Worldshaker by Richard Harland

WorldShaker
by Richard Harland

Book Design: Laurent Linn
End Paper Illustrations: Patrick Reilly

Published: 2009
Genre: Steampunk, Scifi, YA
Hardback: 400 pages
Rating: 5

Teaser:
This iron colossus, Colbert, this mechanical mountain, this predominator. You will be it and it will be you. Do you want that?

Sir, I do.

And he did, he did. He felt dizzy and drunk with the greaness of it all. He wasn't thinking of his duty to the Porpentine family or Queen Victoria. This was what he was born for; this was his inheritance! Yes! Yes! Yes!
-chapter 6, page 30

Description from author's site:
Col is the grandson and nominated heir of the Supreme Commander. He’ll become the most powerful person on the juggernaut when he’s completed his schooling and training. But one night, a girl Filthy from the engine rooms down Below tries to hide in his bedroom. The Filthies are dirty and ragged, never spoken about in polite society—but this one is on the loose and running free. ‘Don’t let ‘em take me,’ she pleads.

Every rational thought in Col’s head tells him to call the officers and hand her over. Yet there’s something about her …

Listen to the author reading passages or read extracts from Worldshaker.

Explore the juggernaut. Richard's site provides diagrams and illustrations of Worldshaker. You can zoom in to see the living quarters and different deck levels.

My two-bits:
In-a-word(s): 4-9-2

I really like the packaging of the book. You'll notice I added links to the artists above. There is texture to the cover. The rivets are raised so you get a bumpy-feel. The end paper includes illustrations of the outside of the Worldshaker with specifications of length, width, height, &etc. Also, most pages are partly outlined with piping. So visually, you get pulled into the inside of a ship - below decks.

Another enjoyable read. The topic of socialism (in a steampunk world) is brought up with this read - people who categorized as Upper Decks or Menials or Filthies and the various layers in between.

Interesting to note that although the main character of the story is a young man, most of the strong characters and leaders in the story are female.

Col, the main character, is a hero in the making and I'm looking forward to seeing him bloom in book 2.

Series:
Worldshaker
Liberator - the sequel (read extract)

::= SteamBoyz schedule =::

In My Mailbox - 7.18.10

Bought:

In celebration of SteamBoyz week, July 9-17, 2010.

If you haven't already, come by for a dose of steampunk from the YA male perspective.

Worldshaker
by Richard Harland

For review courtesy of author:

Out of Time
by Pauline Baird Jones
Thanks, Pauline!

~*~
* per usual, check out the sidebar for my current giveaways to you

* image from Leafcutter Designs - world's smallest postal service

* In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren and inspired by Pop Culture Junkie. A post where we share books acquired via mailbox, library, store, etc.

SteamBoyz: Mobile City

Jade studies the image from the Worldshaker file.

There is a rumor going about.

She passes the picture around for everyone to see.

This mobile city has been seen in the area we will be crossing tomorrow.

Jade points at the section of the map for us to note.

WorldShaker
by Richard Harland
Description from the amazon:
Col, among the elite on the juggernaut Worldshaker, learns the terrible truth about the nature of his society in a steampunk novel by Richard Harland.


Description from author's site:
It’s huge! It’s huger than huge! It’s the juggernaut Worldshaker, a mobile city as big as a mountain. Ruled by Queen Victoria the Second and commanded by Sir Mormus Porpentine, it moves on rollers over land and across sea.

Queen Victoria the Second you ask? Yes, history has followed an alternative track ever since Napoleon actually dug his planned tunnel under the Channel and invaded England in 1804. A century and a half later, after revolution and repression, after the Fifty Years War, after ruthless steam-age industrialisation, Europe has become a wasteland. Now the juggernauts of the great powers roam the face of the globe in a very different Age of Imperialism.

If you like steampunk, this is the steampunkiest! If you like Victoriana, this is Charles Dickens on steroids! Meet Sephaltina Turbot, Bartrim Gibber, Ebnolia Porpentine, Sir Wisley Squellingham and a whole gallery of extraordinary characters.

Richard says, “I seem to have got the timing exactly right on this one. Steampunk is definitely the happening thing in fantasy fiction. In America, it’s more than fiction, it’s a whole way of life.”

Col is the grandson and nominated heir of the Supreme Commander. He’ll become the most powerful person on the juggernaut when he’s completed his schooling and training. But one night, a girl Filthy from the engine rooms down Below tries to hide in his bedroom. The Filthies are dirty and ragged, never spoken about in polite society—but this one is on the loose and running free. ‘Don’t let ‘em take me,’ she pleads.

Every rational thought in Col’s head tells him to call the officers and hand her over. Yet there’s something about her …

~*~
Jade looks about the room and asks...

If we should cross paths with this fantastical airship, would you like to disembark to explore it or continue onward with the Tiny Bubble?

::= SteamBoyz schedule =::