Goliath (ARC)

Back with another ARC review from the wonderful ARC tour site, Around the World ARC Tours (Link at the end of the post) I have a review of Goliath the final book in the epic Leviathan trilogy! Summary: Alek and Deryn are on the last leg of their round-the-world quest to end World War I, reclaim Alek’s throne as prince of Austria, and finally fall in love. The first two objectives are complicated by the fact that their ship, the Leviathan, continues to detour farther away from the heart of the war (and crown). And the love thing would be a lot easier if Alek knew Deryn was a girl. (She has to pose as a boy in order to serve in the British Air Service.) And if they weren’t technically enemies.

The tension thickens as the Leviathan steams toward New York City with a homicidal lunatic on board: secrets suddenly unravel, characters reappear, and nothing is at it seems in this thunderous conclusion to Scott Westerfeld’s brilliant trilogy.

If you're a long-time follower of the blog, then you know how much I adore this trilogy. Steampunk is becoming one of my favorite genres and I love the way Westerfeld depicts WWI as steam-powered war machines (Clankers) vs fabricated beasts (Darwinists).

The book starts with the Leviathan on the way toward Japan. On that crossing, Alek finally finds out Deryn is a girl. And then their relationship thickens and the plot builds. Alek is pretty angry at first. I would be too if my "best friend" had such a big secret. And even worse, had a crush on me. But Alek is willing to forgive and then finds out he might have some feelings for her too.

Another part of this book I adored was Westerfeld's portrayal of Nickola Tesla, yes, that Nickola Tesla. Except in this book he's a bit crazier and a little scary. And wants to end the war by destroying and in the process murder many citizens in Berlin. He thinks that if he does that then the Germans will see "This dude's not worth messing with" except it would probably go more like this "Holly cow! That dude just destroyed one of our jewel cities. Kill him on sight!" but that's Tesla for you!

I thought that all the characters in this book has developed a lot more since the first two, especially Alek and to a lesser degree Deryn. Alek finally figures out that one man can't stop a war, even if it's a war his family feud started, and Deryn realizes that she has a choice, either be with Alek or continue to serve her country. She continues to swear like no once else can!

The settings continue to evolve and amaze me in this series. For the first two books we only have seen Darwinism and Clankerism being practiced in Europe, in this one we get to see the Darwinist and Clanker powers in Asia, Mexico and the United States -- the United States being most interesting because the country is separated, half Darwinist, half Clanker.

I'm really sad to see the end to this trilogy, because it's so barking awesome (I'll be swearing like Deryn for a few weeks now) and I've loved all the characters in it, especially Bovril, the very cute Darwin creation who says words at random (or so we think).

You must read this book, case closed.

5/5

Book Battle Update: 22nd book read in the Book Battle, I heard from Maddz today and she's read 21.

Thanks so much to Around the World ARC Tours for organizing this tour!