This was my first taste of true steam punk, and I liked it. And Westerfeld could not have been a better choice for the introduction. He is truly a master of world building, so much so that I find his fantastical worlds more believable than his realistic ones. 
 Westerfeld's characters are exactly what I would expect from him. I could be reading about the boy (or girl) next door, they're so convincing. The reader is taken back and forth between Deryn (aka Dylan) and Alek's point of view, and I loved seeing their friendship unfolding from the dual perspective. 
 How quickly 400 pages blew through my fingers! I would suddenly lose an hour of time, lost in this world of Clankers and Darwinists. I hardly feel as though I blinked, and it was done. Obviously I am greatly anticipating the sequel.