Westerfeld’s latested series goes steam punk (a blending of future and past). World War I is on the horizon. Clankers (Austrian-Hungarians and Germans) versus the Darwinists (British). The Clankers have machines that walk and zepplins. The Darwinists have genetically altered beasts for every kind of job. Leviathan tells the story of Alek, a young prince, on the run with his men from the Germans, and Deryn Sharp who has disguised herself as Mr. Dylan Sharp to join the British Air Service. In alternating dual chapters, readers follow Alex’s escape and Dylan’s rise to a middie on the Leviathan, an ecosystem airship made of all kinds of “beasties.” Their paths cross unexpectedly, throwing these “boys” from different belief systems into a situation where they will need to trust each other. Leviathan is an interesting mesh of machines and beasts. A great adventure!