Posted in Book tour, Fans & readers, Reading, Scott's books, Young Adult literature.
I’ve definitely noticed in the bookstore we are getting many more 10-15 year old boys and grown men buying LEVIATHAN – rather than what I’d consider “typical” Westerfan teenagers. But that is awesome. Lure the whole world into the WESTERTRAP.
Jennifer: Corroborating evidence! Thank you. Also “Westertrap”. Hahaha.
I loved Uglies (even used one as a case study for my masters in YA fiction) and I’ve read Midnighters too. I didn’t hand any of them over to my 9 year old son. Leviathan was different though. There was no teenage angst, so I thought I’d see how he liked it. He’s finding it a harder read than his usual fantasy stuff, but he’s sticking with it. The illustrations help him process it all, and he asks questions about them. Like he wanted to know how exactly the map worked.
So far it’s proving to be a great novel for him to really extend his reading. Congrats to Scott!
I think Scott owes a debt of gratitude to Sammy Yuen Jr for his inspired cover art and Keith for the interior map and artwork I hadn’t heard of Scott prior to seeing Leviathan in target. It screamed screamed “Steampunk” at me from the shelves.
I just finished it last night and will be writing a review for it shortly. As an adult reader I found nothing in the book that would prevent me from recommending it to other adults. It has several elements that were of interest to me – the morphing of history and biology and the inclusion of a thylacine(is this the first exmple of a pet Tassie Tiger in fiction).
You can thank your husband for awakening the Steampunk bug again (much to my wife’s chagrin) – I have already set about converting my library and various pieces of furniture.
I’ve also noticed Leviathan getting a lot more coverage on the SFF blogs I read (still not as much as I’d like, because it’s YA) than the Uglies books. Which is weird to me, since the Uglies books are clearly SF.
For myself, I have only read (and really liked) the first Uglies book, The Risen Empire and Leviathan. I am intrigued by these Powerpuff Girls books of which you speak.
I met Scott at one of his first stops on the recent tour, and although I was wearing a Special Circumstances shirt and had my battered and well-read copy of Uglies along with me, I also had my brand-spanking-new copy of Leviathan which I was reading before the presentation started and already hooked. (By the way, I have converted from Team David to Team Tazza… extinct animals for the win!) I know a lot of people, mostly teenage girls, who loved Uglies but would hate Leviathan. I prefer not to socialize with them 😀 Even so, there are a lot of us highschool girls who found a steampunk novel new and exciting, and I believe that my best friend and I are now hooked on the genre.
That’s exciting! I’ve only read Uglies series and the first of the Midnighters. I’m up for possibly reading more, but I will admit that Leviathan does not interest me from what I’ve read. In fact, usually sci-fi stuff isn’t my thing and I’m amazed at how much I liked the books of his that I did read.
I generally was NOT a sci-fi fan AT ALL before I picked up Peeps (even though that’s not reeeeally sci-fi). But I was hooked. I got So Yesterday and Midnighters next and although I liked Peeps more, I still liked them. But then I stumbled across Uglies. My word, was I amazed. Luckily, all four were already published and I didn’t have to wait.
Uglies became my favourite of Scott’s. (The entire series, I mean). But then came along Leviathan. I am not a huge fantasy fan either but this blew my mind. I went and bought it on the first day it got released in my hick little town. I cannot believe I have to wait for the sequel (though I will, as patiently as possible).
I have been lured not only into the “Westertrap” (ha thanks jennifer), but also into the entire genres of both sci-fi and fantasy (although i can’t really place any of scott’s work into one genre; it’s so much more).
Just dropped by to say that you are all being TERRIBLY lovely. It’s way cool to have a bunch of new fans, especially ones who love gears and beasties and endpaperz! Anyway . . .
Sean: I’d love to do a game of some kind. I have all the rights still, including to the art. That’s for the future, though. There has been the usual movie burble, but no offers.
Yes, my dad is all about history. Should Levithian be translated to Swedish (because he doesn’t speak English all that well, and hey, I can hope, right?), I am so buying it for him – he’d love it, I’m sure of it. Despite never having touched fantasy in his life.
Once again, though I am a grown woman, I seem to be a boy. I haven’t read any of Scott’s books before, but I asked for Leviathan for Christmas because a) the physical book is just so darn beautiful, and b) it looks like crazy steampunk Robert Louis Stevenson-type adventure, of which the world can always use more.
I’ve actually found this true as well. I’m an 18 year old steampunk fan who stumbled upon Leviathan and Scott Westerfeld after finding Keith’s artwork online, and it’s a pleasure to read. I’m not sure how I’d feel about the other books yet, but I enjoyed the writing and story in Leviathan quite a lot, and it’s always good to expand beyond my comfort zone. I look forward to reading the rest!
I am one of those “crazy” fans who will run around tracking down EVERYTHING the object of my current affections has ever written/appeared in/etc., so actually the news that I am in the minority comes as quite a surprise to me! (In your case, that would include your non-fiction book on women and sci-fi, which was fascinating btw.) Funny thing, though, it was actually my boyfriend who got me into Scott’s books via Midnighters.
I’m one of those new Scott Westerfeld readers who jumped on with Leviathan. I’m an adult, a history buff, and a mild steampunk fan (I’m interested in the genre, but not enough to put gears on a stovepipe hat). I’ve reccomended the series to several of my likeminded adult, history buff, steampunk fan friends and they were all very intrigued.
Oddly enough, a lot of us (myself included) had assumed this was a tie-in novel with an upcoming wargame called “Leviathans” that takes place in a similar Steampunk WW1 setting, but I don’t think that the game will be as cool as Leviathan. No air whales and not a single walker to speak of! I’ll stick with the book, thanks.
I have to admit that I was devastated (though that was a bit of an understatement) when I heard about Leviathan. I went on angry rants that no one cared about. I posted about how “no one cares about stupid LEVITHAN or whatever it’s called.” I’m quoting myself btw. I protested and yelled to the heavens at the top of my cyber lungs but, when it finally came out, I was stunned. In the good way too. Now, I am positively hooked, I feel like I’m going to die from waitingforanepicandawesomebook syndrome. (Behemmoth, I think is what it’s called) So, even though I am disapointed (understatement. I am VERY dissapointed) that there won’t be anymore Uglies books, I feel as if I can compromise. Maybe some fan fiction is going to be in the works for me… Oh and kudos to you, Justine for making Liar so awesome! Am I the only one here that actually reads during the Xmas break?
Anyway, I’ll see you guys later.
And Scott, I am aware that you’re busy “researching” but us at Westerblog need you! Now since I know you won’t read this, I am going to post a question on your site.
I’ve seen this too, actually.
I originally bought Uglies for the daughter of a friend of mine and read it myself first (of course). I really enjoyed it and bought the next book in the series and read that and then waited (impatiently) for the rest. I gave my son the book and he started it and said, “um, very girly” after the first 10 pages and put it down.
A year later, desperate for something to read, he picked it back up and finished it and decided it was “not bad” and asked for the next book.
He finished the entire series and enjoyed it. He was interested in discussing Tally and the world built up but not with the same passion that he showed for other books (the Mistborne series was a big winner in this regard).
I bought Leviathan for myself recently and then we were travelling and he forgot to bring a book (how do you FORGET to bring a book?) and so I gave it to him and he raved about it – so so so good, had I read it yet, had I, had I?
Let’s see, I’ve read Leviathan, the Uglies series (which is how I found Scott), and then the first two of the New York Trilogy, usually I’ll try to read as much as I can from an author I like, regardless if it is like the previous books/series or not.
Funny that you mention Diana Wynne Jones though (I am TRYING to read all her books but geeze that lady puts them out fast) and my mom was saying just the other day that she thought Jones wrote a lot in the medieval time setting. Took me a moment to realize that she hadn’t read as many of her series as I had and had a different view of her writing than I did. But she and Scott are more of the exception than the case, most authors don’t seem to write as many series in such different settings (different genres really).
Actually I was thinking an adventure game ala Assasin’s creed would be cool. Just think of the backdrops – walking around Constantinople, Victorian england, piloting a clanker.
I can’t think of any writer whose work I read religiously across genres. I would say that MT Anderson takes me the most places, because he has such an insanely diverse oeuvre. Even so, I only read one of his “whales on stilts” books and am uninterested in the rest.
Honestly, I don’t think it’s so surprising or interesting that readers don’t do this. I think it’s far more surprising and interesting when an author changes genre, because on the whole, that’s pretty rare.
The only reason I haven’t read more is because I haven’t found them in the local library. I think the ‘W’ section (in YA) is the first I check when I go to the library.
Justine, you are right. I didn’t closely follow the audience breakdown of Scott’s previous books, but I feel like Leviathan has been showing up on a ton of “Best of” and “Recommended Reading” lists from many of what would be considered the “top” sources. A lot of those sources seem to cater to adults more than teens, and I always find it amusing whenever I go on Goodreads and see that most of the 5-star reviews have been written by adults (why is this amusing to me? I don’t recall right now. Perhaps because they hardly realize they’re reading a YA novel?).
I worry a little about this myself, because I’ve got two main projects, and it looks like the one that will be finished first, and probably set people’s expectations about me as an author is a funny urban fantasy without any vampires at all. And the other is a giant fantasy brick that’s much more serious, but also without any vampires at all. And that’s probably the only thing to the two have in common, is their utter lack of vampires. It makes me worry a little about my commercial viability. But it’s nice to see other people making efforts to not produce same ol’ every time, because that helps elasticise readers’ expectations.
I have never read steam-punk, and I only liked the first book of the Uglies series (the rest just made me really depressed). However, I recognized the brilliant story telling of Westerfeld in those stories and when Amazon suggested Leviathan to me, I thought I would give it a try.
I love it, as an 18 year old girl, and I am reading it out loud to my 42 yr-old mom who loves it (and didn’t like Uglies), my 16 yr-old brother who loves it, and my 45 yr-old dad who loves the history in it. I can’t wait for the next one.
Ah! I was looking at a copy of Leviathan at the store the other day and thought I would very much like to read it…but didn’t end up remembering the name of the author. Now, I will be able to find it again!