Definitley ome of my favourite parts of these books are the CHARACTERS!!!! and the RELATIONSHIP DYNAMICS!!!!!! I love these babies so much, and I'm so thrilled to gush about them.

My #1 Faves!!

first I'm going to talk about the kids that I still think about constantly and consider incredibly important blorbos in my life.

Deryn Sharp

Deryn Sharp! 15, Scottish, and the first character that had me questioning my gender! At the begnining of Leviathan Deryn disguises herself as a boy named Dylan and enlists in the British Royal Air Force. She just wants to fly, and the air force is the best way for her to be able to. Besides, she's always been a tomboy, so acting as a boy is better than being stuffed into skirts with her aunties. And when she accidentally flies away in a Huxley (which is basically a hot air balloon that can decide to crash to the ground if it gets too freaked out) and gets rescued by the Leviathan, the crown jewel of the RAF, she can't believe her luck.

I have loved Deryn since she first showed up in the book. She's so cool, she's got her shit together (as much as you can at 15), and she's incredibly competent. And then the Leviathan crashes into the Sweedish Alps and she's rescued by Just Some Guy and she instantly falls in love with him.

Obsessed. She's such a great character, able to be brave and strong and better than any man and also she's just a girl who likes a boy sometimes. But she's a girl who likes a boy who thinks she's a boy. Its DELICIOUS. I remember reading this as a kid, back in a time when queer stories were just not told in kids books, and feeling what I can only describe as "finally some good fucking food."

Deryn is a formative character for me. She gets into trouble, curses, fights, is smart as hell, and also can be so stupid and we love that for her. She's completley a Darwainist, and doesn't understand machines whatsoever. She cares for the beasties in her care and will jump off of a flying airship to save her friends. I'm love her.

Aleksandar of Hohenberg

His Serene Highness Prince Aleksandar of Hohenberg is the 16 year old only son of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. So this story is kind of his nightmare. The book opens with him being woken up by his men, spirited away for a midnight Walker class, and then semi-kidnapped. It turns out Alek's father has just been murdered, and now Alek is being threatened by the Germans who want war, because if he comes to power when he turns of age he could bring peace. Burdened by the duties of having to survive till his great uncle dies and he can take the throne so he can end a world war, Alek and his men flee to Switzerland so that they can stay safe in the neutral country. He's having to hide the fact that he's a prince, and trek across Europe in nothing but his small Cyclop Stormwalker Walker.

Alek is my SON. MY SWEET BABY BOY. He doesn't know how to be a common person because he was raised a prince and I love a character that has to learn how to be a normal human. He's sweet and kinda stupid and impulsive. He's a young boy, unable to properly grieve his dead parents, keeping everything stuffed down and emotionless. I love a boy who's burdened by duty, believing his duty is the only reason he exists, learning that he can actually be happy and have a life that's more than what everyone says he's destined for. Genuinly I love this kind of character, it's one of my most favourite character development trajectories. Thinking about it now, I wonder if Alek is the reason I love this kind of character. He's kind of the prototype for me.

If you haven't put it together, Alek is the boy Deryn falls in love with. Because of course she does. And Alek spends most of the three books like, "ahh, me and my best male friend Dylan, what a good man he is." It's genuinly incredible, I love the dynamic between those two with all my heart. One of my favourite moments in the entire series happens when Alek pulls Deryn asside, telling her he needs to confess something. Her heart speeds, they're alone in a small room, lit only by the soft green glow of the glowworms. He says he's in love. Her heart is in her mouth. Has he discovered she's a girl? Are they going to kiss? What's happening right now? When he finishes his sentence. He's in love.... With the Leviathan.

cue Deryn internally screaming and externally having to be like haha! Yes my dear Clanker bestie, you have seen the glory of Darwainist technology! Fantastic! while her heart is activly shattering. It's fantastic.

Lilit

Lilit is an Armenian revolutionist in Istanbul who wants to overthrow the government so that the Ottoman Empire doesn't go to war. And I love her so much. She's a bit older than Alek and Deryn, maybe around 18, and she makes quick friends with the two of them when they are accidentally stranded in Istanbul. Absolutley insane series of events tbh.

Lilit is so important to me. She is cool as FUCK, pilots a sick as hell clockwork machine, and instantly sees through all of Deryn's shit and clocks her as not only a girl, but a girl who's in love with her best friend who thinks she's a boy. And boy does Lilit love fucking around with them. They are such good friends and the three of them are, in my mind, the main trio, even though Lilit doesn't show up till the second book and only pops in briefly in the third. She leaves one hell of an impression though.

At the end of Behemoth, after the revolution and just before Deryn and Alek leave the Ottoman Empire, Lilit grabs Deryn and kisses her. I think that moment was maybe my first girl/girl kiss I ever read and it blew my mind a little. At the time, the fandom was embroiled in a debate about whether or not Lilit meant it when she kissed Deryn. It was clear that she knew Deryn was a girl by that point, though some people argued that Lilit kissed her to test whether she was a girl or not. Which was ridiculous to me tbh. A lot of other people thought that Lilit did it to reenforce Deryn's disguise to Alek, who definitley didn't have any suspicions. A small group of us were like, what if Lilit just likes Deryn? and most people said something like yeah maybe, but I don't think there'd be Gays in this Super Heterosexual book series.

anyway then in Goliath Lilit tells Deryn she kissed her because she likes girls. And nearly all of Scott Westerfeld's other books after that point have included queer female characters. So who's laughing now!!!

Other characters

important characters and/or characters who i think are just cool as fuck

Dr Nora Barlow

Dr Barlow is an English scientist who's a passenger on the Leviathan, and she loves causing problems on purpose. Since she's Darwin's great niece or something she gets away with it too. She's one of those characters in YA novels who's an adult that makes the teenage main characters do things to drive the plot when they'd rather be doing teenager things. She's pretty cool and has a pet named Tazza who's a thylacine (check the beasties tab for more info on him and thylacines!)

I think Dr Barlow is such a fun character, she's got her own agenda and plans that mostly seem to center around being annoying to the teenage characters, telling them what to do, and being a sneaky boots. She is one of the scientists who breeds the crazy Darwinist animals, and like she presents very propper and buttoned up but you KNOW she's kind of a freak.

Wildcount Volger

speaking of covert freaks, Count Volger is SO freak adjacent. He's one of Alek's men, and was his fencing instructor. He's very laced up and no-nonsense, to the extreme. This man has never had a whimsical thought in his life. His only goal is to get Alek to survive long enough to take the throne. He hates that they end up with the godless Darwinists and his plans have to change. He also is incredibly smart, and figures out Deryn's secret really early on, and he goes on to blackmail her with it because he's a motherfucker. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love him as a character, but oooooh he's so rude

my favourite crackpairing in this series is Volger and Barlow, because they would be so toxic for each other <3 <3

Eugine Newkirk

Newkirk is one of the other young RAF officers serving on the Leviathan, and he and Deryn end up working together a lot. He's kind of bumbling, is freaked out by the Darwinist Beasties, and is gernerally a silly little guy. He's great though, I love him. My favourite fact about Newkirk is that his first name being Eugine is cannon, but only thanks to the fandom. A friend of mine from the Westerforums headcannoned his first name as Eugine, and then in a forum meetup with Scott Westerfeld someone asked if Newkirk had a canon first name, and he didn't. So when she mentioned her headcanon name was "Eugine William Newkirk" he canonized it!! You kind of have to trust me, because the wayback machine doesn't have captures of the entire thread, but I'm pretty sure it was my forum friend Clankinist that came up with that name. That whole forum meetup was crazy, reading the transcript sent me all the way back in time!

Newkirk is such a fun character, I think because he's so opposite to Deryn in every way. He's freaked out by the beasties, he's excited by war things, he's kinda dumb but in an endearing way. He's like her bumbling counterpart who keeps fucking up. Also one time Deryn saves his life and gets a medal for it lol

Eddie Malone

Eddie is a dirty American and also a reporter. He is TROUBLE!!! He is serving his own ends to get a good story and is kind of a dickhead about it sometimes. He sticks his grubby nose in where no one wants it. He has a bullfrog that can record and play back conversations and a camera. He wants nothing more to snoop out secrets, which in a book where the main characters have a million secrets that they despiratley need kept, it is a PROBLEM!! he causes problems on purpose, and he's kinda fun for that, but god i get pissed off at him so much sometimes. I hate him sometimes and love him as a character. like, he's really great at being annoying and pissing off my babies, but also he's such a fun character. Also his aesthetic as a steampunk 1914 reporter? on point.

Otto Klopp

Otto Klopp is a great part of Alek's men. I just think he's neat, he's like Alek's weird uncle who loves machines. There are two more men who are helping Alek run away from Austria Hungary, Hoffman and Baur, and Klopp is like team dad. Honestly IDK what it is about him, I just think he's neat.

and also Nikola Tesla is there