Scott Westerfeld: Leviathan Trilogy: Leviathan; Behemoth; Goliath

This is one of those trilogies that I wish I'd gotten to so much sooner.

The Leviathan trilogy takes place in a steampunk alternate history of World War 1, and much of what happens is inspired by the real-life events and the political upheaval as it unfolded during The Great War. It's not exactly the way it unfolded in our world, plenty of events play out differently, and that's in large part due to our main characters and the advanced steampunk technologies. Really, it's more like the war of the two opposing technologies. You have the Clankers, with their advanced mechanics and machines, and the Darwinists, who used genetically engineered creatures. And if you aren't as familiar with World War 1 history, fear not. There's an author's note at the end of each book that highlights the differences.

Personally, I think the steampunk genre, like the fantasy genre, lends itself especially well to adventure epics. When I read these genres, I like to go out, I want to see the world we're in! I want to explore everything! In the Leviathan trilogy, we never stay in one place more than once. We get to see so many countries and settings as the books continue. The war is a global event, and we get to see the effects globally.

Our main characters are Alek and Deryn. Alek is the fictional son of the real-life Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, who was assassinated, bringing the start of the Great War. It was interesting to read a YA novel where one of the main characters is a prince, but with no princess character in sight. Usually there is only a princess, or you have one of each. It was something new I hadn't seen before, like many things in this book.

Deryn, meanwhile, is a girl who longs to spend her life in the skies like her deceased father, and joins the British Air Service as a midshipman, playing the role of a boy named Dylan during a time when women's rights were especially slim. In a way, it's a bit of a Mulan story, if Mulan was a Scottish airman.

One of the things I enjoyed most from this trilogy was watching the characters develop over the course of three books. Alek and Deryn are very different at the conclusion from when we first meet them, and their relationship, and all the different forms it takes, is really the heart of the series.

If you are a fan of steampunk, or maybe if you're interested in reading something set during an alternate version of World War 1, give this a read!