Hi everyone!
I had randomly come across this book series quite recently and I must say that the story is amazing! First off, this is a trilogy book series with the titles being: Leviathan, Behemoth, and finally Goliath. All the books are out, so you could marathon them all right through to the conclusion with no waiting around!
I actually ended up listening to them on audiobook while driving and whatnot and so I can recommend listening to the series too because there is a great cast voicing each of the characters, which only gives more personality to the development of the characters. Speaking of which, the character development is wonderful! The two lead characters happen to be Aleksandar Ferdinand, the prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Deryn, a girl who disguised herself as a boy to join the British air-service under the guise of being Mr. Dylan Sharp. If you haven't noticed by the Ferdinand reference above, Alek is indeed a fictional son of the Archduke and that Archduke is the very same one whose dead had started the catalytic beginnings of WWI aka the Great War of the time. Now this isn't some boring historical book (Hooray) but it does take the plot of the time, the alliances and the relations between all the countries of the world. That being said, Alek wasn't a real person but purely made for this alternate history. Also, another great thing is that this book series is actually not only blending history with fiction but also *drumroll!* STEAMPUNK and BIOPUNK~
That's right, it makes it much more interesting as the Allied Powers, are the biopunk Darwinists (the British Darwinists are the MC country here) against the steampunk Clanker Central Powers of Austria, Germany, etc. Basically the Darwinists have fabricated chimeras big and small to use as their weapons, while the Clankers have mecha machines/robots at their disposal.
Anyway, so far I have finished the first two books (starting into the third one right now too mwhaha) and there are so many positives! The books are very high paced and they never get boring or lose your interest. The perspective usually switches between Alek and Dylan as both of them struggle to get through this war. Alek is the heir of Austria-Hungary and so the Germans are always chasing him because he is the key to stopping the war that Germany started by killing his parents. "Mr. Sharp" on the other hand is trying to work as a midshipman on a flying whale-like war ship (called the Leviathan and therefore makes the title of the first book) without being discovered as a girl. Okay, side-note, Dylan/Deryn is quite successfully pulling off Mulan amazingly well with her quick-thinking and bravery. She isn't going to save China maybe but already she has saved her crew, Alek, and helped win major battles for her country Britian and for the Allied Powers. AND **little spoiler** she has a thing for Alek but he doesn't know that she's a girl (yes~ my personal favorite plot from Mulan is also in this series, what can be better then that!).
The plot moves through from forest to frozen Swiss Alps to aboard the Leviathan to a revolution in the Ottoman Empire in the city of Istanbul and then I'll say no more because I don't want to spoil anything more!
In conclusion I give this book series a 10/10 as it's completely engrossing with action, plots, secrets, humor, alliances and even some love (and by love of course I don't only mean the romantic kind as there is also the love and loyalty between crewman and best friends. And in war-time that takes the priority with our strong leads of the book --- so nothing is dreadfully gushy about the series). Thus you would have to be a "ninny" not to read it ;)
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