Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Scott Westerfeld, author of the New York Times bestselling Uglies series, takes an interesting leap into the world of steampunk in his latest novel.  The book focuses on the events that led to the beginning of World War I with some crazy modifications on the historical allied and central powers.  Machines are pitted against fabricated animals as a young orphaned Austrian prince and a girl posing as a boy in the British Air Service do their best to find their place in this war.  Westerfeld's weaponry and world were a little hard to adjust to and the characters got on my nerves frequently, but I have to give the author credit for trying.  After all, steampunk is one of my favorite genres and it's nearly impossible to find good material that isn't produced by Japanese animation studios.