Leviathan (novel)



Leviathan is the first book in a series by Scott Westerfeld that takes place in an alternate version of World War I Europe. Some of the differences are that Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife are assassinated in the evening, as opposed to the afternoon, they have only one son... Oh, and Germans and Austrians use Giant Walkers to fight the British and French Fabricated Animals. Obviously, he took liberties with history.

In this version of history, when Charles Darwin came up with the theory of evolution, he also discovered the 'chains of life', or DNA - and, more importantly, how to manipulate them and construct new creatures. Fast forward 50 years, and you find London crawling with fabricated elephants and giant oxen instead of cars, and gecko/parrot hybrids are used to send messages.

The book follows two characters - the Archduke's son, Prince Aleksandar, who is whisked off on the night of his parents' assassination to a secret hideaway in the Alps before his enemies can assassinate him. The second character is a girl, Deryn Sharp, who poses as a boy in order to join the British Air Service and eventually finds herself aboard the Leviathan, a massive Flying Whale Airship that is bound for the Ottoman Empire with one Dr. Nora Barlow, a Boffin and her very secretive cargo. As a war between the fabricated Animal using "Darwinists" (not like that) and Walker-using "Clankers" looms, Alek soon finds himself aboard the Leviathan as his enemies close in.

A second book, Behemoth, was released October 5, 2010. The last book in the trilogy, Goliath, was released on September 20th, 2011. Westerfeld also wrote a bonus "fanfiction" chapter on his blog and commissioned a new piece of art for Christmas 2011.

"Deryn: We're meant to be together."
 * Ace Stormwalker Pilot: Master Otto Klopp, who is, according to Alek, "the best master of mechaniks in Austria". And Alek's quite the pilot, too - he's mastered night-walking.
 * Action Girl: Deryn and Lilit.
 * Alternate History: Armored vehicles pre-1916, the Archduke having only one child, the Archduke being assassinated at night, Darwin discovering genetics and DNA, etc.
 * Ambiguous Situation: The nature of Tesla's Goliath device  Likewise,
 * April Fools' Day: On April 1st, Scott Westerfeld "revealed" a piece of art from Goliath featuring Lilit and Deryn getting married, with Alek crashing through the wall on a giant mech. The art was part of a gag with the book's illustrator.
 * Attractive Bent Gender: Judging from the illustrations, Deryn makes a damn fine guy and girl.
 * Alek and Lilit vouch for this as well.
 * Badass Bookworm: Nikola Tesla. How Badass? He takes on three fighting bears, at the same time, with an electrified walking stick he invented himself, and wins.
 * Beta Couple:.
 * Bi the Way: Lilit.Or lesbian.
 * With a followup in the bonus chapter, close up this time.
 * Bilingual Backfire: Played with. Dr. Barlow pretends not to speak German in the hopes of tricking Alek and Volger into thinking it is safe for them to discuss their secrets in German in her presence.
 * Biopunk: Darwinists.
 * Body Horror: Great googly moogly! The story itself isn't quite so much in this category, the descriptions are not by any means disgusting. However, the book has pictures.
 * Special mention goes to Deryn's compress after she busts up her knee. It is some kind of fabricated beast that extends its tentacles into her knee to fix torn ligaments. And if she tries to put weight on her leg it sounds and feels like she has a swarm of angry wasps in her knee. One of the few places where the description in the text is worse than the pictures.
 * Cane Fu: Tesla's Weapon of Choice.
 * Cannot Spit It Out: Every time Deryn comes close to admitting to Alek that she's a girl, either she cannot go on for fear that telling him the truth will upend their friendship, or something conveniently ends the conversation. This behaviour is lampshaded by Alek himself.
 * Can Not Tell a Lie: Alek, up till the third book.
 * Catch Phrase: "Barking spiders!" might as well be one for Deryn, considering how much she says it. And Bovril has "Mr. Sharp!", usually followed by giggles.
 * "...a barking prince," is used quite a bit.
 * Dummkopf! (At least in Behemoth.)
 * Caught in the Rain: Goliath takes this to extremes when Alek and Deryn are stuck in a flood on top of the ship.
 * Celibate Hero: Alek started out as this because of his title.
 * Chekhov's Gun:
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Nikola Tesla.
 * Concussions Get You High: Alek was a bit boggled after slipping and hitting his head on the topside of the Leviathan.
 * Cultured Badass: Alek. The "cultured" portion doesn't really come in handy much on the airship, much to his dismay.
 * Dashingly Dapper Derby: The boffins all wear bowler hats.
 * Deliberate Values Dissonance: Alek is rather sexist, much to Dylan/Deryn's chagrin.
 * After meeting Lilit, however, he's started to improve.
 * Subverted by Zaven, who is extremely enthusiastic about equal rights for women, but played straight in that most people think he's a Cloudcuckoolander because of it.
 * Eldritch Abomination: Most Clankers see fabs as "godless abominations". The Behemoth counts as well.
 * Emo Teen: Volger Lampshades Alek's sulking.
 * Establishing Character Moment: When we first meet Tesla, he reveals that he killed his own airship and fed it to feral Russian fighting bears so that he could stay in Siberia to continue his research.
 * Everyone Can See It: Almost everyone who know about Deryn's true gender questions her relation to Alek.
 * Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: According to Alek, some of the fabs Darwinists use in battle contain the DNA of long-dead reptiles.
 * Everything's Worse with Bears: It's mentioned that Russia uses genetically-engineered bears. Russia is also drawn as a giant, rotting bear on the inside cover maps.
 * As of Goliath, we have seen the bears; not only are they huge, it also turns out
 * Evil Grand Uncle: Emperor Franz Joseph did not approve of Archduke Franz Ferdinand falling in love with Sophie Chotek, which is why they had to get a morganatic/left-handed marriage, which is why Alek isn't his father's heir.
 * Falling Into the Cockpit: Apparently Alek's mother would not have approved of him learning to pilot the Stormwalker unless it was such an emergency.
 * Fascinating Eyebrow: Volger and Deryn know how it's done.
 * Fate Drives Us Together
 * Fate Drives Us Together

"Alek: Flechette? Like 'dart' in French? Deryn: That sounds right. The bats gobble up these metal spikes, then release them over the enemy. Alek: They eat spikes. And then...release them? Deryn: *stifles laugh* Aye, in the usual way."
 * Flechette Storm: The Darwinists have beasties designed to take down aircraft this way. They even call them flechette bats.

"Alek: How...alliterative."
 * Flesh Versus Steel: To a T.
 * Flying Seafood Special: The Leviathan.
 * Follow the Leader: In-universe, The Perils of Pauline inspire a number of movies that sound rather similar.

"Alek: Dummkopf!"
 * Foreign Cuss Word: Alek often breaks off during conversations in English to swear in German.

"Tazza seemed to enjoy riding in the Stormwalker."
 * Future Slang: Future-past Steampunk, occasionally period-accurate slang. Blisters!
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: Immediately after Deryn worries that Alek may have learned that she's a girl during fencing lessons, Alek instructs her to turn her chest to the side, so as to provide the "smallest possible target." Deryn then muses that her secret is safe.
 * Reverse the genders in this sentence.
 * See also the Future Slang. "Clart-covered bum-rag" indeed.
 * Giant Robot Hands Save Lives: It's actually how Alek meets the Committee for Union and Progress - Zaven saves him from a long fall from a rooftop gutter. Justified because Zaven caught him before he'd fallen too far.
 * Gilligan Cut: Alek ends one chapter saying he'll be fine carrying Ms. Barlow as long as she doesn't bring her pet along. Next chapter:


 * Green-Eyed Epiphany: Played With..
 * Grey and Grey Morality
 * Grow Old with Me:
 * Harmony Versus Discipline: Played completely straight in the series. The Darwinists represent Harmony, harnessing nature for war and having a generally more organic aesthetic about them. The Clankers on the other hand represent Discipline, manufacturing whatever they use, with an aesthetic characterised by angularity and general disregard for nature.
 * In fact, the two main characters themselves embody this conflict very neatly. Deryn is very obviously set up as the harmonious one, defying Victorian social conventions (a very Discipline-esque system) by disguising herself as a boy and entering the British Air Service. As a person, she shows little inhibition and respect. Alek, who was raised surrounded by rules, obligations and restrictions, is almost exaggeratedly disciplined: controlled, virtuous and very formal, but unable to adapt and with a certain belief that everything must be planned and predictable.
 * Heroic Sacrifice:.
 * Before the book, Deryn's Da, who
 * To save.
 * Historical Domain Character: Emperor Franz Joseph, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Charles Darwin, Winston Churchill, and The Pope (Pius X... unless it's someone different) all have varying degrees of impact on the plot, though do not/have yet to appear in person; Darwin's granddaughter Nora Barlow is a major character. Behemoth introduces Wilhelm Souchon and Dr. Barlow apparently knows a certain Serbian scientist called Tesla.
 * Ho Yay: Loads between Alek and "Dylan", mostly in Behemoth.
 * Holding Hands: Deryn grabs Alek's hands at the end of Goliath.
 * Horse of a Different Colour: The Darwinist beasties.
 * Hot Scientist: Dr. Barlow.
 * If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Spoilers for Goliath ahead:

"Alek: That girl is quite mad. "Dylan": Aye. But she's not a bad kisser."
 * Improvised Zipline: Deryn is up in a scouting balloon and sees Alek's "family" coming to the shipwreck looking for him in their Stormwalker. The message lizard won't get down the cable in time, so she slings a leather strap over the tether and zips down to camp.
 * It is noted that the odds of one surviving this sort of escape are against you.
 * Insistent Terminology: It's not an iceberg, it's a glacier, Newkirk. Also, Is-tan-bul (not Constantinople).
 * Instant Sedation: The fighting bear experiences the tranquilliser dart's effects seconds after it is hit, highly improbable since the bears are described to be as large as houses.
 * Inter Class Romance: Alek (rich) and Deryn (poor).
 * It's All Junk: Spoilers for Goliath ahead:
 * Jackie Robinson Story: A mild case, all things considered, but Deryn.
 * Emperor Incognito: Alek, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary.
 * If Franz Ferdinand's wife was Countess (later Princess, later Duchess) Sophie Chotek as in actual history, this would be an example of Did Not Do the Research, because the children of a morganatic marriage would be ineligible for the Austro-Hungarian throne.
 * Did do the research:  See Authors Note or That Other Wiki
 * Kraken and Leviathan: The eponymous Leviathan is not so much, but krakens, complete with Combat Tentacles, are part of the Darwinists' arsenal.
 * La Résistance: In Istanbul, there is the Committee of Union and Progress which wants to remove the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and replace him with an elected government. They existed in real life too.
 * In real life, they were successful the first time they tried to overthrow the sultan.
 * The Ladette: Deryn's this to those who know she's a girl.
 * Lilit's a toned-down ladette.
 * Lady of Adventure: Dr. Barlow, during her time on the Leviathan.
 * Lego Genetics: The 'Darwinist' Nations can combine the DNA of species like whales and jelly fish. The eponymous Leviathan is supposedly composed of the DNA of hundreds of species, and is more of an ecosystem then a single animal.
 * Les Yay: Lilit. Her last line to Deryn before she leaves implies that she figured out that Deryn was actually a girl, and this is after she kissed Deryn full on the lips and said she was "just curious."
 * "I know you better than you think, Mr. Sharp." (Cue chuckling from Bovril.)
 * It's worth noting that Deryn doesn't seem too bothered by it, either.
 * It's worth noting that Deryn doesn't seem too bothered by it, either.

"Alek: What I'm really trying to say, Dylan, is that I think I'm in love... with the ship."
 * Living Weapon: Somewhere between this and an Attack Animal with the Fabricated Animals. There are examples of the later (like the flechette bats that you feed them fruits filled with metal needles, then scare them into pooping the needles on enemies) and examples of the former (the Leviathan, an airship that is alive).
 * Lonely Rich Kid: Alek, all over.
 * Love Across Battlelines:
 * Love Makes You Crazy: How Alek feels about his actions during the climax of Goliath.
 * Love Epiphany:
 * Love Triangle: Type 5:.
 * Love You and Everybody

"Dr. Barlow: "What the Clankers lack in finesse they make up for in blanket ruination.""
 * A Mech by Any Other Name: Clankers. The alliance apparently named themselves after their war machines.
 * The mechs themselves are usually called walkers. In Istanbul, they also have iron golems (used by the Jews), djinn (used by Arabs), werewolves (Vlachs), and Minotaurs (Greeks).
 * Mechanical Horse: Some of the smaller Clanker machines, and the transports featured in Constanti - sorry, Istanbul during Behemoth.
 * Mini-Mecha: Used for scouting.
 * Mix-and-Match Critters: The fabricated animals.
 * Of particular note are the British beasties that are combined with dinosaurs.
 * More Dakka: The Clankers.

"Alek: ...you're a girl, aren't you?"
 * Multinational Team: The Committee for Union and Progress. They're all living in Istanbul, but individually they are Greeks, Turks, Jews, and more, and they only became united under one purpose recently in Behemoth.
 * Mother Nature, Father Science: Dr. Barlow (a Darwinist boffin) and Nikola Tesla (a Clanker inventor).
 * Narrative Profanity Filter: Everyone seems to think Alek never curses, but when you count all the times it says, "Alek swore" or "Alek cursed softly in German," or anything like that, you can see that he's almost as bad as Deryn.
 * Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Flying whale battleships with electric (and later diesel) engines! Flying manta rays with Gatling guns! Robot elephants! Jewish mecha-golems! World War One battleships with Tesla cannons! Walking submersible warships!
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: Heavily averted; all the real historical figures who appear (including Dr. Barlow, Nikola Tesla, William Randolph Hearst and Pancho Villa) or get mentioned (Emperor Joseph of Austria, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, Winston Churchill, etc.) are given their real names.
 * Non Sequitur Thud

"Alek: Can I trust you? Can I trust you, ? Deryn: Aye, of course you can. Beat Deryn: (Internally) Oh blisters."
 * Not in Front of the Parrot: Volger in particular is leery of speaking in front of messenger lizards, which are bred to be talented mimics. The perspicacious loris is even better/worse.
 * "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: Played with in the afterword of each book, where Westerfeld explains that the books are based off of actual events of World War One, and elaborates on which elements are kept mostly the same and which have been altered for the sake of atmosphere.
 * No Periods, Period: Something that hasn't slipped past the notice of the fanfic authors...
 * Somewhat justified in that Deryn is only fourteen, and is a very active girl which can make your period come later.
 * And in Deryn's time, girls didn't usually get their periods till they were fifteen/sixteen. It's only been recently that the average age has dropped to 11.75 years. Also, Scott Westerfeld is a guy; he would probably feel uncomfortable writing about a girl's period.
 * Doubtful. Considering the content of his first novel, Polymorph, it's unlikely that something as comparatively mundane as a girl's period would bother him. For instance, if memory serves, Polymorph makes use of . The effects are described in detail.
 * Word of God Mr. Westerfeld said, "Women back then didn't menstruate as early, and women who pretended to be soldiers often stopped menstruating altogether. (Hard physical exercise and not a lot of food will do that.) So my guess is that she's not having any periods."
 * Oblivious to Love: Alek to Deryn, although justified in that he was under the impression she was a boy. Deryn to Lilit, too, until Alek tells her.
 * Odd Name Out: The first two novels are named after beasts from Jewish mythology (Leviathan and Behemoth) representing sea and land respectively. The beast representing the sky, Ziz, won't be the name of the third book because it was deemed too obscure and too short. Instead, the third book will be named Goliath. Westerfeld also said on his blog that he thought 'Ziz' wasn't well known enough. Goliath was suggested by a fan.
 * so this trope is entirely appropriate.
 * Older Than They Think: The cliff-hanger, in-universe.
 * One Head Taller: Deryn's two inches taller than Alek.
 * Organic Technology: Fabricated beasts.
 * Orient Express
 * Origin Story:
 * Parental Abandonment: Alek's parents are dead (of course) and so is Deryn's da.
 * Plucky Middie: Deryn, Newkirk and the other, briefly seen middies.
 * Pimped-Out Dress: Doctor Barlow shows up in several, leaving Deryn wondering where she gets them from.
 * Pursuing Parental Perils: The fact that has done nothing to diminish Deryn's desire to fly.
 * Real Robot
 * Recursive Crossdressing: Discussed.
 * In the bonus Christmas chapter on Westerfeld's blog,
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Sweet Polly Oliver Deryn Sharp is the red to Blue Blood Prince Alek.
 * Rich in Dollars, Poor In Sense: Alek, again. He doesn't know how to buy a newspaper.
 * Not to say he's an idiot. Sheltered and naive in dealing with other people, yes. Oh dear God, yes. Behind the levers of a Stormwalker or coming up with battle plans, he's a certified genius. Hell, he's compared to Mozart.
 * Ridiculously Cute Critter: Bovril and the other perspicacious loris.
 * Rule of Three: Tesla insists that all his silverware be arranged in sets of three.
 * Running Gag: Dummkopf! in Behemoth. In the same book, Mr. Sharp is Bovril's favorite phrase, using it try to point out something he (her/it?)is trying to explain... and poor Alek can't pick up the hint.
 * Samus Is a Girl: Alek's first meeting with Lilit, in which he assumes she is a man in a disguise.
 * Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Dr. Barlow, at times. It takes roughly half the novel for Deryn to find out why Barlow called a certain fab the perspicacious loris, and Deryn thinks that "nascent fixation" sounds "a bit sinister, even if baby ducks [do] it too."
 * Shipper on Deck: Alek appears to be this for Dylan and Lilit, little realizing Dylan is actually a girl who has a crush on him.
 * Bovril, of all things, gets into this to some degree, for Alek and Deryn.
 * Shout-Out: Nene claims the world is on a turtle resting on elephants all the way down.
 * Simultaneous Arcs: Alek and Deryn alternate usually every two chapters as the viewpoint character; sometimes they're off doing separate things, sometimes they're together. In those chapters, the main difference (since it's third person all the time) is that Deryn refers to herself as such, while Alek knows her exclusively as "Dylan."
 * The Smurfette Principle: If we only count openly female characters, then Dr. Barlow has a very strong record of this in Leviathan, and for the majority of Goliath as well.
 * Spider Tank: The Clanker Land Frigates
 * Steampunk: The Clanker Nations, including Germany and Austria-Hungary
 * Additionally, since they run on Kerosene, Dieselpunk.
 * Stern Teacher: Volger, Alek's fencing master. Very stern, very no-nonsense, very dear to Alek.
 * Sweet Polly Oliver: Deryn disguising herself to work as an airman.
 * Sweet on Polly Oliver: Averted as of the end of the first book; Alek seems to have only comradely feelings towards "Dylan"/Deryn. There are hints of UST on her part, however.
 * He does admit "Dylan" is good-looking. Lilit also has a thing for "him."
 * Word of God says
 * Tangled Family Tree: Deryn told the crew of the Leviathan that Artemis Sharp was her uncle to prevent suspicion over the fact that Artemis Sharp only has one son and one daughter. However, Alek was told in confidence that Artemis Sharp is indeed her father.
 * The Un-Reveal: We never do find out
 * Tranquilizer Dart: The czar sends some of these in his package, along with numerous hunks of meat,
 * Translation Convention: Every conversation between Alek and his men is typed in English, though they really are speaking in German. When Deryn is narrating, though, their conversations are in German.
 * Unresolved Sexual Tension: There is a lot of this between . Their unwillingness to advance is justified since both have their futures to consider,
 * Unusual Euphemism: "Bumrag" = "a__hole," "barking" = "f___ing," "clart" = "s___."
 * Tomboy: Deryn. She's One of the Boys, too.
 * Warrior Prince: Alek.
 * "Well Done, Son" Guy: Count Volger to Alek, who sees him as a father.
 * Whale Egg: The is hatched from an egg and, judging from what Deryn says, many fabricated beasts are "born" this way.
 * The White Prince: Alek was this near the beginning of Leviathan when it came to non-Clanker situations.
 * Wholesome Crossdresser: Mr. Sharp.
 * Wham! Line: Warning: huge Goliath spoilers!  and
 * Winston Churchill: Lord of the Admiralty.
 * Word of God:  Also, Newkirk's full name is Eugene William Newkirk. Poor guy.
 * Newkirk's full name was suggested to Scott-La by a fan.
 * You Just Told Me
 * Winston Churchill: Lord of the Admiralty.
 * Word of God:  Also, Newkirk's full name is Eugene William Newkirk. Poor guy.
 * Newkirk's full name was suggested to Scott-La by a fan.
 * You Just Told Me


 * Zeppelins from Another World: The Germans use zeppelins extensively, and the Leviathan for the Darwinists. It is also implied that they use other, smaller airship fabs too.