I don't quite know what to make of this book.

It was definitely a unique idea, and I loved the spin on Darwin's ideas. This was also my first alternate history story, which made this an interesting read. I've read retellings of fairytales, but not of history. I enjoyed reading about the fabrications, and how they affected this version of World War I.

However, the pacing was off to me. It took me some time to get into the story, because the beginning felt slow. Then the story picked up, and I moved through the middle fairly quickly. But in the last couple of days I read considerably slower, because the last 30% or so dragged, in my opinion. I became bored with Alek's chapters, and must admit I skimmed the last 25% more than I read it. And the ending felt anticlimactic. There was information dropped in the last few pages that seemed important. Then all of a sudden the story is over, and while I can see how it might be a cliffhanger, I'm not really interested. Nothing happened to keep my attention, not really.

Alek was a problem for me. He seemed immature and much younger than a 16-year-old prince should be. I'm not saying he has to have the mind of and act like a grown man, but he sounded 11. He had a strategic mind, but he also seemed unwilling to understand his advisors', who were grown men, logic. For most of the story he felt like a stereotypical troubled prince, and only really started to listen to others in the concluding chapters of the story.

The redeeming factor in this book was Deryn, who in my mind was like a steampunk Mulan. She wanted to be an airman, but couldn't because she was born a girl. Instead of dealing with that, she pretended to be a boy so she could go to service school. I liked her personality, especially her tomboyish nature and her fierce determination to achieve her dreams while also accomplishing her duties. Her act was quite convincing, too.

(I know this isn't a retelling, but a Li Shang type character would've been awesome.)

Also, I liked the message lizards and the Huxleys, but the fact that the Leviathan was actually a whale was kind of disturbing.

While I did enjoy some parts of the story, I didn't like Alek and the pacing was too uneven for my tastes. I won't be continuing the trilogy.