Bits & Pieces
-Leviathan is probably my favorite Scott Westerfeld book. I'm not a fan per se of steampunk, just someone who admires its aesthetic merits. (Probably not something I would write for myself. I don't like robots.) Westerfeld also added a bit of bioengineering in the mix, so that the World War I powers are split between the "Clankers" (metal and the like) and the "Darwinists" (using engineered animals).
I love the dilemmas Westerfeld throws his characters in. I love his characters. I love that with the main two, Alek and Deryn (a girl), Deryn seems to have the more traditionally "manly" traits of the two (ex. at some point, Alek thinks that "Dylan" is a boy he'd want to be), but it's Deryn who's developed the crush on Alek.
Like other people, I have no idea how this will end. But I really don't want Alek and Deryn to end up together. I want (selfishly) for Alek to end up as emperor, instead of doing the disappearing act to merry olde England with Deryn.
I can't wait for Behemoth.
-When is the trend in YA publishing of putting photos of people on the cover going to die? I love the cover of Leviathan. I thought it captured the book's spirit very well. But the paperback has Alek's head on it, and the sequel has Deryn's.
The other thing is that they always look so obviously photo-shopped. I think that offends me more than the pictures themselves.
Please bring back the art.
I love the dilemmas Westerfeld throws his characters in. I love his characters. I love that with the main two, Alek and Deryn (a girl), Deryn seems to have the more traditionally "manly" traits of the two (ex. at some point, Alek thinks that "Dylan" is a boy he'd want to be), but it's Deryn who's developed the crush on Alek.
Like other people, I have no idea how this will end. But I really don't want Alek and Deryn to end up together. I want (selfishly) for Alek to end up as emperor, instead of doing the disappearing act to merry olde England with Deryn.
I can't wait for Behemoth.
-When is the trend in YA publishing of putting photos of people on the cover going to die? I love the cover of Leviathan. I thought it captured the book's spirit very well. But the paperback has Alek's head on it, and the sequel has Deryn's.
The other thing is that they always look so obviously photo-shopped. I think that offends me more than the pictures themselves.
Please bring back the art.