Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld ★★★★½

[mithriltabby]

The author of the Uglies trilogy begins a foray into steampunk alternate history. He sets up an alternate World War I where the Central Powers are heavily into hardtech with zeppelins and giant walking machines, while the Allies have comparably powerful biotech pioneered by Charles Darwin. Like his work in Uglies, he slips a lot of good science into the story. We then get to see his alternate Great War unfold from two perspectives: Aleksandar, the teenage son of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (in this history, the only child— Westerfeld notes the liberties he took in an afterword to the book) fleeing political hot water in Austria, and Deryn Sharp, a girl of similar age who has disguised herself as a boy to become a midshipman on a living dirigible in Britain’s air navy.

This is excellent young-adult fare, with plenty of action, and is still a good read for adults; anyone who enjoyed David Weber’s Honor Harrington books should have a great time with Leviathan. It also has lots of well-imagined biotechnology; the alternate history could make a good scenario for gamemasters with a campaign featuring time travel or parallel worlds.