This book has been sitting on my shelf for about five years. Don’t judge me, please. I have over 200 books in my TBR pile…and a bit of a book purchasing addiction. This particular piece was given to me by a friend with his recommendation, so let’s see how that went! Onward!
Worldshaker follows Col Porpentine, a member of the elite class aboard a juggernaut that houses an entire city. Instead of traversing the earth, they constantly hover over land in a ship with its own society, even a queen! Col has always led a comfortable lifestyle on the Upper Decks, paying little mind to the Menials and the Filthies who live on the lower decks and provide services to the elite. When Col is chosen as the juggernaut’s future leader, he is sent to school to learn leadership and dominance (his grandfather’s words, not mine.)
Along the way Col meets Riff, a Filthy girl who elists Col’s assistance to return to her people. Despite his fear of breaking the rules and his taught prejudices against the Filthies, he finds friendship and even a little romance along the way. This novel addresses gender and class issues within this fictional society, both of which are incredibly relevant topics for all ages. There was a lot of interesting context here, but it just didn’t really deliver for me.
It’s the first part of a steampunk duology, which I found particularly enticing as a genre. I expected plenty of cliffhangers to be addressed in the second book, but I mostly got an annoyingly over-priveleged main character. I also found the content pretty slow and just had an overall difficult time staying interested in the novel. Sorry! I almost DNF, but I’m glad I stuck with it. Towards the end, things really did pick up (and I won’t give any spoilers as to why.) But the climactic ending just didn’t make up for the slow first 2/3 of the book.
Genre: YA Fantasy/Fiction/Dystopian
Page Count: 388
Publication Year: 2009
Rating: 6/10
The Nerdy Girls Read 