Book Discussion: Goliath

I have finally picked up my first book of the year. After over a week of hem-hawing my way around my shelves - both physical and virtual - I finally settled on reading Goliath by Scott Westerfeld. The third book in his Leviathan series (Book 1, Book 2), Goliath brings readers back to a reimagined, steampunk, World War I history, where the opposing forces are Darwinists and Clankers. Darwinists believe in the manipulation of 'life strands' (DNA) in order to create new and useful creatures such as airships which are actually entire ecosystems. Clankers, on the other hand, find these beasties, a term from the book, to be abominations and their progress has been of the mechanical variety. Flying whale ships versus electric walkers. Awesome. The two sides seem to be on equal footing regarding progess; they've just done it all quite differently.

This idea of simultaneous, equal, but opposite progress has fascinated me from the beginning, and while this third installment (so far) is focusing less on the ideological differences and more on the relationship between our two main characters, I'm still engrossed in the sociocultural comparisons between the two groups. Alek, one of our lead characters, is a born and raised Clanker who has spent the last two books (yeah, I don't know how much time has passed) on a Darwin airship and best friends with a Darwinist midshipman. His close association with the "opposing" side has offered him the opportunity to not only observe the bioengineering Darwinists, but also to understand and appreciate them. And his Clanker tendencies have certainly impacted them as well to the point where they have even accepted (albeit grudgingly) a bit of Clanker technology on their ship.

I mention this specifically to reveal to you how much I appreciate the fact that while Westerfeld has his characters appreciate each other's perspectives, he does not have them fully accept each other's ideas or start some sort of too pat compromise. Understanding and appreciation of another culture does not mean agreement. Both sides remain a bit distrusting of the other. Good for them. And good for Westerfeld. I get annoyed when people are thrust into a new (and very different culture) and are quickly and almost easily completely accepting with no reservation. That's completely inauthentic in my opinion.

That out of the way, there is one more issue that I'm enjoying while reading the book, and this one may contain a few plot spoilers (minor ones). Our protagonist, Deryn, disguised herself as a boy, Dylan, to join the Royal Army and become a midshipman, and it is in this disguise that she meets Alek, who believes her to be a boy and treats her as such. In the third book, he discovers Dylan is actually Deryn, and he, of course, goes through a period of pissiness because he has been lied to by someone he considers his best (and only) friend. Perfectly understandable. What I really like though is that his transition to thinking of her as a her does not carry with it a ridiculous restructuring of his treatment of her. We have a few moments of "but she's a girl" when there's danger or you know, the need to go into a male's room at night, but they are quick, superficial moments that don't actually lead Alek to do anything chauvinistic. Now, I'm not done with the book (about half way there) so I'm not sure that will continue, but I am really pleased right now that Alek didn't suddenly get overly protective or dictatorial and the such not.

And Westerfeld still has Deryn as the badass soldier she was before, saving Alek from time to time and at other times clocking him in the gut, exhibiting real physical strength and daring, and really just being the same person she's been from the beginning. I am enjoying this take on gender expectations.

My only complaint about the book so far is that this installment strays so far from the action focus of the first two. This last book seems much, much more focused on the characters. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but I do so enjoy the action and the politics...maybe more is coming in the last half of the book.

Now, I suppose I should stop yapping and get back to reading.