The Leviathan Series by Scott Westerfeld

Good day all,

I know I've had a bit of a long break from posting but let me try and explain what happened. I started reading a book by Stephen King called Gerard's game. It's a pretty cool premise a wife about to have kinky sex with her husband is chained to a bed. But just before she does the deed she wants out so she kicks her husband back which results in him going into cardiac arrest. He dies and she is trapped.


It is a cool premise but I found it a bit slow so I moved on to Leviathan the first book in the Leviathan trilogy.

Leviathan is set in a fascinating and imaginative alternative history around 1914. The events of the three books all revolve around the first world war. The very cool steam punk twist is that the Germans have these giant steam powered walkers and some are truly enormous as big as battle ships walking on legs and towering over forests as well as Zeppelins and what have you.

Now the other side the allies Russia, Britain and France are all Darwinists. Indeed there are alot of in jokes between the clankers and Darwinists about who went the better technological route. So what is a Darwinist well basically they have genetically engineered animals into weapons of war.

The leviathan to give you a good idea is actually a giant whale floating through the air. In fact it's not just a whale it's an echo system that flies with hydrogen produced in its belly by other creatures living inside it including strange balloon like jelly fish fabrications. They also have hyrdrogen sniffer dogs to spot leaks and motivator engines to steer the giant beast.

As you can already tell this is a very imaginative world. This is my first steam punk novel and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Now I'll get to the two main characters because really this is the best part of these amazing books. First we have Alec, he's the son of the assassinated arch duke of the Austrian Hungarian empire, as such he is hunted down by his fellow clankers as he could be the next heir to the throne and could help end the war his great uncle incited.

Then there is Deryn a Scottish girl dressed as a boy so that she can. Exile a pilot. On her first test she inadvertently gets dragged trough the air towards the leviathan which she then becomes a midshipmen on from that point forward and manages to forge a new identity as Dylan Sharp.

I think the best moments in the trilogy is by far when the lives f these two characters intersect. In each novel there are points where they are together and then apart. The book ialternates between both Alec and deryns perspective.

I'm not one for spoilers but I will say how they first meet. The leviathan after an epic air battle against a fleet of German Zeppelins crashes in Switzerland right near where prince Alec is hiding. He goes to help and finds Deryn in the snow and she has her crew take him captive when she realizes he is Austrian (and a bit posh to boot).

I honestly think even though the plot centers around critical battles and moments in which the actions of these characters shape the outcome of the war, the story is also very much at its heart a romance.

It is a slow boil at first but it's really gripping and doesn't fall into the trap of so many romances of putting stupid obstacles in the way. All I'll say is the romance alone was enough to keep me turning the pages.

Even if the fights and action which there is tonnes of aren't enough to get you to read it, I really enjoyed Alec and Dylan as characters. I also feel for te most part the plot moved along quickly and didn't seem to plod. The most plodding section of the trilogy is unfortunately about midway through the last book, but it does pick up momentum and leads to a very captivating climax.

That's also another thing to appreciate about the series. Each book has its own plot and it's own climax and own wrap up. The only thing really not resolved is the romance and perhaps the larger scale of the war, but these aren't those annoying books who takes 3 novels to get to the epic battle or fight.

This is a real page turning and fast paced series and it's also relatively short. Another Hilight for me are the illustrations that helped me see exacty how Scott Westerfeld imagined the leviathan and his other animals and machines of war, including giant sea monsters, giant lightning cannons, hull tall hulking monstrous Russian beers. The list goes on and sometimes the descriptions were not enough for me, but the illustrations really bring all those concrete details to life.

This really is a good series. I've probably said enough for now but check them out.

Leviathan
Behemoth
Goliath

For me possibly the best reads of 2011.

Well that's it from me for a while I'll post again soon when I return to Sydney. Well to all those eyes scanning this page in cyberspace happy reading!

The John Cleaver sequels: Mr Monster and I Don't want to Kill You by Dan Wells

I just finished I Dont want to kill you and I may in fact kill Mr Wells for not having written book four yet. On the surface John cleaver Dan Wells protagonist lives in a very ordinary life of a teen in small town America.

Then of course there's the fact that being inside Johns head is anything but ordinary. He doesn't love girls...he loves to thought of mutilating and trapping them. He's a sociopath deaf and simple.

I already wrote a review for his first John cleaver novel a while back and now I've polished off the next two. And to quote Dan himself I do believe they are getting better. As with the first book John directs his serial killing tendencies into finding and catching demons.

In Mr Monster he struggles to do all the normal things including date a girl he's had eyes for since book 1. He continues to work with his mother, Margaret her twin sister in the mortuary and. Regina working closely with an FBI agent foreman to catch the next killer.

Also and sorry for spoilers but johns relationship with his mother hits new interesting places now that his mother and he are the only ones who know about the demon he killed in part 1.

I admire that so much of these books revolves around johns family perhaps Mr Monster moreso. We also get to understand the strained relationship between Lauren Johns sister an his mother when she brings a real pain in the ass home for dinner.

The end of this novel takes an intriguing twist and Dan wells purposes the climax of book 1 I reckon. I won't spoil it but the demon in this book is very different to the guy in book one.

Now I Don't Want to Kill You. I can't reveal too much but suffice to say all your favourite characters are back. We get to learn more about Brooke and this is a bit of a spoiler alot of this book tracks a romance between John and Marci the popular girl at school.

I think the fascinating thing about John is sure he may be a sociopath, but he never accepts that part of him. In a way he has higher principles and is far more courageous than anyone else. By book 3 he has very proudly taken upon the role of demon hunter.

So what more can I say read these books. On the surface a fascinating story that goes inside a dark and unfamiliar mind. We grapple with questions of morality and often love and what the hell is it especially web your John Cleaver and you just don't feel.

Still by the end of book 3 that idea of John is completely abandoned...anyway no more spoilers. I wish there was a book four they are easy to read books and relatively short so really there's no reason no to give the John Cleaver series a try. You will not be disappointed.

Anyway happy reading everyone and merry christmas!

Eden by Keary Taylor

Hi guys, it's taken me awhile to get around to writing this review (I'm sorry! Life's far busier than is fair sometimes), but now that I've started, I'm really excited to get to finally talk about this novel. The novel I'm talking about is Eden by Keary Taylor. It's one of the millions of young adult dystopian novels that seem to be swarming the shelves lately, but what caught my eye was the cover - and that is ironic given that it was the Kindle version which I guiltily purchased and read on my i-phone. I feel like I'm betraying my printed companions that have guided me through the ups and downs of Sookie Stackhouse's twisted world, introduced me to the Shifter's series, and left me with an obsessive compulsion to read anything written by Sherrilyn Kenyon. But it was just so damn awesome to have a 400+ page book in my Iphone and not taking up precious space in my already overcrowded handbag. So Eden was ahead of the game five seconds after I purchased it.

And when I started reading it, it got even further. The novel is set in a dystopian future where humanity has become the hunted. Technological advancements that once saved lives have become a virus that literally consumes humans, turning them into cybernetic soldiers that have only one purpose - to spread the infection until there are no humans left to assimilate. Eve is a surivor in this devastated world, her memory of the world before the virus nothing but fractured images without sense. Nowhere is truly safe anymore, but hope is pervasive and the establishment of Eden, a nomadic self-sufficient village is the place that Eve and the other survivors call home. West, a secretive new recruit to Eden, and Avian, the man who's been by her side longer than she remembers, cause Eve to question everything about herself and her forgotten origins. In a world where staying alive is a minute-by-minute battle, Eve struggles to understand the place of love within it and the very definition of what it is to be human. And in the end, its her humanity that will keep Eden a reality and reveal the answer her confused heart is looking for.

Now, I really enjoyed this book - it's concept is something that I can see being scarily possible in our time - or maybe our kids' times, but still. It reminds me of a movie I saw called Repo-Men where Jude Law (looking reasonably cute) is a man employed to repossess manufactured organs when their owner can no longer afford the payments on them (actually, I think I might have to watch it again - Blockbuster time). Anyway, back on track, its a freakily possible concept that still makes me look at my i-phone a little suspiciously sometimes.

The internal monologue of Eve and the interactions between the characters improves on the concept even more so. Eve is a fantastic character and identifying with her is easily done, and when Avian and West form a neat little love triangle, its hard not to be a little jealous of the girl. The differences between Avian and West's characters was really dramatic to me, and something I thought the author demonstrated really well was the way love could be unpredictable and you could love different things about different people.

While I love the tug-of-war that goes on in this love triangle, I find some of the reasoning for Eve's anti-Avian logic a bit dated. Mainly the age-gap concept, I mean, in an essentially post-apocalyptic world, does the age difference between an 18 year old and a 25 year old really such a big deal? But then maybe its a personal preference thing, I don't know. It still bugs me though.

The same as the scarily soap-operatic scare of one of them potentially being a relative - I won't tell who - but it just seemed like an unneccessary complication of an already interesting storyline. And honestly, after all the effort that the author went to in building up the sexual tension and conflict between Eve, Avian and West, it felt like a waste of energy in relating to the characters only to pose the possibility of familial relations and the far-too-easy dissolution of one of the key players in the triangle. I mean, it would be like Bella Swan finding out that Jacob wasn't an option because her mother Renee decided to give someone in the wolf-pack half-a-chance - it'd just ruin the whole thing!

Fortunately the author doesn't destroy the fascinating love triangle through something so shoddy, and instead she brings Eve to a place where what she wants and what she needs are so blatantly obvious to her (and no one else) - until, with an earth-shattering kiss, we, the audience, get the answer we didn't know we wanted. And better yet, the author doesn't close the book on a death or a happily-ever-after, instead she leaves us with a satisfying ending that provides a wealth of opportunities (also known as 'potential for sequels') while also making Eden a pretty darn good stand-alone read.

All in all, I loved Eden. It took a complicated dystopian world and turned it into a simple examination of what it is to be human and why it matters so much. It is well-worth the reading, providing hours of escapism into a world defined by humanity and its determination to survive without compromise; and perhaps more importantly, into a young woman's discovery of love and life and the confusion that unavoidably comes with it.

Definitely worth the click the next time you're browsing the "shelves" of eBooks if you ask me. Next up for me, Branded by none other than ... Keary Taylor - it's a look at the angels and demons dynamic that has me far too eager to fall into its pages. Until next time ...

I am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells

Hi all,

I actually finished reading this a while back. Sometimes it's nice to read something a little bit shorter and Dan Wells has done a good job of creating a page turning thriller but also a fasinating character study. The tale begins in a morgue, where the very twisted sociopath John Cleaver is helping his mother and twin sister (both morticians) clean up a dead body. This is something John Cleaver enjoys as well as an unhealthy obsession with serial killers.

The interesting thing though is that John Cleaver has a very strong desire to be normal and keep the monster inside him at bay. In fact as he talks to his psychologist we learn he has certain rules for himself to stop the inevitable occuring. I find this a very endearing quality about John Cleaver. He is the perfect example of free will over determinism. He is forcing himself to rebel against his own nature every day. As such for a teen he comes across rather mature and much older.

As the say though one cool idea is not enough to make a book. So once we get our bearings on John Cleaver and his twisted existence, although what I like so much about him is how relatable he is. So through his workings in the mortuary it becomes clear there's a serial killer in the local town and John Cleaver is the first to noitce it due to his obsession with serial killer lore. This bugs his mother enough when he says it out loud that she banishes him from the mortuary.

So John Cleaver begins a quest as more bodies pile up to unearth who the killer is. When you think though you have your bearings on this book it suddenly surprises you. I do admit the back cover gives this away and there are sentences dotted through the first 100 pages or so which blatantly spell it out, but I didn't buy until I got to the first major turning point in the story. All who want to avoid any spoilers read no further, although I'm pretty sure the book is advertised with this spoiler included.

Because the story takes a fantastical turn. It turns out the killer is not in fact human at all, but a demon. Why does he kill? How to kill him? These are all things John Cleaver must work out and in my opinion this was a great idea to include this fantasy element into Cleaver's suburban world. Although I know that this may simply turn other people off, but I suppose with Dexter running a similiar concept the demon killer angle is a way of distinguishing himself, but in all honesty I think what distinguishes this novel from Dexter, is this is a guy who is facing a critical choice. Who do I want to be?

I think that's what makes this so interesting and of course it's always interesting watching a sociopath who doesn't really want to connect with people, connect with people. He has an odd romantic feelings...I say odd, because really his romantic feelings come packaged with feelings of wanting to torture and bleed this girl. To Cleaver that is emotional intensity and yet somehow we feel for this guy. Why because he knows how messed up he is basically...and his relationship with his mother is pretty interesting too. He has an annoying best friend, but his closest relationship is probably with his psychologist who Cleaver can be most honest with.

It's odd for me to go into so much detail about the book itself, but this is a good read. I enjoyed it so much I reached a point where I literally had to see how it ended. So it's a good thriller and I think what I like about it is it's really different. I know Dexter is out there and stuff like that, but I think this is a good place to start. It's about a teen and it's a quick easy and delightful read. Although admittedly it's quite dark so don't let the age of the characters fool you, this is no kids book, but it is a very interesting twist on a typical crime novel, although I suppose technically Dan Wells describes his writing as horror. So let's call it that.

I'm currently working on the Leviathan Trilogy I had planned on writing a review for Leviathan, the first book in Scott Westerfield's very awesome trilogy, but I think I'll write one for the trilogy as a whole, because what is great about it, is unlike even the Hunger Games I feel as though each book is absolutely essential and it really is just one story broken up into three parts. Don't get me wrong I loved the Hunger Games, but by the end of Leviathan nothing is really resolved we've basically just had our first act, whereas the Hunger Games is written so you have an ending at the end of book 1 and then it does that thing becoming increasingly more common where the next two books are basically Part 1 and Part 2. So in that sense I'll call it a proper trilogy.

Anyway it's really good and I'm loving it so I must get back to the second book Behemoth. So until next time happy reading everyone! There are so many great books out there, so I highly recommend having a good browse over the internet and finding something you may not have tried otherwise. It's a great time to be a reader, particularly a fantasy reader I reckon.

Lucky Child by Loung Ung

It's been a while since I listened to First they killed My Father. It was an amazing story I just happened to fluke upon it all began by wanting to know more about Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge. Then I found Loung Ung's book and thought what better way to understand what actually happened. It's a pretty tragic story and if you want to hear my thoughts on it then check out my earlier review and also while I'm netioning that anyone interested in knowing more about her books or her own life check out her site, trust me you won't regret it and it'll probably take five minutes of your time.

Also just as a way of a brief overview the Khmer Rouge invaded Phenom Penh Cambodia's capital in 1975. They then sent all Cambodians into the Country side and established a communist dictatorship with a guy named Pol Pot at its head. Everyone was forced to work as peasants growing rice under the constant watch of Khmer soldeirs. To maintain power they slaughtered any intellectuals, including engineers, teachers, doctors and anyone in the previous government. About a third of the population of Cambodia was killed during the regime, which lasted only 4 years until Vietnam crossed Cambodia's border and invaded driving Pol Pot's forces back. Anyway, anyone who is at the moment unaware of these tragic events, do yourself a favour and try to learn a bit more.

Okay now on to Lucky Child basically this book tells the story of the aftermath of the Pol Pot regime. In the end of Loung Ung's first memoir, she was on her way to the USA with her elderst brother Meng and his wife Eang. Her sister Chou and brothers Khouy and Kim were left back in Cambodia with her Aunt and Uncle. So this is the story of everything that happened between Choi and Loung's separation and their reunion fifteen years later in 1995. So it tells both Chou's story and Loungs.

I have to mention here that what Loung does really well is write. Not only is her content very moving, but I enjoy her descriptions particularly when she first arrives in America and describes everyone by what animal they are. It's a perfect way to describe that sense of how alien the new world is of course what I find funny and what I'm arleady privy too is there's a bit near the start where an American is showing them how to use basic household appliances. It's funny that they assume they never had Televisions or any luxuries in Cambodia. It's interesting of course that this isn't the case at all, having read the life Loung lived in Phom Penh before the Khmer Rouge.

On the other side of the world Chou is having a pretty hard life, but has her family. I think what Loung captures in the chapters about her sister, is the clear and present danger. There are many incidents where Chou and her family are forced to hide and directly confront Khmer Rouge soldiers prowling through their neighbourhoods.

There's also the subplot about Loung wanted to forget her family and struggling to move past the pain. She wants to be all American and forget where she came from. I find that Loung really captures the past the way it invades her life. There's a particularly eerie moment by the pool at a party she goes to as a girl. A boy falls under the water for a moment and life guards and mothers are on alert. They fish him out after he's been submerged for a few moments. All Loung can think is how angry she is. She's angry at how lucky that boy is and how none of them understand the pain. She says later on in the book that violence is something that comes naturally to her and needs to be controlled.

I think perhaps that's what's so powerful about Loung's writing it is so brutally honest. It doesn't skim over anything. It's amazing to even have someone brave enough to write about the torments they endured, but to admit to the ugliest thoughts going through their head is something particularly moving.

As with her other book though I think what I love is the strength of the Ung family. At the end of the novel when Loung and her sister reunite, I did cry and I had the biggest smile on my face. It was really touching, because to them family is everything. In a way I think we all underestimate the importance of family so I think it's important to have books and writers, even just writing about that for a change.

I can't recommend Loung Ung's books enough. I think a third one is coming out next year. So I'll be back for more when I see that out on the shelfs, but honestly I cannot recommend this enough. This is a great piece of writing and an amazing story about truly courageous people. At the same time it's also a touching story about the very simple pleasures and agonies of family life.

Happy reading everyone! Next I've got a shorty but hopefully a goody. It has a spiffy title, but let's see what the books like. Stay tuned for next time for I'm Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells.

The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon

I was meaning to write this discussion (or review) sooner. It's funny I heard something some guy called Jack Heath said at the Speculative Fiction Festival recently and he said he hadn't been reading any female writer and so has made a vow for this whole year to read only female writers.

Anyway, why do I mention that? I don't know, I'm not going to get into gender stereotyping in terms of the very heartfelt and touching Speed of Dark I just wanted to point out that inadverdently this blog has an uneven distribution of male to female authors funnily enough, even though as history continues to tell us there are probably twice as many or just as many excellent female writers. So here I am to look at what I consider to be another of them.

The book is essentially set in the near future. It's a future pretty much the same as our current reality, with one key difference. Scientists have found a way to stop autisim in newborns. However, people like Lou, who are autistic and well into life there's no such miracle cure...until now. When a new boss called Crenshaw is employed to the company Lou and a team of his autistic friends work for, Crenshaw is convinced that the best way to save the bottom line is by shutting the autistic section down. Of course this is far from the truth, however, as he is however briefly in free reign of the direction of the company, he basically decides to have all the autistic persons undergo assessment and testing for a new type of therapy that could cure them of autism.

So this is the premise of the book, but it is so much more. The key to the success of this book is the beautiful way Elizabeth Moon portrays the protagonist Lou. In some ways Lou behaves very child-like at least in the way he speaks and analyses the world and I found this instantly endearing. My chest is tightening just thinking about the way he fumbles over his romantic feelings for one of the other characters in the book known as Majory. To me and as you've guessed I'm a bit of a sucker for romance, that is probably one of the highlights.

Basically the book follows Lou's day to day life, as he competes in fencing competitions, talks with friends, learns what it is like to love and tries to negotiate the ever painful and intimidating Crenshaw. There's also a subplot where poor old Lou is the subject of vandalism that escalates.

Ultimately, though it's a novel as much about Lou as it is about the different ways the world understands someone different. There's Crenshaw who hates Lou because he seems just as capable as him, but due to some stroke of fate he gets all these extra privileges. There are those who treat Lou like a child and then there are his friends who understand him and the way he is. Then there's his fencing buddies. Man it's an amazing book and it really appeals to anyone, because who hasn't in their lives wanted to be normal.

Another thing I think I havent' full credited is how well Elizabeth Moon maintains Lou's very unique lens on the world. Definately check out her sight it's obvious from reading her novel that she understands austism intimately, here's the link.

Next up I'm looking at the Sequel to First they Killed My Father by Loung Ung. It's an interesting read and will provide another interlude from all these male authors.

The Magician King by Lev Grossman

Hey all,

so it's official this is the first sequel reviewed on the Cyber Book Club. What can I say about the Magician King, well once again we're back in Quintin's shoes. This time he's the king of Fillory and decides to go on a quest, which grows into a quest to restore the world's magic.

But let me just stop there because as I was discussing this book to my friend tonight, this book has all the trappings of a Narnia story or dare I say a childish quest tale. The characters move from one location to the next, but Grossman is a man who writes fantasy but one who isn't really interested in exploring the glitz and glamour of it. No Grossman very brutally exposes the grime and that there are no "true fairy" stories. Time and time again in the Magicians Quintin was reminded that magic would not magically solve his own inner issues, so too in the Magician King do we see a similiar arc happening with the character Julia.

Only let me be honest, it is perhaps one of the most depressing stories I have read. The bits with Quintin are a bit lighter, but the Julia sections are dark and bleak. This is literally a person who cannot and will not fit in and as his characters often do, well his Main one's at least Julia like Quintin in the Magicians finds ways to make herself miserable and she will not give up her quest to be a magician, which turns to an obsession. She unlike QUintin did not make it in through official channels. So she truly had to struggle for magic and gave up literally everything else and as for the climax of Julia's story...I'll just say it's pretty horrific what happens.

Now Quintin. It's interesting to see how far Quintin has come. He's no longer the whiney person he was in book one. He still seems dis-satisfied, but by the end of this novel I think he has come to a place where he doesn't believe in the conceit of the fairy story. And honestly I think this is the whole point perhaps Fillory is just a metaphor sometimes the things that happen appear so random and revolve so closely around Quintin (we're talking cosmic events here) it makes it feel as though Fillory is his world. His quest is yet another reflection of his failures as a person that he is constantly seeking that thrill, seeking in a way to escape from reality.

There are a few moments. Nice moments actually where Quintin reflects that he may not have given the real world  enough credit. It's hard to describe the Magician King in terms of plot, because for me the plot isn't very meaningful sure, alot of cool things happen. But alot of the things that happen seem very random and coincidental and so to me what Grossman here has achieved is to create a very powerful exploration of two psychologically disturbed characters and wrapped it up in the trappings of a fantasy quest story. The thing that always intrigues me about Grossman's style is his characters and his world pokes fun at itself and is very aware of how much it is ripping off of other authors.

In a way The Magician King deals a lot with the theme of what is real, but on a deeper level it might be seen as a criticism of stories like Narnia, because even though this has all the trappings of Narnia. Instead of that blinding conviction in the reality of the world you get from CS Lewis. In Grossman's writing as in the narrative voice of Quintin there is nothing but disdain and cynicism that Fillory is in fact a real place and that the fact he needs to find seven magical keys does in fact make any sense whatsoever.

I really enjoyed The Magician King. It seems quite a simple world on the surface, but as I perhaps elaborated in the Magicians review there is something Grossman does that is so dark, twisted and above all really tugs at your heart strings. God does he pull at those emotions. I highly recommend The Magician King and I'm hoping that...sooner rather than later there will be another Magician book of his, because as miserable as Quintin is I have to admit I kinda like the guy.

Anyway happy reading everyone! Next time I'll be looking at a very different but also very emotional novel "The Speed of Dark" By Elizabeth Moon and I'm really loving it.