This eBook, the third in Westerfeld’s Leviathan series, takes place in an alternate World War I setting where the two sides are divided into the British Darwinists, and the German Clankers: on the Darwinist side, scientists experiment with genetics to create synthetic animals (i.e. the Leviathan, a manufactured whale-airship); on the Clankers side, steam-driven machines are used to wreak havoc. In Goliath, Alek and Deryn, the two protagonists of the story, find themselves on board the Leviathan. They are being led towards Siberia by the inventor Nikola Tesla to check the progress of his death ray, the Goliath. Tesla intends for this magnetic weapon to lead to the end of the war, but it becomes evident that the Goliath is much more destructive in nature than Tesla leads on. It is at this point that the two characters must then face the morally ambiguous decision to either assassinate Telsa and bring an end to the war, or let him live and continue working on his massively destructive death ray that could destroy millions.

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     Westerfeld’s alternate world is creatively portrayed in this eBook, and he uses it to ask hard and morally ambiguous questions like: is it moral to take the life of one person if it means saving others? The one downside to this story in eBook format is that Keith Thompson’s beautiful illustrations of Westerfeld’s world are not as vivid as they would be in book format. Using an eReader such as a Kobo just does not do these illustrations, and Westerfeld's vision, justice.

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Westerfeld, S. (2011). Goliath. New York, NY: Simon Pulse. Retrieved from

     http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Goliath/book-   

     3vJvPe03E0ONj7pafRPx0Q/page1.html



​Reviews

​Check out the some reviews for Goliath ​here and here!​​

Extras

​​One of the reason why I love Scott Westerfeld is how much he appreciates his readers. In fact, he appreciates them so much, that after reading many fan reviews of the final installment in the Leviathan series, he decided to write a BONUS CHAPTER for the novel to thank his fans -- complete with BONUS ARTWORK. So, here is the bonus chapter for Westerfeld's Goliath!



Also, check out this book trailer for Goliath using Keith's illustrations.



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