I’m a terrible liar. Although I had good
intentions, really, I did. I thought about writing this on Tuesday, but I thought,
eh, I’ve got time. And then last night was a Princess Diaries double feature
with a tube of cookie dough in my room, so nothing was accomplished. I
apologize profusely.
I want to be Julie Andrews when I grow up.
Last week, I said I’d talk about either
Scott Westerfeld or Tamora Pierce, and I didn’t lie about that at least. We’re
going to talk about Westerfeld, especially his Leviathan trilogy. He’s totally
my favorite writer, by the way, and you should check out his totally cool blog. Specials
is probably my favorite book of his (possibly ever, of all time), but that’s a
different trilogy. I’m just a sucker for fighting superhuman women (yeah, it’s
that epic).
Unpopular opinion, but I love super badass facial tattoos.
Let’s start with a little summary. The
Leviathan trilogy takes place in what’s called an alternate history, or to use
the more common form, something similar to steam punk (which, while overused, does look kickass, I think we all have
to agree). This is a retelling of World War 1, only it takes place between the
Darwinist and Clanker powers, over-evolved mixed-species animals against ships,
zepplins, and mech walkers. Tesla (one of the Internet’s many gods) is also involved
in the third book, which is super legit and which I just finished rereading for
about the hundredth time. Deryn, a girl from Darwinist Britain, wants to join
the Air Service, so she disguises herself as a boy and through a delightfully
fun series of events, she ends up stuck with Prince Alek from Clanker Austria-Hungary
throughout the war. WARNING: Spoilers ahead, sweetie.
I really hope you understand why this picture is here.
It’s pretty accurate that women in WW1
wouldn’t be allowed to fight. Hell, even in America, women were just recently
cleared to fight on the front lines with men, and we’re known for being
gun-toting people. Previously, women were only allowed to indirectly accompany
men, which, in my opinion, is a little ridiculous. If a woman can physically do
the same things as a man (which I understand that isn’t always possible), she
should be able to fight alongside him. Which, I realize, brings up a whole entire
debate, but that’s not the point. Anyway…
This is the inside jacket of Goliath. The super legit illustrations are by Keith Thompson.
So the girl dresses up as a boy and runs
off to war. Deryn has the help of her brother, unlike many cross-dressing
warriors (although Tamora Pierce’s Alanna also has her brother’s help, I just
realized that). He helps her with the initial deception, but isn’t heard from
more than maybe a mention once a book after that. Deryn is probably one of my
heroes (on the same level as Red vs. Blue’s Tex and Westerfeld’s Tally, but a
step below Halo’s Master Chief (because, really, who can compete with that?)).
You can tell that Westerfeld writes from a time of more equality between the
sexes. There are many important and powerful female characters in the books,
such as the scientist (“boffin”) Dr. Barlow (who wields enormous power on the
ship) and Lilit, a key player in the Ottoman Revolution. What I find most
interesting and telling, however, is the juxtaposition (I love that word) of
the main male and female. WARNING: Bigger spoilers ahead.
So much awesome. Mechs are the best, no matter what you call them.
The relationship between Alek and Deryn
is great. They have an awesome friendship from the start, which, as Deryn
predicted, turns into an equally perfect romance when he finds out she’s a girl.
Their roles are almost reverse of what you’d traditionally expect. While Alek
is a prince, he’s shunned from his family. Deryn, while not with her family, is
still on decent terms with them, even though she was a mad woman who joined the
Air Service. No one who finds out her secret seems to think that Deryn is mad,
as used to be the case with women who acted outside the sociological norms.
Deryn has more power on the ship than Alek. She climbs ropes and ties knots,
while Alek often feels like a useless prince. Deryn saves the ship on more than
one occasion, and, giving due credit, Alek does too. Deryn is even taller than him. And at the end
of the day, instead of the woman giving up her life to be with the man, Alek is
the one who throws away the scroll declaring his destiny to rule, all to be
with a girl. Which is romantic, but stupid, at least for a man. It’s often expected
that a woman give up everything for her man, but not the other way around. I
heard a really interesting idea that I’ve been chewing over lately: how
different stories would be if the main character was female instead of male.
The Leviathan trilogy would be much more traditional in that regard. I like it
just as it is, though. Someday I want to be Deryn Sharp.
You have no idea how much fan art I had to wade through to find one of the illustrations from the freaking book.
TL;DR—Westerfeld’s Leviathan trilogy is
progressive for the time in which it was set, but not that in which it was
written. The whole story just awesome all around, and you should read the books. (That's three separate links, by the way. You're welcome.)
We love cats here.
The ones with the romantic endings are
my favorite. After all, just because someone’s a badass doesn't mean they can’t
get a happily ever after.
The best kind of ending to any story.
Next week, join me to go beyond the cross dressers to check out a book that I have yet to find about women who followed the rules! The week after that, I'll either go to Tamora Pierce, Shakespeare, or Halo. So many choices!
All of my images are pulled from the lovely Google image search, and I do not own any of them. Please don’t sue me.
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