She Treads Softly: Leviathan

Monday, February 14, 2011

Leviathan

Leviathan by David L. Golemon
St. Martin's Press, 2009
Hardcover, 368 pages
Event Group Series #4
ISBN-13: 9780312376635

http://eventgroupfiles.com/
highly recommended

Synopsis

This time, the event group will go to the greatest depths
The ships of the world are under attack, attacks so sudden and vicious that many ships are lost without a single distress call. The navies of the world start a frenzied search, but even these ships disappear without a trace. Enter the Event Group, the most secret organization in U.S. history. Armed with proof that history is repeating itself, the Group finds themselves in the grasp of an insane genius straight out of the pages of Jules Verne.
To stop a war beneath the seas…
They are up against a descendant of the man who was the inspiration for the captain of a vessel known to the world as Nautilus. And when legend comes to life in the form of Leviathan, the most advanced undersea vessel in history, she will stop at nothing to save the seas and to render justice to humankind for a world that has long been dying. It is a world Leviathan plans to alter forever, unless the Event Group can stop her!

My Thoughts:

Leviathan by David L. Golemon is the fourth novel in his Events Group series. After a prologue set back in time which touches on several historical events, we are in the present day and the ships of the world are under attack. The Event Group has been pulled into the fray and must find the answers to stop the conflict.

This time Golemon has taken his inspiration from literature. In the prologue, The Count of Monte Cristo inspires the setting in a French Prison in 1802. Most of the novel, however, is inspired by Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, with Golemon recasting Verne's characters and taking what was Verne's Nautilus forward through time, now as the Leviathan.

The series is all about escapism and entertainment - science fiction mixed in to an action/adventure novel. Leviathan is a much stronger book in the Events Group series than the previous novel, Ancients. I felt that the plot and action were more carefully conceived and planned out. While you still need to read the series in order to know and have a deeper understanding of all the characters, Golemon did do some added character development this time around, adding a little depth to several of his recurring characters.

All in all this was a strong addition to the Events Group series.

Highly Recommended

Event

Legend

Ancients

Quotes:

Three years in darkness. Since ?Napoleon's coup in 1799, Roderick Deveroux had been imprisoned at Chateau d'If for refusing to reveal the secrets of his magical and mysterious designs for seagoing warfare. opening.

Deveroux stared at the magical creatures as they in turn watched him from below the crystal-clear waters of the cave. Gold, diamonds, and emeralds - they all paled in comparison to the miracle his eyes now beheld. Fantasy mixed with reality - biblical stories with that of fairy tales. pg. 11

"Yes, yes, we know your estate is very well guarded, that is why we were forced to come here. We are not barbarians, Professor, the sea angel you have here is quite enough," Hansonn said as he nodded at the man holding Heirthall. pg. 17

As the metal ship centered itself in the middle of dead men and debris, Engersoll was shocked to see the giant tower sitting on the broad expanse of metal hat made up the unimaginable sight of the iron hull. The great bubble window shaped like the eye of a demon was in front of him, and as he looked skyward, he saw a man standing in the spider-webbed framed glass. pg. 25

"The thing is called Leviathan, Captain Smith, and no mater what happens here tonight, you are never to speak of this to anyone, not even to your wife. I don't think I have to make any unnecessary threats, do I sir?" pg. 28

"This" - he grasped the yellowed pages - "is her family legacy; this is who she is, where she came from." Then he held up another book. "This is the logbook of Leviathan. It is also for her. You will have to make the last entry. The plans and specifications for Leviathan are on the island with all the captain's research. Olivia will know one day what to do with them. The last pages are of the life form - these are not to fall into the hands of our American brethren, Is this clear?" pg. 36

No comments:

Post a Comment

John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.