So. You know the whole judging-a-book-by-its-cover thing I keep hocking about? Well, I’m afraid I judged Leviathan by a map. I can’t remember how I wound up at Scott Westerfeld’s blog, but the note about The Grand Map piqued my interest. And, you know, steampunk, WWI, all that. Looked totally possible.
On the other hand, I have for no reason whatsoever taken a dislike to Scott Westerfeld’s stuff. No reason. Well, actually, I think it’s that I hate the covers of those Uglies books. Although it’s equally likely that I hate the covers because I took an unreasonable dislike to his stuff. So there’s that.
And when I say unreasonable, what I mean is that I had never read any of it. Not a scrap. Not a page. Not a blurb. Not a summary. Nuffin. Nor had I been nearby some annoying fanpersons of his stuff, which has been reason enough to dislike other series of YA specfic/horror. Not naming any names, but they know who they are, and they don’t sparkle. Is my reaction to his stuff a contagion from there being Too Much Vampire Stuff right now, even though it’s not really vampire stuff? Could be. Seems fair.
As for this book, which is very much not vampire stuff, it was… eh. Not enough between the covers, if you know what I mean. Some nice stuff, but didn’t live up to the map.
Tolerabimus quod tolerare debemus,
-Vardibidian.