Friday, March 19, 2010

Leviathan


by Scott Westerfeld

Here's another one by Westerfeld that I really liked. It's a little sci-fi and a little old-fashioned at the same time, a style that has come to be known as "steam punk." The story is set in a sort of alternate timeline version of Europe around the time of World War I. As the story begins, Alek is woken up in the middle of the night by a couple of his personal instructors to give him a late-night Stormwalker driving lesson. It makes sense to some degree, but why is Alek's fencing instructor, Count Volger, coming along? Is he in danger, is that why they're leaving at night? Is he in danger from Count Volger? Maybe he's being kidnapped!!

At about the same time, a girl in England named Deryn is trying to join the military's Air Service. She has a couple of things standing in her way, though. She's a bit young and she's a she. So Deryn tries to pass herself off as Dylan to join up. She has a lot of experience with flying already, so she's well ahead of her peers in terms of skill. While riding up on a tethered Huxley, Deryn runs into a storm that forces her to cut ties with the ground and float off over London. She's picked up by a giant airship, the Leviathan. Or should I say air beast? The Leviathan and the Huxley are both living creatures. England is a Darwinist country and they use living things, crazy beasts made from the DNA of different creatures, for transportation and weaponry.

Alek is from Austria, though, and he's a "Clanker," relying on giant mechanical contraptions for their military conflicts. How will Deryn (Dylan) and Alek fare when their countries start gearing up for war? Check out Leviathan from the LFHS library to find out!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

The Answer is Always Yes

by Monica Ferrell

 


What does it mean to be cool? Can you decide one day that you're going to be cool? Can you rebuild your personality, start over from scratch, and make yourself one of the cool people? If you study what the cool folks are doing and emulate their styles, will they accept you?

 


These are the questions that Matt faces as he heads off to NYU for his freshman year of college. He's spent the summer finding the "right" clothes and made sure he's found the "right" places to hang out. But what happens when he puts theory into practice?

 


It doesn't go well, at least not right away. His first impression with his dorm roommates goes horribly wrong and his dorm counselor hands him a pamphlet on homesickness. His pre-planned "cool" outfits don't go over very well either. Matt does make his first friend, Jason, because of his shoes, but not for the right reasons

 


Things start to go a little better for Matt when he meets Sophie, a sophomore from Lake Forest, Illinois (weird, right?). She and Jason help Matt feel a little better about himself and they form a nice little trio. One night they find themselves at a very trendy club and Matt finds his way into the VIP area where he is approached by the club's owner, Vic. Vic thinks Matt has potential and invites him to be one of the club's promoters. Everything seems to be going Matt's way, but what happens when you get everything you think you want? Will it go to Matt's head or can he walk the fine line between his life at school and his new life at the club

 


Check The Answer is Always Yes out from the LFHS library to see what happens!