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Sun Dec 6
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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.
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.
@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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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?
@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.
@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.
12/02/09
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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.
12/02/09
12/02/09
12/02/09
12/02/09
Of course, this could be mere coincidence, but I know that the podcast existed.
12/02/09
12/02/09
11/28/09
11/28/09
11/28/09
Then again they didn't really take off elsewhere until the later part of the century.
11/27/09
11/27/09
11/27/09
11/28/09
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.
11/27/09
Also, I'll save everyone the trouble of going to Wikipedia: [en.wikipedia.org]
11/27/09