Because this is Westerfeld, it is awesome, because he is awesome. This also may be one of the best of his works I have read (Uglies, Peeps). But. It can be hard to get into, and it takes a certain commitment. Here's the thing -- Scott Westerfeld has created this incredible Steampunk/alternative history version of World War I. At first, I was like, "WHAT is going on?" but then, as I pushed into it, I started getting it. Reading the afterward before the book -- not a bad idea, as it gives you some context, and my WWI knowledge was a tad rusty. But that ain't all. Westerfeld includes Evolutionary Science, Feminism, a drop of sea-faring adventure, along with warcraft technology, in this complex, layered novel. As an American, his "dialect English" for one of the main characters was so accurate I had to double-check to see if he really, really wasn't born in the UK. Westerfeld's writing ability is always strong -- his work is rich, lyric and very visual, but here, his world-building is exquisite. Nearly everything in this wild tale, told in alternating chapters by two protagonists, is alien. It got better when I just kind of let go and accepted all the ideas coming at me which I wasn't wholly familiar with (and thank goodness for the detailed and lovely pencil drawings throughout). Eventually, it all made sense, although it did have me scrambling for Wikipedia to look stuff up by the end. The first of a trilogy, you WILL want to read the next two. As far as I am concerned, this guy can't write a bad book.
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