Leviathan

Leviathan by Scott Westerfield



In an alternate 1914 Europe, fifteen-year-old Austrian Prince Alek, on the run from the Clanker Powers who are attempting to take over the globe using mechanical machinery, forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn who, disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service, is learnign to fly genetically-engineered beasts.

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About Scott Westerfield

Scott Westerfield talks about Leviathan's illustrations

Scott Westerfield and Airships

What is Steampunk? =Definitions from Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld= Scott Westerfeld's novel **//Leviathan//**, this month's featured book at readergirlz, utilizes some nifty slang and cool terms. Some of these are legitimate words, while others are the author's own creation, or his reinterpretation or variation on a word or phrase. Here are a few definitions for you:


 * archduke:** a prince of the imperial family of Austria. Though Alek did not really exist, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand did, and he did have children. The assassination of the Archduke and his wife was the //casus belli*// for World War I. Another heavily-featured character, scientist Nora Barlow, was a real person, though her vocation and actions were altered for the sake of this story, naturally.


 * boffin:** Defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as "a scientific expert; //especially// one involved in technological research." Scott Westerfeld adds, "There's a funny thing about boffin: In the real world, the word didn't appear until World War II, when code-breakers and radar scientists became crucial to the British war effort. But I figured that in my world of Victorian biotechnology, it would have to be invented earlier."


 * bosun:** Variation of **boatswain**, which is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as "a petty officer on a merchant ship having charge of hull maintenance and related work"


 * Clanker:** In the world of //Leviathan//, Clanker countries use steam-powered machines. Alek and his team are Clankers.


 * Darwinist:** In the world of //Leviathan//, Darwinists use fabricated animals for power, defense, communication, and defense. Devyn/Dylan and her shipmates are Darwinists. They get their name from Charles Darwin, a real-life English naturalist whose research into evolution led to the theory of natural selection. His book //On the Origin of Species// was the foundation of evolutionary biology. Click here to visit a site dedicated to Darwin and his writings.


 * midshipman:** Defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as "a person in training for a naval commission; //especially// a student in a naval academy"


 * steampunk:** Oh, how to put it succinctly? Here's how Wikipedia defines it: "a sub-genre of science fiction and speculative fiction, frequently featuring elements of fantasy, that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s."

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