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Steampunk Comes Of Age With Westerfeld's "Leviathan"
Pavane Is Alternate History's Lost Masterpiece
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CmdrHunt (aka Clarence Colton)
12/02/09

In reply to Steampunk Comes Of Age With Westerfeld's "Leviathan"
I enjoyed this book. Easy read, great story environment all the makings of a good rpg.
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♠ Final ♠
12/02/09

In reply to Steampunk Comes Of Age With Westerfeld's "Leviathan"
Boarders had this for half price the day before Thxgiving. I picked it up along with Santa Olivia. I'll probably get to it after the next book club meeting.
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MargaretMoony
12/02/09

In reply to Steampunk Comes Of Age With Westerfeld's "Leviathan"
I will now do my dance of joy!
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bookling
12/02/09

In reply to Steampunk Comes Of Age With Westerfeld's "Leviathan"
I loved this book. Scott Westerfeld is awesome -- if you haven't read his Uglies series, try that as well.

One of my favorite things about Leviathan (after the freaking awesome warships) is the utter lack of romance, which is particularly hard to find in young adult novels. There is a tiny hint at attraction between Deryn and Alek, but I find it refreshing that both characters clearly have more important things to do than worry about crushes. Westerfeld is also particularly good at writing strong female protagonists who are not schmoopy romantics or damsels in distress.
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EndangeredRed
12/02/09

@bookling: He is one of the few male writers who can do the female perspective justice, IMO.
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bookling promoted this comment EndangeredRed was starred EndangeredRed was unstarred

bookling
12/02/09

@EndangeredRed: Agreed. Some male YA writers are astoundingly bad -- like Jay Asher, author of Thirteen Reasons Why. The parts written from the perspective of the girl were painful. Why that book has gotten so much praise is beyond me.
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goldfarb
12/02/09

In reply to Steampunk Comes Of Age With Westerfeld's "Leviathan"
here's the trailer:
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Smeagol92055
12/02/09

In reply to Steampunk Comes Of Age With Westerfeld's "Leviathan"
Am I mistaken, or was this presented in podcast format a few months back? I remember listening to a few episodes of something called The Leviathan Chronicles, and submarines formed a large plot-point. It also took place in a Steampunk-type world.

Of course, this could be mere coincidence, but I know that the podcast existed.
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EdificeComplex
12/02/09

In reply to Steampunk Comes Of Age With Westerfeld's "Leviathan"
I've just started this book. So far it's grabbed my interest and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes. I truly love sci-fi/historical mash-ups.
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LittleDragon
12/02/09

In reply to Steampunk Comes Of Age With Westerfeld's "Leviathan"
Damn damn, double damn. :( I want to read this one but can't buy any more books for the rest of the year and the library here won't have anything this new or cool.
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Althestane
11/28/09

In reply to Pavane Is Alternate History's Lost Masterpiece
The only book that has defeated me was Moby Dick. So much pointless whaling lore that it destroyed any sense of continuity. From the review, this book-in-six acts seems like a similar continuity struggle and has convinced me to take up the challenge! HAVE AT THEE!
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Grey_Area
11/28/09

In reply to Pavane Is Alternate History's Lost Masterpiece
Good review , Alasdair. Pavane is a very rich and satisfying read. Weird that it is not more well known. Has anyone read Gloriana by Michael Moorcock? That's another allohistory novel that slips in and out of print.
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Edited by Grey_Area at 11/28/09 9:24 AM Grey_Area was starred Grey_Area was unstarred

allium
11/28/09

In reply to Pavane Is Alternate History's Lost Masterpiece
Experimental "road locomotives" (i.e., steam cars) began showing up in England in the early 19th century, but public concern about boilers blowing up and a series of punitive laws (extra road tolls, speed limited to 10 miles an hour in open country and 5 in towns, etc.) helped railroads gain the upper hand.

Then again they didn't really take off elsewhere until the later part of the century.
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Pegritz
11/27/09

In reply to Pavane Is Alternate History's Lost Masterpiece
I loved this novel so much when I read it for the first time in the late 1990s. It's sort of a spiritual predecessor for Russel Hoban's Ridley Walker, and one of the most deliciously understated, graceful novels I've ever read. I need to read it again now!
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Alasdair Wilkins promoted this comment Pegritz was starred Pegritz was unstarred

CSX321
11/27/09

In reply to Pavane Is Alternate History's Lost Masterpiece
I feel that the purpose of a book is to communicate an idea. It certainly sounds to me as if this book does a poor job of that. Your description reminds me of what we discussed here recently, of films with good stories poorly told. And I wonder, could not the story of the book have been told in a clear manner, raising it to the level of greatness?
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Alasdair Wilkins
11/27/09

@CSX321: I don't know if that's really true. I'm a pretty massive Isaac Asimov fan (check out about half my posts here for proof of that), so I like clarity as much as the next person, but I don't think that's the only way to judge a work. There's plenty of brilliant science fiction in all different kinds of media - 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Prisoner, a bunch of Grant Morrison comics, and Blade Runner, just off the top of my head - that quite deliberately *don't* tell their story in a very clear way. In most cases, that's part of their brilliance, because it shifts even more focus onto the language and/or imagery. I doubt 2001 or The Prisoner would be held in nearly the same high regard if Stanley Kubrick or Patrick McGahoon painstakingly spelled everything out. Quite the opposite, in fact.
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Edited by Alasdair Wilkins at 11/27/09 7:02 PM Alasdair Wilkins was starred Alasdair Wilkins was unstarred

CSX321
11/28/09

@Alasdair Wilkins: Good points. I'm a big Asimov fan myself. In fact, I once wrote him a letter praising the clearness of his writing. "Efficient" I called it. He sent a reply, saying he appreciated my letter, and that some people didn't understand how difficult it can be to write something that is clear.

Maybe I'm just getting to be a lazy reader in my old age. :) 2001 is okay, but I believe Rendezvous With Rama is a superior story and better told. I read it again fairly recently, and I think it's a nearly perfect example of classic "hard" science fiction. The sequels, unfortunately, wander, although of course they were written in large part by Lee.
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Thaddeus
11/27/09

In reply to Pavane Is Alternate History's Lost Masterpiece
I am going to have to pick this up.

Also, I'll save everyone the trouble of going to Wikipedia: [en.wikipedia.org]
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Alasdair Wilkins promoted this comment Thaddeus was starred Thaddeus was unstarred

mordicai
11/27/09

In reply to Pavane Is Alternate History's Lost Masterpiece
Oh man this is tickling my fancy!
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