Goliath/Golias, Scott Westerfeld

This book is for the Steampunk Reading Challenge, hosted by Dark Faerie Tales.

Description/Sinopse

Review: *sigh* I love these books, yet I have a hard time explaining why... Could it be Scott Westerfeld's masterful use of events and characters from the World War I to make his alternate reality so believable? Could it be the amazing characters, so true to themselves? Or the way the story is written, a plain adventure filled with exciting moments? Or even the way the author never loses sight of what he has planned, and keeps the story and the characters truly believable?

This book starts a few days after Behemoth's end, and the airship Leviathan is headed towards Japan. However, a message from the Russian czar has them stopping in Siberia to pick up Nikola Tesla, a clanker scientist who claims he has built a powerful weapon that can destroy cities, and with it he plans to stop the war.

I found Tesla's plan to end the war quite interesting, as it posed some ethical questions, not only for the characters as well as for the reader. I traced some parallels between this weapon and the way the atomic bombs were used in the end of World War II... I'm sure these are not unintentional. Tesla was the right mix of crazy and visionary, and the final scenes with him were very terrifying and exciting, of all that could've happened.

I loved to follow Alek and Deryn throughout the series, especially in this one. I had underestimated Alek - he still is a bit naive and idealistic, but he means well, actually, he means nothing less than to save the world! He also was a true and loyal friend to Deryn as he learned her secret, and thankfully he didn't have the reaction I expected when he found about it.

As for Deryn, I adore how she is a better boy than Alek, as it's mentioned several times throughout the books, and how she is brave and fearless, and how she brags a little and also how she calls Alek names without being reverent of his social standing, yet she is painfully aware of the gap between the two of them. What I liked about Alek and Deryn was how they were friends and equal partners before anything else happened between them. (And what does happen is terribly fun and adorable.)

Bovril and his twin were just the perfect complement to the story, providing useful commentary and comic relief. Dr. Barlow and Volger were the ever present conspirators, with something up in their sleeves. The historical characters (like William Randolph Hearst, Pancho Villa or Adela Rogers) were interesting to meet, and gave a sense of reality to the story.

I am almost wishing for another book, so I can selfishly spend more time with these characters, but at the same time this series ended on a high note, and it pleased me immensely to read it.

Opinião: em breve

Páginas: 384

Editora: Vogais