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jejlan's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
2.0
I didn’t care for how Kris was used as a tool for Lian’s character growth. She was his anchor in hopes of him not turning out like the Captain; both are foils to each other. Also he wasn’t that interesting, he’s a very genetic character with one-dimensional hero traits that scream: yes basic man becomes a hero without hate and bloodlust destroying him. The message was good but the execution was average.
Also the huge twist of discovering Kris was a woman was so out of left field and traumatic on how Lian discovered her. This book was demoted to 2 stars because of it.
The translation was off in areas like using ‘smarted’ as a term for physical harm was so weird. Every time that popped up, it took me out of the story.
Also the huge twist of discovering Kris was a woman was so out of left field and traumatic on how Lian discovered her. This book was demoted to 2 stars because of it.
The translation was off in areas like using ‘smarted’ as a term for physical harm was so weird. Every time that popped up, it took me out of the story.
hydeinseek's review
5.0
I really enjoyed this story. I felt the ending was a little rushed, but overall this is a good story especially if you don't have time to sit though Moby Dick and love dragons!
isauldur's review against another edition
2.0
Okay, full disclosure, I didn't finish this book. I think I read like 75%. I'm still going to give it 3 stars though. At the right time, with the right mood, this can be a pretty awesome read. Moby Dick with dragons and airships. Epic!
The plot is a bit trope-heavy, though, and the characters are serviceable at best. Honestly, it kind of feels like a middle-grade book if not for the occasional violence and blood. It's a pretty straightforward story, and pretty standard.
My biggest real problem with it is the first two chapters. They give the backstory for this book's version of Captain Ahab and these chapters are so....tropey, it's kinda funny. I'd say if you want to try this book, skip them altogether. The backstory has one of the worst version of woman in the fridge I've ever read. There's also some classic "he only had one day to retirement," and the always fun "I blame myself. Curse you, beast!"
Still, the book does give an interesting take on dragons, so there's that. I'm kinda glad I picked it up. I just wish it was a tiny bit more interesting.
The plot is a bit trope-heavy, though, and the characters are serviceable at best. Honestly, it kind of feels like a middle-grade book if not for the occasional violence and blood. It's a pretty straightforward story, and pretty standard.
My biggest real problem with it is the first two chapters. They give the backstory for this book's version of Captain Ahab and these chapters are so....tropey, it's kinda funny. I'd say if you want to try this book, skip them altogether. The backstory has one of the worst version of woman in the fridge I've ever read. There's also some classic "he only had one day to retirement," and the always fun "I blame myself. Curse you, beast!"
Still, the book does give an interesting take on dragons, so there's that. I'm kinda glad I picked it up. I just wish it was a tiny bit more interesting.
pr0pheta's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
i think the world building was really cool. dragons and floating islands and boats that's sick. But plot wise this was too busy. Too many ideas that never came around to something important. Death's that didn't feel like they had weight because a lack of development. A bad plot twist after a certain prison scene. Idk. A lot happens and then nothing happens or it doesn't amount to anything particularly important to the point where at the stories climax the protagonist gets called a bitch by 3 major characters, and he has nothing to prove tjem wrong or even right. it's. wonder Lían made it it out to be a dragon hunter after all
phyrre's review
5.0
You can read my full review on my blog, The Writerly Way, here.
Many thanks to Edelweiss and Tor Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
Okay, look, y’all had to know I was going to read this, because not only is it about dragons, but it’s got a giant, intimidating looking dragon on the cover.
Black Leviathan is an adventure-packed, edge-of-your-seat retelling of Moby Dick … but with dragons! And a lush, expansive world that I refuse to leave, and you can’t make me. That’s it. This is me now. I belong here.
I had a few misgivings going in, because this is a translated work, and that can really be hit or miss. I had absolutely no problems with this one. Everything flowed beautifully, and mostly, I forgot entirely that it was translated, since it was so well done.
I don’t believe this is a series, and I doubt there will be more books surrounding this, but there should be. For so many reasons, and not just because I live here now and think you all should know the history of my new world. But also that, too.
My Thoughts:
- This is an expansive, intriguing world, with obvious Germanic influences, that includes a little of everything and was so easy to fall into and want to explore. Our first great glimpse of the world is in Skargakar, a coastal city whose lifeblood is the processing of dragons brought back from jägers hunting them in the Cloudmere. BUT WAIT! The world is so much freaking bigger. There are a variety of different races, all of which we get to see in action, and they have different abilities and cultures, from magic to wings, etc. Perplies did a marvelous job of simply bringing this world to life and allowing us to journey through it, all the beautiful and terrifying and curious parts of it. There’s not even any way I could really go into detail about this. You just have to see it for yourself. Talk about a book hangover, man.
- Black Leviathan is a retelling of Moby Dick, so there’s a lot one might recognize going in. But boy does this breathe new life into an old classic. Here’s where I put the customary disclaimer that it’s been way too many years since I actually read Moby Dick. Suffice it to say, I remember very little about Moby Dick, so if you’re looking for a comparison of the two, boy have you come to the wrong place. What I will say is that the overarching plot of this book, particularly as far as Captain Adaron is concerned, will be obvious because of this retelling. Did this dim my enjoyment or experience with this book? Not at all. Actually, because I knew what ultimately was in store for the good ship and crew, I was all the more excited, because who doesn’t love a final showdown? Despite turning the book on its head and making it his own, Perplies manages to keep some common themes from Moby Dick that I thought were done particularly well.
- In many ways, this is a coming of age story for Lian, our scrappy protagonist, and it was pretty much impossible not to root for him. Through the book, we get to watch Lian grow from a dutiful son, shackled to the coastal town he was born in, to someone who sets out to make his own future. There’s so much growth in his character, little by little, born by sheer necessity and determination, but it was so much fun to watch. He’s just a kid trying to make the most out of a bad situation, without any of the scars yet that have kept the other characters alive and hardened them.
- There’s a really interesting balance between foreshadowing, death, darkness, and breathtaking beauty. I mean, obviously this was going to be a dark book. You should’ve figured that out going in, but in case you didn’t, there’s widespread death and mayhem right in the first chapter. This ain’t no rose garden. Still, not everything is bleak and hopeless, even when it is. There are so many scenes of breathtaking landscapes, meeting fascinating cultures, and just some wonderful light-hearted moments or exchanges. There’s a very hopeful and uplifting undertone, despite all the cynical darkness, and the balance between the two was so poignant and well done.
- There are so many haunted and scarred people in this, and I really just wanted to know more about all of them. This could almost even be a sticking point, because we don’t actually get to find out more about them, but the fact that I was so curious and attracted to all these characters is a good thing, in my opinion. I do wish that we knew more about why they were haunted, but ultimately, these characters were so interesting that I wanted to sail with them.
- Adaron’s arc is so relatable, yet terrifying, and boy does it work well as a cautionary tale. Lian’s relationship toward the captain was a little confused … and so was mine. There were absolutely things that had me gushing over him and loving his character. The hardest thing about Adaron for me is being able to see exactly what he could have been. For me, that was the most effective thing about his character.
Sticking Points:
- I just wanted MORE … and sometimes that’s a good thing, and sometimes that’s not. Especially if a book is a standalone, which it appears this is? This book could have easily been another 500 pages, and it wouldn’t have felt too long to me, because there were so many things to explore. Which also meant there were so many things that weren’t explored, just by necessity, and boy did that hurt. All the characters have such a rich backstory that is touched upon and hinted at, but we never actually learn any of that backstory. One might argue that it doesn’t matter because it didn’t pertain to this plot, but I would argue that it does matter, because I want to know, darn it! TL;DR: This needs to be a series with more books. Prequels. Sequels. Spin-offs. I’m not picky. There just needs to be more.
Many thanks to Edelweiss and Tor Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
Okay, look, y’all had to know I was going to read this, because not only is it about dragons, but it’s got a giant, intimidating looking dragon on the cover.
Black Leviathan is an adventure-packed, edge-of-your-seat retelling of Moby Dick … but with dragons! And a lush, expansive world that I refuse to leave, and you can’t make me. That’s it. This is me now. I belong here.
I had a few misgivings going in, because this is a translated work, and that can really be hit or miss. I had absolutely no problems with this one. Everything flowed beautifully, and mostly, I forgot entirely that it was translated, since it was so well done.
I don’t believe this is a series, and I doubt there will be more books surrounding this, but there should be. For so many reasons, and not just because I live here now and think you all should know the history of my new world. But also that, too.
My Thoughts:
- This is an expansive, intriguing world, with obvious Germanic influences, that includes a little of everything and was so easy to fall into and want to explore. Our first great glimpse of the world is in Skargakar, a coastal city whose lifeblood is the processing of dragons brought back from jägers hunting them in the Cloudmere. BUT WAIT! The world is so much freaking bigger. There are a variety of different races, all of which we get to see in action, and they have different abilities and cultures, from magic to wings, etc. Perplies did a marvelous job of simply bringing this world to life and allowing us to journey through it, all the beautiful and terrifying and curious parts of it. There’s not even any way I could really go into detail about this. You just have to see it for yourself. Talk about a book hangover, man.
- Black Leviathan is a retelling of Moby Dick, so there’s a lot one might recognize going in. But boy does this breathe new life into an old classic. Here’s where I put the customary disclaimer that it’s been way too many years since I actually read Moby Dick. Suffice it to say, I remember very little about Moby Dick, so if you’re looking for a comparison of the two, boy have you come to the wrong place. What I will say is that the overarching plot of this book, particularly as far as Captain Adaron is concerned, will be obvious because of this retelling. Did this dim my enjoyment or experience with this book? Not at all. Actually, because I knew what ultimately was in store for the good ship and crew, I was all the more excited, because who doesn’t love a final showdown? Despite turning the book on its head and making it his own, Perplies manages to keep some common themes from Moby Dick that I thought were done particularly well.
- In many ways, this is a coming of age story for Lian, our scrappy protagonist, and it was pretty much impossible not to root for him. Through the book, we get to watch Lian grow from a dutiful son, shackled to the coastal town he was born in, to someone who sets out to make his own future. There’s so much growth in his character, little by little, born by sheer necessity and determination, but it was so much fun to watch. He’s just a kid trying to make the most out of a bad situation, without any of the scars yet that have kept the other characters alive and hardened them.
- There’s a really interesting balance between foreshadowing, death, darkness, and breathtaking beauty. I mean, obviously this was going to be a dark book. You should’ve figured that out going in, but in case you didn’t, there’s widespread death and mayhem right in the first chapter. This ain’t no rose garden. Still, not everything is bleak and hopeless, even when it is. There are so many scenes of breathtaking landscapes, meeting fascinating cultures, and just some wonderful light-hearted moments or exchanges. There’s a very hopeful and uplifting undertone, despite all the cynical darkness, and the balance between the two was so poignant and well done.
- There are so many haunted and scarred people in this, and I really just wanted to know more about all of them. This could almost even be a sticking point, because we don’t actually get to find out more about them, but the fact that I was so curious and attracted to all these characters is a good thing, in my opinion. I do wish that we knew more about why they were haunted, but ultimately, these characters were so interesting that I wanted to sail with them.
- Adaron’s arc is so relatable, yet terrifying, and boy does it work well as a cautionary tale. Lian’s relationship toward the captain was a little confused … and so was mine. There were absolutely things that had me gushing over him and loving his character. The hardest thing about Adaron for me is being able to see exactly what he could have been. For me, that was the most effective thing about his character.
Sticking Points:
- I just wanted MORE … and sometimes that’s a good thing, and sometimes that’s not. Especially if a book is a standalone, which it appears this is? This book could have easily been another 500 pages, and it wouldn’t have felt too long to me, because there were so many things to explore. Which also meant there were so many things that weren’t explored, just by necessity, and boy did that hurt. All the characters have such a rich backstory that is touched upon and hinted at, but we never actually learn any of that backstory. One might argue that it doesn’t matter because it didn’t pertain to this plot, but I would argue that it does matter, because I want to know, darn it! TL;DR: This needs to be a series with more books. Prequels. Sequels. Spin-offs. I’m not picky. There just needs to be more.
annarella's review against another edition
4.0
A fascinating retelling of Moby Dick, a very interesting fantasy book and a gripping and entertaining read.
I liked it and was hooked since the first pages.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
I liked it and was hooked since the first pages.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
alibunis's review against another edition
4.0
A retelling of Moby Dick where instead of whales, it's dragons, and instead of endless chapters on whaling techniques...more dragons. A wonderful and updated look at the different ways revenge can affect your life in a beautifully detailed fantasy world (full of dragons. Did I mention the dragons? Because you guys, it's Moby Dick, but with DRAGONS).
mollybiery's review against another edition
4.0
Black Leviathan by Bernd Perplies is a German fantasy re-telling of “Moby Dick” with dragons instead of whales being translated for the first time into English by Lucy Van Cleef. The story follows the epic adventure of Captain Adaron and his crew mate Lian as they hunt for the dragon Gargantuan, hoping to avenge the lives it has taken.
Fans of Brandon Sanderson and Tolkien will love this novel. It was gritty, and riveting; a perfect blend of fantasy and folklore. I thoroughly enjoyed this read and would recommend it to fantasy lovers.
*I was provided a free copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.*
Fans of Brandon Sanderson and Tolkien will love this novel. It was gritty, and riveting; a perfect blend of fantasy and folklore. I thoroughly enjoyed this read and would recommend it to fantasy lovers.
*I was provided a free copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.*
serenityasice's review against another edition
2.0
Some mild spoilers below (although none that majorly spoil the plot), so proceed with caution.
Black Leviathan is a novel with a very straightforward premise: "What if Moby Dick was a dragon?" That's one hell of a premise, and it convinced me to give this a go. After all, who doesn't like the idea of hunting dragons and epic battles lit by sprays of dragonfire?
A premise however, does not make a novel. And unfortunately, Black Leviathan's English release (it was originally released in German as Der Drachenjäger - Die erste Reise ins Wolkenmeer) turned out to be a rather poor execution of an interesting concept.
Let's start with the good. What Black Leviathan does well is in terms of creating a memorable setting. Here, instead of an ocean, we have a vast sky of impermeable fog called the Cloudmere. Instead of a whaling ship, we have airships, buoyed by crystals called kyrillian, which possess the ability to float large, solid masses many times their size. Instead of just humans, we have winged humanoids like the Taijirin, and canine beings, like the Nondurier. Here, port cities float in the sky, and of course, we have dragons in the place of whales. And just like whales, they come in all sizes and varieties. Some are kept as pets, some are basically treated as bushmeat, and others are high-value targets whose body parts fetch a princely sum (even if it means facing down dragons with the ability to spew flame, or slice people apart with a bladed tail). All of this comes together to create a genuinely wonderful setting with its own quirks and idiosyncrasies.
Sadly, that's the only thing I really enjoyed about this novel. Everything else, the characters, the plot... it was horribly done. For example, the Ahab of this novel, Captain Adaron, gets something of a 'prequel chapter' at the start, showing when he was still a fresh and naive captain of a ship with no real experience or expertise to captain anything in the Cloudmere; he's just in it for the adventure and riches. Oh, and he's deeply in love with a Sexy Redhead With Two Swords called Enora. It's all a bit eye-rolling, but sure, let's go with that.
Of course, Adaron ends up being an idiot in addition to being naive, and explores too deep into the Cloudmere, rousing the ire of a legendary black dragon called Gargantuan. Excrement impacts the air circulator, and almost everyone dies. Including Enora, which means the entire point of her character is simply to serve as a plot device to drive Adaron into swearing vengeance against the titular Black Leviathan. Not only is Enora cliché, she is also a classic example of fridging -- a trope where women are killed, maimed, or have bad things done to them in order to drive a male character's plot forward.
But okay, fridging aside, this is only the first couple of chapters. Maybe it gets better? We're then introduced to the true main character, a fresh-faced young boy called Lian living in the floating city of Skargakar, who carves kyrillian crystals for a living. Shenanigans ensue, and he eventually ends up on a ship captained by none other than Captain Adaron, now tempered by the loss of his love and his desire for vengeance. They journey to the clouds, Lian begins to learn life as a sailor in the Cloudmere, all is well.
Midway through the novel,loses his best friend to a dragon attack , and goes through a series of events where he ends up in captivity. Enter Kris, who he escapes with, and who immediately becomes Lian's sidekick character. But wait! Kris is a woman ! So all those mushy feelings Lian has for Kris isn't some sort of comradeship, he's just horny on main. No, really. Here's a quote, and again, spoilers:
In truth—and he only grasped this now—he had felt the pangs of an even more intimate bond. A part of him must have known all along that Kris was concealing her true self. Now that he knew the truth, his new feelings made him nervous—especially in his current surroundings aboard a drachenjäger. He felt pulled in opposite directions. Kris, too, noticed the change, and began to respond with confusion of her own.
Beyond the initial awkwardness of that statement (how do you go from friends to being horny the moment you find out???), it's pretty problematic as well. Put yourself in Kris's shoes. You're a woman in disguise, living in fear of being outed as a woman on a male-dominated ship where you might well end up being sexually assaulted or hazed even more due to your gender. Then a guy, who you're indebted to for saving your life, who you thought was a solid friend, ends up showing interest in getting into your pants. How is that romance? Although Kris responds more positively in the book, when seen from this perspective, it's hard not to think 'maybe she's just trying to keep Lian from outing her'. After all, how many of us have known women who've had to fake interest to keep from pissing off a guy in front of them?
Those issues (death as plot motivation, skewed power dynamics in a relationship, wooden characters)-- along with poor, awkward prose* -- contributed to make the rest of the novel really unappealing to me, and while I finished it (whatever faults the book has, it does flow quickly enough that reading it isn't a chore), it's not something I'll be interested in revisiting, despite the sequel hook at the end. There's the bones of a great story in here, alas, it remains swathed in fog, much like the Cloudmere itself.
*Prose-wise, I'm not entirely sure how much was lost in translation, as it was originally published in German. It could be poor translation, it could be the inevitable loss of meaning that comes from translation. Sometimes, things just sound better in one language, so I find it hard to judge on this front. Suffice to say, it did not work for me.
Black Leviathan is a novel with a very straightforward premise: "What if Moby Dick was a dragon?" That's one hell of a premise, and it convinced me to give this a go. After all, who doesn't like the idea of hunting dragons and epic battles lit by sprays of dragonfire?
A premise however, does not make a novel. And unfortunately, Black Leviathan's English release (it was originally released in German as Der Drachenjäger - Die erste Reise ins Wolkenmeer) turned out to be a rather poor execution of an interesting concept.
Let's start with the good. What Black Leviathan does well is in terms of creating a memorable setting. Here, instead of an ocean, we have a vast sky of impermeable fog called the Cloudmere. Instead of a whaling ship, we have airships, buoyed by crystals called kyrillian, which possess the ability to float large, solid masses many times their size. Instead of just humans, we have winged humanoids like the Taijirin, and canine beings, like the Nondurier. Here, port cities float in the sky, and of course, we have dragons in the place of whales. And just like whales, they come in all sizes and varieties. Some are kept as pets, some are basically treated as bushmeat, and others are high-value targets whose body parts fetch a princely sum (even if it means facing down dragons with the ability to spew flame, or slice people apart with a bladed tail). All of this comes together to create a genuinely wonderful setting with its own quirks and idiosyncrasies.
Sadly, that's the only thing I really enjoyed about this novel. Everything else, the characters, the plot... it was horribly done. For example, the Ahab of this novel, Captain Adaron, gets something of a 'prequel chapter' at the start, showing when he was still a fresh and naive captain of a ship with no real experience or expertise to captain anything in the Cloudmere; he's just in it for the adventure and riches. Oh, and he's deeply in love with a Sexy Redhead With Two Swords called Enora. It's all a bit eye-rolling, but sure, let's go with that.
Of course, Adaron ends up being an idiot in addition to being naive, and explores too deep into the Cloudmere, rousing the ire of a legendary black dragon called Gargantuan. Excrement impacts the air circulator, and almost everyone dies. Including Enora, which means the entire point of her character is simply to serve as a plot device to drive Adaron into swearing vengeance against the titular Black Leviathan. Not only is Enora cliché, she is also a classic example of fridging -- a trope where women are killed, maimed, or have bad things done to them in order to drive a male character's plot forward.
But okay, fridging aside, this is only the first couple of chapters. Maybe it gets better? We're then introduced to the true main character, a fresh-faced young boy called Lian living in the floating city of Skargakar, who carves kyrillian crystals for a living. Shenanigans ensue, and he eventually ends up on a ship captained by none other than Captain Adaron, now tempered by the loss of his love and his desire for vengeance. They journey to the clouds, Lian begins to learn life as a sailor in the Cloudmere, all is well.
Midway through the novel,
Beyond the initial awkwardness of that statement (how do you go from friends to being horny the moment you find out???), it's pretty problematic as well. Put yourself in Kris's shoes. You're a woman in disguise, living in fear of being outed as a woman on a male-dominated ship where you might well end up being sexually assaulted or hazed even more due to your gender. Then a guy, who you're indebted to for saving your life, who you thought was a solid friend, ends up showing interest in getting into your pants. How is that romance? Although Kris responds more positively in the book, when seen from this perspective, it's hard not to think 'maybe she's just trying to keep Lian from outing her'. After all, how many of us have known women who've had to fake interest to keep from pissing off a guy in front of them?
Those issues (death as plot motivation, skewed power dynamics in a relationship, wooden characters)-- along with poor, awkward prose* -- contributed to make the rest of the novel really unappealing to me, and while I finished it (whatever faults the book has, it does flow quickly enough that reading it isn't a chore), it's not something I'll be interested in revisiting, despite the sequel hook at the end. There's the bones of a great story in here, alas, it remains swathed in fog, much like the Cloudmere itself.
*Prose-wise, I'm not entirely sure how much was lost in translation, as it was originally published in German. It could be poor translation, it could be the inevitable loss of meaning that comes from translation. Sometimes, things just sound better in one language, so I find it hard to judge on this front. Suffice to say, it did not work for me.