Westerfeld, Scott -- Leviathan
It's 1914; Europe is divided between Prussia's giant diesel mechs and
the giant bioengineered living dirigibles of Britain, France, and
Russia. And then guess who gets assassinated? This is a YA adventure
which is sufficiently fun that you won't care how absurd it is. I
mean, the dirigibles host warrens of gut-engineered bats that eat
metal spikes and crap death upon command, and how can you say anything
to that beyond "more please"? We get two protagonists, an Austrian
princeling and a girl playing Handsome Cabin Boy in the British
aeronavy; the book's pacing is a little awkward until it gets them
into the same place, but it never slows down. More to come, of course,
with the Ottoman Empire in book two.
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