The New Year Starts with a Behemoth!

Happy New Year to all you rockin' cats out there! This is Iron guy Carl. I hope you had a great holiday season and will have a very happy new year. I saw Library Ninja Bill's review of Leviathan, so I want to piggy back off that and start 2011 with a review of a truly rockin' book--Behemoth by the amazing Scott Westerfeld. Yes, I know this is a slightly-edited repeat of a review I posted on the the Boys Read blog. I am such a huge fan of Leviathan and got so excited when Bill posted his review that I had to say something. Hey, don't knock repeats! All the TOMAS (like me, the Iron Guy) get their incredible strength from doing reps!! Well, anyway, I would have been happy if this second book had been just as good as the first. Well, guess what--this one's even better!!

The story takes place in Istanbul (or Constantinople), Turkey in 1914. World War I has just broken out--except, in this story, the world is a little different from the real world of WWI. This is an "alternate history" story; the Germans and Austrians (called "Clankers") use walking war machines, while the British and their allies (called "Darwinists") use fabricated animals. The two main characters, Prince Alek of Austria and Dylan Sharp (who's really Deryn--I'll get to that in a minute) have flown to Istanbul. Prince Alek is a prisoner of the British. Dylan is with Dr. Barlow, the granddaughter of Charles Darwin, who is on a mission to deliver a secret cargo to the Sultan. Things do not go as planned, however. The mission fails spectacularly, Prince Alek escapes, hides in Istanbul and joins a revolutionary movement to overthrow the Sultan. In the meantime, Dylan performs acts of heroism, gets sent on an underwater mission and discovers a deadly Clanker weapon. And speaking of secrets, important people start to discover Dylan's secret--which is that Dylan is really Deryn, a girl who disguised herself as a boy to join the Royal Air Service!

If you liked all the adventure, excitement, humor of Leviathan, then get ready, because this book has all that plus some!! You've got Clanker machines attacked on the streets of Istanbul, strange Darwinist animals, daring nighttime escapes and an unbelievable battle at the end. And the illustrations!!! In most books, the pictures are just--well, they're just sort of there and don't really add anything. In Behemoth, the illustrations really take you into the story and bring everything vividly to life. I enjoyed this one and I'm sure you will, too. I can't wait until next year when Goliath, the third book, comes out!!

PS--if you want to see my review of Leviathan from the Boys Read blog, click here. If you haven't read it already, you could go right to Behemoth, but I'd advise you to read Leviathan first so you get a better sense of what's going on.

Merry, Merry and Other Cool Stuff!

Hello and Happy Holidays to all you travelers in "The Land of Blog!!!!" Well it's getting closer to Christmas and I am looking forward to spending time with family, friends and loved ones. Hey have I ever shared any pictures with you of my family? Well heck, let me do that now:




Papa-san Ninja



Momma-san Ninja (Taking care of business)

Little Ninja Bill and pet Fox!!!!

And now, my big Christmas surprise....Porky Pig singing White Christmas!!!!

Incarceron by Cathrine Fisher - It was created to become paradise. A place where all criminals where taken to be reformed by a group of wise people known as the Sapienti. They all disappeared into this place that has passed on into legend, except for the existence of a warden, and people are uncertain if it really exist. Well it does exist and the this paradise has become quite the opposite. Welcome to the ultimate prison; welcome to Incarceron. Incarceron is more than a mere prison. It is alive and controls the lives of all its inmates in one way or another. A teenager, who is more than meets the eye, named Finn is a prisoner in Incarceron who is trying to escape. His fellow potential escapee's are his oathbrother Keiro, a dashing but very unpredictable character, Gildas, a Sapienti, and Attia, a former slave to a group that Finn and the others belonged to before trying to escape. There is also a place that is supposedly outside of Incarceron known as The Realm. The Realm is a scientifically advanced civilization where, to supposedly stop war and humanities atrocities, time has been stopped to the period of the 18th century. Kings and Queens rule the land and treachery is around every corner. Claudia, who is the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, feels trapped and without hope in The Realm. She is to be married against her will to an oafish an unfeeling prince and put under the thumb of the Queen who rules the land. She discovers secrets about Incarceron with the help of Jared, a Sapienti (it is an order that has existed for a very long time both without and within Incarceron), that she hopes to change her fate. This is a fantastic read that will delight those who are into Scfi and Fantasy. Heck, if you just like good stories you will love this one. This book is intended for teen readers as it has some language and violence.

P.S. Hot off the presses!!!! The follow up to Incarceron, Sapphique is coming out soon and I can't wait.

And now for something completely different!!



Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld - This Steampunk book is set in an alternative history at the very beginning of World War I. The two main characters are Alex, heir to The Austria-Hungary Empire (which is allied with Germany), and Deryn Sharp a British girl pretending to be a boy in order to join The British Air Service. The Austria-Hungary Empire and Germany have in their arsenal Clankers, steam-driven iron machines (both land based, Stormwalkers, Land Frigates, etc. and flying, Zeppelins, Aeroplanes, etc.) with guns and weapons attached. The British, French and Russians have genetically engineered animals. Darwinist Scientists have mixed genes from several animals to make new ones that are used for everything from labor to weapons. The most feared and powerful creation in The British Arsenal is The Leviathan a massive air-beast, which is mainly made after a whale, but is actually a massive ecosystem. Weapons on The Leviathan range from deadly bats that hurl metal shrapnel to powerful airguns (the reason being that The Leviathan uses massive amount of hydrogen to fly and hydrogen plus spark equals a big boom!!!!!!) amongst other things. The story mainly revolves around Alex and his friends trying to smuggle him out of Austria-Hungary because the powers that be want him dead and Deryn's struggle to be accepted into The British Air Service and maintain her secret that she is not really a boy. The two do end up crossing paths in this very cool book. What's even more exciting is that the sequel to this book, Behemoth, is already out and I can't wait to get my hands on it!!!!

Well that's it all you crazy cats!!!! Have a great holiday season and be kind to each other,

Bill