Worldshaker

Sixteen-year-old Col Porpentine is the grandson of the supreme commander of the city-sized ship Worldshaker and has just been named his successor. But Col's rarified world is turned upside down by a girl named Riff, who is a Filthy—Worldshaker's lowest class, confined to the bottom deck as laborers. Col has always been told that Filthies are practically beasts, but Riff is smart, confident, and beautiful. In trying to help her, Col finds himself among the Filthies, who are severely mistreated but otherwise no different from him. Having learned Worldshaker's dark secrets, hidden for generations by his family, he must decide whether to help the Filthies. Harland's steampunk alternate history is filled with oppression, class struggle, and war, showing their devastation on a personal level through Col's privileged eyes. Like the behemoth Worldshaker itself, there's little subtlety in Harland's portrayal of a stuffy, imperial upper class subjugating a noble, abused underclass (complete with a Cockneyesque accent). But the writing is sharp and the story fast-paced, demonstrating that, despite his elite status, Col may be just as trapped as any Filthy. Ages 12–up. (May)