Review: Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve

Found via: Publisher's Weekly 2/15

When I saw this reviewed for Publisher's Weely, I vaguely recognized the author's name, but was more fixated on the description of "future steampunk" and happily put this on my TBR list. It wasn't until I saw Lynn & Cindy's review that I realized this was a prequel to another series that I've never read. Their review was published the day I started reading, coincidentally, so I was quite excited to dive in.

Fever Crumb was abandoned as an infant and discovered by the always-rational Dr. Crumb of the Order of Engineers. Dr. Crumb (quite reasonably) decided he couldn't leave the tiny babe bearing just the note HER NAME IS FEVER out in the wilds amidst the social unrest of the time, so he chose to raise her and make her the first female to join the ranks of the Order.

As a teenager, Fever is assigned to be a field apprentice to archeologist Kit Solent, a former Engineer who has specifically requested Fever's help in uncovering a major find related to the Scriven, the former overlords of London who believed they were the next step in human evolution but were overthrown around the time Dr. Crumb found Fever. Unfortunately for Fever, once she steps outside the safety of the Order, her differently colored eyes are considered the mark of a Scriven and a bounty is put on her head. While Kit tries to protect her, she's also troubled by the memories their work seems to be uncovering - memories that aren't her own and leave her with more questions than answers. Who are Fever's parents? Could she really be part Scriven? And where have these mysterious memories come from?

I have to say, Reeve has a way with words. His descriptions are totally unique, and he's filled the dialogue with excellent bits of slang. I have to admit, I was very amused to see that in this future "blog" is a four-letter word. The world is filled with steampunk-ish creations, only instead of Victorians developing technology well ahead of schedule, this is a future where all of our technology has fallen to ruin and people are trying to reverse-engineer it to work on alternate power sources or with alternate materials as oil and the like are no longer an option.

No where on the book is it described as a prequel to the Mortal Engines quartet, so it's clearly intended to be able to stand alone, however once I knew it was a prequel, I found myself questioning everything and wondering what was going to turn out to be important in the other series. I think because I didn't have the knowledge of the other series I can't count this as one of the best of the year, as Lynn and Cindy do. While the story definitely holds up on its own, I bet knowing the other books makes this for a much richer read. As it is, it's a wholly enjoyable science fiction title, and I'm definitely interested in reading more of Fever's adventures.

Review: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

ARC picked up at BEA

My main reason for getting into BEA back in May was the release of the Catching Fire ARC. A nice bonus was picking up Leviathan, written by my hero Scott Westerfeld. I've written more about my love affair with Mr. Westerfeld's work here.

Leviathan has gone through quite a bit of cosmetic changes since I got my ARC. Mine has the original cover, which was nice and all, but I really love the actual cover.

But a change in covers isn't quite enough to get me to go out and buy a new copy of the book - however, the new endpapers might get me to change my mind. Check out Scott's blog for an awesome .jpg (it's now my desktop background at work) and background information on allegorical maps and an explanation of the imagery in Leviathan's map.

But what about the actual story, you're asking? It is, in a word, awesome.

Set in an alternate WWI-era Europe, Leviathan follows two teenagers: Deryn is a Scottish girl who dresses up as a boy (and goes by the name Dylan) in order to join Britain's air service. Alek is the son of Archduke Ferdinand. Yeah, that Archduke Ferdinand.

But because this is steampunk, this isn't just a piece of historical fiction: in this version of WWI, the British have learned how to genetically engineer animals (these are the Darwinists, as here it was Charles Darwin who discovered DNA and paved the way for such engineering), while Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire rely upon great mechanical war machines that do in some ways emulate the animal fabrications of the British. In our history, machines have usually moved on wheels, but in Leviathan's world, the machines (clankers - any more explanation necessary?) move about on sets of legs.

Deryn and Alek have parallel adventures through Europe for most of the book: Deryn is serving on the great airship Leviathan, which is transporting precious cargo to Russia, while Alek is on the run for his life from the people who would have him assassinated.

Leviathan has a lot of the hallmarks of a great Scott Westerfeld book: the action scenes are epic, there are long journeys through the wilderness (not unlike Tally's quest to find the Smoke back in Uglies), and great, distinct characters. Of course Deryn is a very strong female character (because Westerfeld doesn't seem to know how to write any other kind!), and I really appreciated how in the author's note at the end of the book it's noted that, in reality, much of the past was a terrible time to be a woman. But that's part of the fun of steampunk, that you can take a setting that was less-than-ideal in many ways and create something new. (For more on alternate histories, including some thoughts by Scott Westerfeld on this very subject, check out this video from BEA where Scott Westerfeld speaks, along with Holly Black and Cassie Claire).