Goliath

Goliath by Scott Westerfeld

Rating: Three and a Half out of Five Covers

The Leviathan Trilogy comes to an end in Goliath, where Prince Alek and Deryn Sharpe come to the aid of Nikola Tesla, who has a plan to end the Great War.  The action travels quickly from Russia to Japan and across the Pacific Ocean to Mexico and America with the personal stakes rising as Deryn’s secret comes in jeopardy and Alek announcing that he is the heir to the Austria-Hungary Empire.

The pacing moves very quickly from place to place, allowing only glancing views of how Clanker and Darwinist technology coexist in other countries.  The giant Russian bears in particular are a clever idea.  And while including Tesla, who has become something of a patron saint for steampunk, is understandable, throwing in other historical figures (Hearst, Poncho Villa, etc.) forces the reader to reconcile history with this fantasy world.  It is arguable that this was always the case, as the story hinges on World War I, but world war is such a broad concept that it can be integrated into many genres without compromising their structure.  For me, there is also the fact that using historical figures wasn’t done in the first two books and now there is a shift in the pattern, which violates the contract with the reader.

While the larger conflict becomes strained, the personal stories come more into focus.  The fact that Deryn is actually a girl pretending to be a boy shouldn’t have lasted this long under any real scrutiny, but the fact that the façade begins to fail now adds a lot of drama, as does Alek’s conflicting feelings about becoming a world leader.  These personal stories receive remarkable resolution.  However, as the series began with the Great War, there is the expectation that that larger plot element will be resolved as well.  The fact that it is not leaves dangling plot threads, which are always frustrating.

Goliath contains several predictable story elements, but the style is entertaining.  The world building suffers from a rushed presentation, but it still maintains a fantastic setting.  All in all, it is a suitable ending for the trilogy.