Well, I've picked out the first book. I haven't purchased it yet - I have to get paid before I can do that - but I've picked it out. It's one I've perused before, but haven't actually read, and it seems no one else in the group has read it before, either, so that's good. Anyway, as the post title indicates, I've decided the first book is going to be Scott Westerfeld's (I always want to spell it "Westerfield" but that's not right) Leviathan. Here's the School Library Journal review of it, so you know what we're in for:
"This is World War I as never seen before. The story begins the same: on June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife are assassinated, triggering a sequence of alliances that plunges the world into war. But that is where the similarity ends. This global conflict is between the Clankers, who put their faith in machines, and the Darwinists, whose technology is based on the development of new species. After the assassination of his parents, Prince Aleksandar's people turn on him. Accompanied by a small group of loyal servants, the young Clanker flees Austria in a Cyklop Stormwalker, a war machine that walks on two legs. Meanwhile, as Deryn Sharp trains to be an airman with the British Air Service, she prays that no one will discover that she is a girl. She serves on the Leviathan, a massive biological airship that resembles an enormous flying whale and functions as a self-contained ecosystem. When it crashes in Switzerland, the two teens cross paths, and suddenly the line between enemy and ally is no longer clearly defined. The ending leaves plenty of room for a sequel, and that's a good thing because readers will be begging for more. Enhanced by Thompson's intricate black-and-white illustrations, Westerfeld's brilliantly constructed imaginary world will capture readers from the first page. Full of nonstop action, this steampunk adventure is sure to become a classic."
And from Westerfeld's website:
"Prince Aleksander, would-be heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battletorn war machine and a loyal crew of men. Deryn Sharp is a commoner, 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 World War I brewing, Alek and Deryn’s paths cross in the most unexpected way…taking them on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure that will change both their lives forever."
Well. It certainly sounds promising, no? Why this one? Because I've developed a love for steampunk over the last few years, and this is one of the few truly promising books in that genre that I've come across (others being Kenneth Oppel's Matt Cruse books, if you want to check those out - they're Airborn, Skybreaker, and Starclimber). As of now, it's been determined that I'm going to send the book to New Zealand; after that, it will have to stop in Norway and Britain, though we're not sure on the order of those two yet, before finally ending up in Israel, where Tammy will get to keep it, and she's going to buy the next book (prospectively one of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books) and start it on its journey! I should have the book in just a few days, and then it won't take long at all for me to read, annotate, and send off. And then the journey will have begun.
~Raye
