Goliath, by Scott Westerfeld (2011)

"Siberia," Alek said.  The word slipped cold and hard from his tongue, as forbidding as the landscape passing below.

Goliath, the third book in the Leviathan series, picks up exactly where Deryn and Alek left off in Behemoth. Leviathan, a thousand-foot-long airship made from the life threads of a whale and over one hundred other species, is traveling farther from Europe and the war.  No one will confirm their destination.

"If anything," Volger said, "we should be headed southwest by now, toward Tsingtao."

Alek frowned.  "The German port in China?"

Alek, son of the late Archduke Ferdinand and a Clanker prince, is on the Darwinist ship.  The war between the two technologies (Clanker and Darwinist) is spreading faster every day.  His best friend is Midshipman Dylan Sharp, a girl disguised as a young man so she can fly with the British.  Only Count Volger knows she's a girl.

First the Russian Czar sent a message.  Then the Leviathan picked up mysterious cargo in Russia. 

"There must be a clue in that cargo we picked up from the Russians."

The ship's destination, Tunguska, is an endless fallen forest.  The trunks of the trees had been stripped of their bark and they all pointed in the same direction.  The captain of the airbeast has ordered a rescue.

Dylan helps rescue the 28 men who have made an encampment to protect themselves from the fighting bears.  Leading the group is Nikola Tesla - Clanker boffin, maker of German secret weapons - who says he has always known the cause of the fallen forest.

"I've always known the cause.  I was only curious about the results...I must remain secretive at the moment, but soon the world will know."

Tesla worked for the Clankers until he saw what the war was doing to his home in Serbia.  Alex's parents were killed by a group of Serbian revolutionaries, a plot organized by his granduncle and Germany.

Tesla has created a massive weapon to end the war:  Goliath.

"Tesla is a Serb," Volger explained slowly. 

"Our country attacked his homeland,

not Germany."

Alek felt the weight of the war settling

on his shoulders again. 

"My family is to blame, you mean."

Goliath is an exciting resolution to the Leviathan series.  Find out if Deryn can keep her secret.  Can Tesla's weapon end the war?  And what is Alek's destiny?  Meet interesting characters in Tokyo, Mexico and the United States. 

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars
*mild language

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

Cuss, by Kristine L. Franklin (2003)

The grape train pulled into Roslyn on a hot August day in 1925.  The air felt like the devil's breath.

Slava Petrovich is 12-years old.  A small coal mining town, Roslyn, Washington, is a melting pot of cultures and languages.  Cuss picks up languages quickly.

I told them if I knew enough cuss words in other languages, no kid would ever be able to pull a fast one in Old Country talk. 

Prohibition started five years ago and once a year the grape train comes to Roslyn.  Since people couldn't buy alcohol, many Roslyn families decided to make their own wine; California grape farmers were happy to supply the grapes.  Every year boys strategize how to steal some delicious grapes.

Boys drop out of school all of the time to work in the coal mines.  Life in Roslyn can be tough, and Cuss's family struggles to survive.  Cuss's two older brothers work in the mine, and it's only a matter of time before Cuss has to join them.  Even his seven-year old brother wants to quit school to start working.  More than anything, Cuss wants to stay in school.

     "You can't stay in school forever," she said.  "That's the fact of the matter."
     "I'm no miner," I said.
     "Put a pickax in your hands and you will be," she said.  "If Ma needs you to, you will right?"

On the day the grape train arrived, Cuss's older sister, Mary invited a gentleman to dinner.  Later that evening, Cuss's older brothers confronted Mary's gentleman caller.

"It's him," said Joey.  "I'm sure."

Suddenly Cuss's brothers, Matt and Joey, are mixed up in something big, and Cuss witnessed everything.  He knew rumors would swirl around his brothers, rumors about bootlegging and mobsters.

In the middle of the night, Joey and Matt leave Roslyn.

"There's talk, Cuss...I hear things," he said, "as in your brothers went to the sheriff, told him the whole thing, and he told 'em to get outta town for fear of the mobsters."

With Joey and Matt gone, money is tight.  After his younger brother gets sick, the family may even lose their house. 

Will Cuss be able to stay in school?  Could Cuss even get a job in the mines now that fuel oil has become more popular?  What will happen to the coal mining town of Roslyn?  Will everyone have to move back to the Old Country?

Cuss is an excellent read if you like realistic fiction, historical fiction, or fiction with strong characters.  It gives great glimpse into what life looked like in 1925 Roslyn. 

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!
(Formerly titled The Grape Thief)

Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld (2009)

The Austrian horses glinted in the moonlight, their riders standing tall in the saddle, swords raised.  Behind them two ranks of diesel-powered walking machines stood ready to fire, cannon aimed over the heads of the cavalry.  A zeppelin scouted no-man's-land at the center of the battlefield, its metal skin sparkling.

Setting:  Europe, summer of 1914

Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austria-Hungary Empire, and his wife, Sophie Chotek were assassinated in Sarajevo.  The story of Leviathan is based on the events that led to the Great War, or World War I.  Yugoslavia murders Austria's royalty, Austria seeks their revenge.  Serbs are allied with Russia, who is allied with France, who is allied with Great Britain.  Germany protects Austria and declares war on Russia.  The perfect political ingredients for a global war.

In Leviathan, it is a war of

fabricated beasts vs. mechanical monsters.

Austria - The Clankers
Hapsburg Prince Aleksander Hohenberg, the young archduke and son of Franz Ferdinand and Sophie, is almost 16 years old.  Alek's mom wasn't proper royalty to marry into the Hapsburgs.  It was difficult for them to marry, but when they were finally granted permission, it was for a 'left-handed marriage' - the children will inherit nothing.  Prince Alek is a prince in name only.

After his parents' death he was forced to escape the palace in the middle of the night to learn his uncertain fate.

Britain - Darwinists
Fifteen-year old Deryn Sharp wants to be in the British Air Service.  She'll do anything, including cutting her hair and impersonating to be a 16-year old boy.  She is absolutely fearless.  An amazing adventure brings Deryn, or now Dylan, to the Leviathan - a huge airbeast, a vast web of live, an entire ecosystem. 

Britain has fabricated beasts, thanks to Charles Darwin's discoveries and principles.  Crossbreeds had been the backbone of the British Empire for the last 50 years.  The Clankers are afraid of fabricated species and instead worship their mechanical machines.

Scott Westerfeld's creation is dark, mysterious, and a creative spin on the events that led to World War I.  The cool thing about this book is that it appeals to many interests - historical fiction, science fiction, relationships, family dynamics, loss and love. 

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars