This is a very solid young adult book, with not too much romance
shoehorned in. (That is to say, there is some romance, and it feels very
shoehorny, but is on the brief side. This book in particular feels like
it could have skipped the burgeoning of the feelings without in anyway
detracting from the book.) I am waffling on the three or four stars
right now - because I liked it enough to be interested in further books
in the series without in any way falling in love with it.
But it
is interesting, and there are real flashes of something exciting here. I
am still undecided, and I retain the right to come back and tinker with
the star rating later. Or after I'm finished writing the review and
have figured out what I think.
So, it appears that the looming
Great War in the this book is not just between the imperial alliances of
Austria and Germany vs Britain/France/Russia. It is also between
biology and engineering. The Germans, of course, have efficient machines
- huge mechanical landcraft that strike my imagination something like a
Star Wars walker. And in Britain, Darwin not only wrote about
evolution, but pioneered genetic engineering, so the English battlecraft
are giant living beings, sort of like flying jellyfish. And bats that
poop razors.
Two young people are in the middle of this - Alex,
the son of Archduke Ferdinand, suddenly in the crosshairs of dynastic
politics. And Deryn, who passes herself off as a boy to join up as part
of a flying crew. As the world lurches towards war, both have to fight
in battles, and in the end, join forces.
It's not a deep book,
and some things made me raise my eyebrows a bit, and oh, the flowering
of new romance felt so unnecessary. But the ideas are interesting, and
the characters may be a little flat, but they push the story along
nicely. The world, though, that's what holds the most attraction. This
is an interesting place.
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