The silver lining to being sick for going on five days now is a multitude of couch hours during which I can enjoy and ponder my favorite books, and -- of course -- blog about it!
So, let's talk about a fantastic duo of books I've recently enjoyed. Last time the Aussie bestie came to town he brought me (selected based on fantastic cover art, of course) Leviathan. While the newest release of the book has a different cover that will be the theme for the rest of the series, the Aussie brought me the original release cover. I now have a bit of a mismatched set, but I love books as presents so no complaints here. The second book of Scott Westerfeld's series (with the new cover theme) is Behemouth.
Both books chronicle the (mis)adventures of Alek -- a lost prince of Austria/Hungary in an alternate history -- and Deryn -- a courageous and talented female air serviceman posing as a boy to be allowed to serve. The steampunk version of World War I is fascinating and though the Darwinist creatures fabricated to serve as military weapons are well-described, there is still much room for one's own imagination.
I listened to both these books on CD, and the audiobooks are narrated by the one-and-only Alan Cumming. YES! THAT ALAN CUMMING! As in, "Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome," Alan Cumming, and he is, of course, phenomenal. His many accents are distint and never get muddled as he switches between characters and dialogue. He makes a nice evolution of the character Alek from bratty spoiled child into compassionate, passionate revolutionary and does a solid job of portraying female characters -- particularly Deryn -- without sounding like a guy mocking a little girl (always a pet peeve of mine).
I can't wait until book three, Goliath, is released on September 20, 2011, accoring to Westerfeld's blog. The Leviathan series is unlike any I've come across yet and, as one of my first forays into steampunk, definitely leaves me excited for more of this genre.
