of the murdered Archduke Ferdinand, and she’s a delightfully common young Scot, meaning that any romance is likely to be thwarted. This is book one, and the story obviously will be continued in the next one, “Behemoth.” I’m still trying to decide whether to indulge myself in the second book.

[dinelson_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this steampunk alternative history of WWI. The characters were well developed and interesting. Great imagery and a creative story... a good read!

[wealhtheowwylfing · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It's 1914 and Alek's parents have just been killed. His tutors hustle him out of bed and help him escape in a monstrous steam-powered mecha. Meanwhile, across the ocean, teenaged Deryn Sharp is preparing for her exams. To join the Airforce, she'll have to exhibit bravery, wit...and pass as a boy. Their fates will become entwined, as their nations edge toward war with each other.

I think my expectations were too high. Scott Westerfeld was one of my favorite authors for a few years (to the extent that I stalked him at Wiscon, asked enumerable questions at his reading, and then pounced on him directly after to tell him how fantastic he is), and I'm a huge fan of alternate histories, ya, and genemods. And yet...somehow I didn't love this book. In fact, I barely liked it. The world building feels lazy, and the characters are not well drawn. Deryn is very inconsistent--supposedly her father taught her everything about airships and took her flying, and so she finds her lessons very easy...and yet for some reason she has to be taught "fore" and "aft"? She's 15, but she acts and thinks like someone years younger. As a character, Alek hangs together better, and I was interested in his slow awakening to class differences and the lives of the poor. But when they meet, they each become cardboard cutouts of character types again. The plot is nothing special. The big reveals are telegraphed from the start. All in all, worth reading, but don't get your hopes up.

[salsabrarian · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Narrated by Alan Cumming (yes, that Alan Cumming!). I have to say much of the technical airship action scenes floated over my head, and I probably would have appreciated it more in print. But then I would have missed Alan Cumming's great voice work which gives the story a continental air. Scott Westerfeld's alternate take on the eve of the Great War and the culture clash of Darwinists versus Clankers creates a beguiling society. The ending guarantees return readers for the sequel.

[wanderlustlover_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Adorably started, these children stole my heart right from the very start. Because I read all three of these novels in one week, they all kind of blur in my head. So I'm going to write them all one big review pretty much.


This series is promising to become one of top ten my favorite mini-series I would read in the early part of this year/all of 2012 (so far, as we area only 1/3 of the way in). I was captivated with how things happened, the slow reveal, how our characters learned things, how they handled ending up places, what was more important morality among people or loyalty to a cause.

The illustrations made my heart sore every time. I like that the children aren't super-people by the end, but still feeling their way through the world. I adore madly the Lady Boffin and The Count. I want to know ssssoo much more about the gifted pets, because you know they go, continuing to be awesome.


If you have not read this series (and I was already one of the late, late comers, with the series already completely when I found it), You Should Be Now. Go, go. Get copies. Giggle and love it.

[smorton11 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Like Marie Lu, Scott Westerfeld is an author who walks the line between middle grades and young adult. Each of his series, and there are many, including the Uglies, are accessible reads for middle schoolers, high schoolers, and adults alike. His effective storytelling and dynamic characters insures that one will never be bored when reading his books and they have great staying power – Uglies, published over 10 years ago, is still a staple in bookstores and on school reading lists.

But I wasn’t particularly intrigued by Uglies, I was much more intrigued by Westerfeld’s take on the start of World War I and his Darwinists and Clankers. The British Darwinists have woven together the “life-threads” of various animals to create everything from great flying whale ships to messenger lizards and many “beasties” inbetween. The German & Austrohungarians have crafted mechanical machines, referred to as “clankers.” Main characters Alek and Deryn are often trying to one-up each other in terms of determining which are better, beasties or clankers. Steampunk definitely suits Westerfeld’s storytelling style.

Leviathan, told in third person but in alternating perspectives between Deryn (Dylan) and Alek, weaves together a complex tapestry of the motivations behind the start of World War I, blending fact and fiction until you have to forcibly remind yourself that the British didn’t set off across the continent in a giant whale zeppelin. As with Legend, Leviathan is the perfect book for both boys and girls of all ages, especially for teenagers who love a good adventure that doesn’t center on romance.

[benkaboo-51322 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

What I liked about this book:

The setting: is vivid and romantic. The included pictures are almost mandatory so that I can envisage the fantastical creations of the author's imagination. I also really liked the WWI alternative history setting. It's a fun way to do your history lessons again and get a little look into life at the time.

The pace: It's quite a short book (appropriate for the audience) and I think the author keeps the pace going nicely so the action never really stops.

What I thought could have been improved.

I can't really put my finger on it, but I think the word that comes to mind is 'sparse'. Maybe as a consequence of the audience or the format, but I kind of got the feeling that the book had only as much description, dialogue etc to get the story from point A to point B. I think I would have liked a few more non-plot-advancing interactions. An example of when this did happen was Dylan's interactions with some of the other Midshipmen (I think his name was Fitzroy or something like that). I think more of this sort of thing would have increased my enjoyment of the story and understanding of the characters.

[reallifereading · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What made this a 4 star book for me was the narration by Alan Cumming. He was an absolute delight to listen to. I enjoyed all the ideas thrown together in the Clanker-Darwinist machinery/beasties. It was fun to imagine the Leviathan, bats and all. But I felt that Deryn “Barking Spiders” seemed a lot younger than the 15 she is meant to be. She seemed more like 11, 12 at the most.
It was quite action packed and exciting and I understand the book itself has some fun illustrations.
But I’m going to stick with the Alan Cumming narration.

[adlanji · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Read this back in high school at a friend's recommendation and immediately went to the bookstore to buy the entire trilogy.Wonderful blend of history and science, a fantastic "what if", and as someone who ended up studying biology and math in undergrad, this book was definitely up my alley of interest.

[jamestomasino · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A really interesting steam-punk-ish world with vibrant characters. This is the start of a very cool series. Well paced and written.

[annawaffles · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Read Harder 2019: An alternate history novel.

I don't know why it took me so long to read this one. I've started it several times, but it took a reading challenge to get me to finish it. But it was so good! The further along I got, the more I wanted to read. And what an ending! Thank goodness the series is already finished, because I don't think I could stand the wait.

PS - This is a great options for younger teens who are done with Percy Jackson and the like but aren't ready for more mature content.

[melrailey-412132 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[linyarai · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this book for the "A Science Fiction Novel " part of my 2018 reading challenge. It was really weird and yet really interesting. The Darwinists vs. Clankers was a neat twist, and the biology of the air creatures was well done. The plot never advanced too far, it felt like this book was mostly just introducing characters and setting everything up.

[cindywho-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Was pleasantly surprised to find Alan Cumming narrates. Fun and silly steampunk YA

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld is the opening book in his steampunk series of the same name. In this volume the author establishes his characters and sets the scene for this alternative version of World War I. In this book the Austrians and Germans are referred to as the Clankers, as they rely on mechanics for their weapons of war, while the English and their allies are called “Darwinists” as they have mastered the art of DNA manipulation to create organic weapons.Although the two main characters seemed a little young and the story too simplified, this is a YA book that I can certainly see young people loving. Alek is the unacknowledged crown prince of the Austrian Empire but he is on the run while being hunted by his uncle, the current Emperor. His mother was a commoner and as such, her offspring are not considered “royal” enough to ascend the throne. Nevertheless, times are changing and his uncle wants to exterminate this threat. Deryn is a young Darwinist female masquerading as a boy in order to be in the military service and learn to master the art of flying the huge airships that they use. She grew up with a balloonist father and has an affinity for flying. As a midshipman she appears to have the ability to always be in the centre of things. The two meet, and at this point form a friendship that I am sure will develop into more as they mature in the later books. In Leviathan, the two main characters are introduced and firmly established but they don’t actually meet until about halfway through the book. I fully appreciated how the author uses humor and imagination to draw his readers into this strange world peopled with unusual gadgets, fabulous beasts, and intriguing characters. This opening book of the steampunk adventure would definitely appeal to both the young and the young-at-heart.

[gilroy_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm wanting to poke into more steam punk reading and this is always high on the list of such genre books. It was an interesting read. I admit, Alan Cumming is a unique voice to listen to this, as I keep wanting to laugh more than the story is actually presenting. The book is a unique take on a steam punk-esk world. Two different takes on what direction science could go: genetic manipulation or mechanical expansion Two protagonists start on separate story lines with their take on the world and when they meet ... things get a little more mixed up. I actually like how Deryn calls all the creatures beasties. With it coming from Alan Cumming, in a true Brit accent, that's just so cool.Steam punk always has a feel of being a historical fiction with their alternate history elements. I'm not usually a historical fiction fan, still learning to enjoy some of the steam punk that's out there. But this one felt quite enjoyable. I got a little dizzy with the shifting POV, but it worked out in the end.

[damred-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What a great book. Loved how the author wrote it, switch point of views per characters.

The characters were decent and interesting, the story itself was fast paced. I'm going to look at getting the next books in the series.