Levianthan saga I

Leviathan es la nueva novela del autor americano Scott Westerfelds, autor de la famosa saga Traición. Esta vez nos trae un relato de aventuras ambientado en el universo Steampunk, en el año 1914, en una Primera Guerra Mundial un poco distinta de la que conocemos, en la que luchan dos bandos: los llamados "Clanckers", que abogan por el uso de la tecnología y de la robótica para la guerra, y los "Darwinistas", que apoyan el uso de la ingeniería genética para la guerra.

Dentro de este panorama conflictivo conviven dos jóvenes, uno, el príncipe Aleksander, heredero del Imperio Austro-Húngaro, busca la causa de la muerte de sus padres y otro, Deryn Sharp, una niña que se hace pasar por chico para entrar en el British Air Service (servicio aéreo británico). Uno un clancker y el otro un darwinista.

A continuación voy a poner una información recientemente publicada en la web del autor en la que hablan sobre las armas de ambos bandosy una imágenes que se incluirán en el libro.

The Clanker Powers

“Germany is a massive military machine with weapons aimed outwards to all surrounding countries. It points threateningly at Britain, not so much as a sign of direct aggression, but more as an indicator that it was now Germany’s turn to start a grand global Empire to challenge the world’s current one.

“Austria Hungary is an aggressive armoured giant, teetering on shoddy foundations. It is also the primary aggressor in a land grab against Serbia, with two bayonets piercing the border.

“The Ottoman empire is a teetering automaton, collapsing under the weight of a paranoid and ungainly spying network that gazes at Europe through many lenses and spy glasses.

“The Swiss watch ticks away the time, comfortable to wait it all out.”

The Darwinist Powers

“Britain is an militaristic lion beast with a Roman Imperial italic-type helmet. It sits upon a mound of riches gathered from its Empire.

“France’s elephant beast (wearing the French kepi they started the war with before adapting their firefighter helmets) is influenced by the Elephantine Collossus built for the Universal Exhibition of 1889 in Paris (later it ended up going to the Moulin Rouge.) It also represents France’s huge significance in WWI, which is something that tends to get a little glossed over.

“Russia is a huge imperialist bear, rotting and filled with maggots. (Russia collapsed during the real war.)

“Serbia’s imagery (a skeleton) is an indicator of the huge amounts of civilian deaths and suffering they’ll find themselves subject to.

“Norway and Sweden are both Scandinavian trolls in the style of John Bauer, an incredible and inspirational illustrator from the time who produced a lot of phenomenal work during the war.

“Portugal is a parrot for the Entente trying to goad a slumbering Spain into the war (this was based on something from a contemporary map and I’m not totally sure about the viewpoint’s veracity, but I couldn’t resist the image, and it seemed to match up with what I knew of the situation.)

“Ireland looks askance to Britain and brandishes a shillelagh. An indicator of their very rough relationship at the time, and of their upcoming involvement with the Central powers.

“Italy is a clutch of snakes with intents on the Central powers despite existing agreements. A foreshadowing of their arrangements at the secret 1915 Treaty of London where they were promised land in exchange for involvement. It was heavily influenced by Italian Prime Minister, Antonio Salandra’s open policy of serving Italy’s self-interest (there’s a great quote where the notion of ‘divine self-interest’ is invoked, but I can’t dig it up unfortunately.)”

(Perdón por no traducirlo, pero con un folio y un diccionario se aprende un montón de Inglés)

Click aquí para ver el trailer

Para terminar diré que el autor ha confirmado que será una trilogía. el primero Leviathan, el segundo Behemoth, para octubre 2010, y el tercero, cuyo nombre se desconoce, para octubre de 2011. Además tiene preparado un manual ilustrado de la saga llamdo "The manual of aeronautics."

Un saludo