On the Bookshelf

It is the cusp of World War I, and all the European powers are arming up. The Austro-Hungarians and Germans have their Clankers, steam-driven iron machines loaded with guns and ammunition. The British Darwinists employ fabricated animals as their weaponry. The Leviathan is a living airship, the most formidable airbeast in the skies of Europe.

Aleksandar Ferdinand, prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battle-torn Stormwalker and a loyal crew of men.

Deryn Sharp is a commoner, a girl disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She's a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.

With the Great War brewing, Alek's and Deryn's paths cross in the most unexpected way - taking them both aboard the Leviathan on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure. One that will change both their lives forever.


Leviathan is Scott Westerfeld at his absolute best. He has imagined an alternate version of the world as it was at the start of World War I. There is a rift between the Darwinists, who live their lives by the scientific breakthroughs of Charles Darwin who has discovered DNA and how to manipulate it, and the Clankers who prefer to build great and powerful machines. In reality, Darwin, of course, did not discover DNA and all of its secrets. DNA was discovered in the 1950s and we are still learning much about it today. Likewise, the Clanker inventions are far ahead of their time. We are only now developing vehicles that walk and tracked, armoured tanks did not enter battle until 1916. Westerfeld fits in his historical alterations with ease and has found a perfect Steampunk (and Biopunk - I learned a new word!) blend of past events and futuristic technologies.

The protagonists are likeable and balance well with each other albeit coming off young but learning a lot and maturing as they go. I did get a little of tired of Deryn/Dylan's frequent curses of "barking spiders" and "blisters" but understood that it was part her charade of trying to convince everyone that she was a male combined with her already tomboyish tendencies.

Readers will be blown away by Westerfeld's amazing descriptions of Darwinist airbeasts and Clanker machines accompanied by stunning illustrations by Keith Thompson. Leviathan is an engaging read full of both history and imagination. I cannot wait for the release of the next book in series, Behemoth, later this year.

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
Peeps by Scott Westerfeld
The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld

Terra

Before I get in to the review I just want to apologise for the delay on getting this review out. I had to give priority to writing out some job applications as I would really like (read need) either some part time or full time work, which, unfortunately, is not very easy to come across at the moment. Much to my frustration, today the Word document for my selection criteria for one position was somehow corrupted beyond recovery and I now have to start over from scratch meaning I will probably be fairly quiet over the coming few days as well as I try to catch up.

Now, on with the review.

The Midnighters of Bixby finally have some of their hard sought answers about the secret hour in their town. But the answers have come at a price - Rex is left damaged, somehow different, after his horrifying experience in the desert at the hands of the Darklings and the delicate bond in the group is strained after Melissa's violation of Dess's mind. With the Greyfoot's ability to communicate with the Darklings severed the Midnighters might finally be safe enough to spend time to recuperate and regroup. Except, history may not be as black and white as they thought and then comes the day when the blue time arrives in the middle of the day.

Soon the Darklings will once again be free to prey upon humans - unless the Midnighters can find a way to stop the secret hour and real time from crumbling.

What an amazing end to great series. Blue Noon really sees the characters of the Midnighters series fulfill their potential. Rex struggles with the Darkling part of himself and Jonathon, even though he knows that it is wrong to want it, cannot help but wish that the Darklings plan really does become a reality so that he can have the freedom of being able to fly all of the time. Dess cannot forgive Melissa for violating her mind while Melissa begins a transformation into an entirely different person as she finally acquires the knowledge to be able to deal with her Midnighter ability. In some ways, this book is the opposite of the first in the series, The Secret Hour, and Jessica is the one that is left behind a bit on the development scale. Rex really becomes the most fascinating character to follow here. He is in conflict with the Darkling part of himself, a part of himself that might even want the Darklings to succeed, but also in the changes in brings in him he is finally able to question the Lore which he had previously regarded so highly. He is finally able to question the history of Bixby as written by Midnighters past and realise the bias there.

Blue Noon is packed with action and suspense but goes above and beyond being merely a "final battle," going on to ask further questions. I really liked how Westerfeld chose to end the series and how the extent of their possible success was uncertain and that no matter what their would be consequences. Right up to the end of the book the characters were continuing to develop and be impacted on by events, setting them up for what directions they choose to take after the story comes to its close. I also liked how some seemingly insignificant idea that he had slipped in over the course of the past two books turned out to be very significant in the end. Something that was previously just seemingly a little something to ponder suddenly becomes the big "aha!"

My one complaint, might be the overuse of certain similes throughout the course of the series. This is particularly in reference to the 'tastes' that Melissa picks up using her psychic ability. For example, things are often described as being like a battery or the tip of a pen or lead pencil pressed against the tongue. Did Westerfeld go around licking pencils and batteries in preparation for this book because he sure seemed to reference it quite a bit?

Midnighters has been a great series and Scott Westerfeld really is just a wonderful young adult author. I definitely recommend that you give this series a try.

Terra

Jessica has discovered her Midnighter ability and can finally defend herself against the Darklings. However, as the Midnighters dig deeper into the history of the secret hour and Midnighters in Bixby, they realise that Jessica might be the only one that the Darklings are after. Even worse, Jessica and her friends can no longer count themselves as safe in normal time when they discover that the Darklings have daylight supporters seeking them out.
Touching Darkness is a bit darker than The Secret Hour was. The Secret Hour was more an adventure of discovery as you newly explore midnight with Jessica. In Touching Darkness you start to learn more about the nasty history of midnight in Bixby and why all the Midnighters disappeared nearly fifty years ago, not to mention the chilling concept of the Halfling along with the warped, manipulative nature of mindcasters.
Jessica is still the main character but the perspective does get passed on to the other Midnighters a lot more often in this second installment in the trilogy.Personally, I considered this to be a good thing. Dess is my favourite character so it was really good to see more of her and it was great to get more insight into the nature of Melissa and Rex's relationship. Now I look back, though, Jonathan may have been a little neglected.

One thing that bothered me, about the edition that I was reading at least (1904233848), is that there were a number of grammatical errors and typos. This isn't entirely Westerfeld's fault, of course, as his editor should have been more thorough. It really disrupts the flow of an otherwise excellent book when I have to stop and reread a line over several times to realise that the word "he" was supposed to be "if" or when my brain starts nagging me that there should have been a comma there and to wonder why exactly is a word is randomly capitalised.
Terra

Jessica Day moves to the town of Bixby, Oklahoma where she finds things to be pretty strange. For starters, the water tastes really funny and time freezes at midnight. Only a small group of her fellow students are aware of the secret hour that occurs each night and each is gifted with an ability to help protect them from the dark creatures that haunt the secret hour. As long as the Midnighters never got in the way of the darkling creatures they were safe but Jessica's presence has the darklings riled up. She must discover her Midnighter ability before the darklings have a chance to stop her.

This one was a reread for me. I wanted to refresh my memory before going on to read the second book in tha Midnighters series, Touching Darkness. The book is very enjoyable. I would not have bothered to read it again or even bothered with the sequels if I did not like it the first time around. I am still going to stand behind my previous statement that Peeps is my favourite Westerfeld book so far. That said, I think that the thing that I like more about Peeps is that the characters are older than the characters in Midnighters. As a twenty year old, I find it easier to relate to the maturity levels of nineteen year old Cal than fifteen year old Jessica. Or maybe it is just that I am so very over high school.

I particularly liked all of the thirteen letter words Westerfeld slings at you and the funny combinations he comes up with: "Purposely Hyper-Inflated Individuality." I don't know about anyone else, but I got suspicious and often when I saw a long word I would wonder if he was sneaking in more thirteen letter words and pause reading to count. Focus! I really must learn to focus!

I really like the idea of the secret hour, a twenty fifth hour in every day that is rolled up so tight that only people born at the exact moment of midnight can experience it, and seeking the history behind it and Bixby. A similar concept of the moment in time that occurs between one day and the next, I hear, is explored in Persona 3, a video game released in 2006 (Japanese release date), but no one fires any gun like objects at their heads in the Midnighters series to invoke powers...

The Midnighters, aside from Jessica, are a bit stereotypical in the looks department with dyed black hair and Rex being a trench coat kind of guy, not to mention that they are a mite bit antisocial, but the stereotype contrasts with Jessica's normalcy and how very "11:59" she is. Their looks did not really bare too much impact either as Westerfeld spends the time to build their personalities. Their gifts are a major factor into their characterisation. I found myself particularly liking Dess. I wish that I could be a polymath! I suck at maths. Although, defying gravity would be pretty cool too.

Overall, it is a pretty entertaining read. You will also be seeing a review from me on the next book in the trilogy very soon, partially because I am looking forward to getting stuck into it and partially because it is due back at the library in a couple of days, so keep an eye out!

Terra

Nineteen year-old Cal's first sexual encounter changed his life forever, and not in the way that you might think. The one night stand left him infected with a parasite that is spread through biting and sex. Now Cal spends his time working for the Night Watch, hunting down the people that he unintentionally infected before being discovered, eating stacks of meat to satisfy his new found appetite, and snapping an elastic band on his wrist to try distract himself from his now ramped up sex drive seeing as he is not allowed to act on it.

All considered though, he could actually be a lot worse off. Cal is just a carrier of the parasite, one of the rare few who do not have their minds warped by the infection and begin munching on human flesh and hating everything they ever loved as a normal person. But Cal won't be satisfied until he finds the infected woman who passed on the parasite to him but in trying to track her down Cal makes a disturbing discovery.

I really enjoyed this book. In fact, of all the Scott Westerfeld books I have read so far and having only just closed it's pages five minutes ago, I think that it is my favourite of his.

Peeps puts a fascinating new twist on vampires. In this book, parasite positives, or peeps for short, are the basis for the vampire legend. They are not vampires as you might normally imagine them to be. Indeed, while reading the book I never really thought of them as vampires as all. Vampires are just what people came up with to try and explain what was happening. Peeps are not suave or aristocratic and instead of specifically needing to drink blood to survive it is flesh that peeps are after. Westerfeld does an excellent job of taking the vampire legend and weaving the old superstitions in to what are really the survival instincts of the parasite. For example, why are rats associated with vampires? Because rats are a major vector for parasites and disease! Peeps hate what they used to love so if a peep used to be religious then, yes, they can be repelled by a cross. Likewise, if your peep used to really love Elvis then some posters of the King and a few of his albums are just what you need.

All of the even numbered chapters contained interesting information about different parasites, going into how they travel from host to host, what their goals are, and what role they play in balancing out nature. But don't fear that you are going to get bored with text book entries, these informative chapters continue in the same perspective as the rest of the book, as though Cal is just casually boosting your knowledge of parasites. Indeed, I felt very "S-M-R-T" smart when while flicking through a health magazine it mentioned one of these parasites and I could say that I knew exactly what they were talking about. Thanks Scott!

Naming the secret organisation that hunts peeps the Night Watch made me wonder if Westerfeld is a fan of Sergei Lukyanenko (and actually I will be reviewing Night Watch sometime in the nearish future,) but more than likely I am guessing that it is just a coincidence.

So, if you are looking for Scott Westerfeld book to try out I definitely suggest that you give this one a go. Peeps doesn't really feel like a vampire book so even if you are not in to vampire stories you may find yourself liking this one. It has a good balance of fiction and science and the story comes together in a great twist at the end.

Terra