Audiobook Review: Leviathan

Title: Leviathan

Author: Scott Westerfeld

Narrator: Alan Cumming

Release Date: September 22^nd, 2009

Series: Leviathan

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Length: 8:15:59

Number of Pages: 440

Source: Bought

Prince Aleksander, would-be heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battletorn war machine and a loyal crew of men. 

Deryn Sharp is a commoner, disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She's a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered. 

With World War I brewing, Alek and Deryn's paths cross in the most unexpected way…taking them on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure that will change both their lives forever.

Last week, I finally gave in and bought an audiobook. My first try wasn’t that successful (I bought Damned by Chuck Palahniuk. A little disappointing.), but I gave audiobooks a second chance, and bought Leviathan. I had heard great things about this series, and I read that the narrator was Alan Cumming, which really excited me about listening to this. I abso-freaking-lutely ended up loving it in the end.

Let’s start with the audio format of this book. The narrator, Alan Cumming, was amazing! He really brought the series to life, giving different voices to every different character, important or not. I could easily recognize who was talking because of that without hearing who said it. He added a layer to the amazing characters Scott Westerfeld had created.

Still, I wasn’t sure at first if I would become an adapt of audiobooks. There’s one simply reason: A book like this would probably have taken me 3-4 hours to read, as I’m a fast reader. Yet, it took me 8 hours and a half. That did annoyed me at first, but when understand that you can do stuff while listening to the book, it ends up being a lot of fun (well, except when I clean my apartment while listening to an audiobook. As good as the audiobook can be, I’ll never enjoy cleaning.) The other thing that I found hard was for my brain to stop thinking. I’m always thinking, so I had the bad habit of letting my mind wander, this was also especially true for this one, as this book is setting a world for the series. This means that there’s a lot of description, which made it easy for my mind to wander….

Now, when it comes to the series, I have to say that I ABSOLUTELY loved it. Wow. It took me sometimes to really get into it, but soon after I started it, I was addicted (proof being I bought both Behemoth and Goliath after I was done with this one. I had to know what would happen next.

Scott Westerfeld created a crazy world, some amazing characters, and a kick-ass story. If you enjoy Steampunk, or if you’re curious about this genre, you have to check it out. It is simply amazing. I adore Alek, even thought sometime he could be a little prince-ish. My favorite really was Deryn. What a great character. I really found her to be courageous. She was a lot of fun to follow.

I will repeat myself: If you haven’t read it, do it. If you are looking for an audiobook, this one is simply amazing and addicting. It has everything an audiobook need to be captivating: A great story, great characters, and, of course, an amazing narrator!