I'm finding that as the days go by and I get older (and presumably wiser), I become disappointed with most young adult fiction. It seems that the authors of that genre lack depth and brains. They don't seem to think things through and thus, write books that have discrepancies and are covered with holes. Naturally, there are some true, YA authors who are exceptionally brilliant and redeem the genre. Harland isn't one of the brilliant sort. He's good, but he had discrepancies and obvious holes in his book, Worldshaker. 
 This book reminded me quite strongly of Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines, with its traveling cities/nations idea. The Juggernaut was reminiscent of London in those books. Except those books also had airships which obviously makes it better. And Hester Shaw who, without a doubt, beats Riff in all possible ways. Except in the third book when she goes around shooting people and is a jerk in general. Blech. 
 But, no, that's not what I'm talking about. 
 The first big issue with Worldshaker, is that it's Steampunk, but... not. Let's look up a few definitions of Steampunk, shall we? 
 Urban Dictionary: 
 Steampunk is a subgenre of speculative fiction, usually set in an anachronistic Victorian or quasi-Victorian alternate history setting. It could be described by the slogan "What the past would look like if the future had happened sooner." It includes fiction with science fiction, fantasy or horror themes. 
 Dictionary.com: 
 1.A subgenre of science fiction and fantasy featuring advanced machines and other technology based on steam power of the 19th century and taking place in a recognizable historical period or a fantasy world. 
 2. 
 a subculture inspired by this literary and film subgenre: the fashions and gadgets of steampunk. 
 Ninteenth Century, Victorian era, people! 
 While this book had a Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, it was NOT set in this timeframe. If you do the math, it is in 1995, one year before I was born. 
 Steampunk is never, ever, ever put into modern society. Then it isn't steampunk. The whole point of Steampunk is the past if there was more technology-steampowered, of course. THAT'S WHY IT'S STEAMPUNK. 
 It would have made more sense if Harland had scrapped the idea of making it set in the present and just put it in the Victorian era, which is where it would fit anyway by his own descriptions of society. He's just making things more confusing and should accept it for what it is. 
 Needless to say, this really annoyed me. 
 Other than that, it was a decent book. Col and Riff were both pretty good characters. Not amazing, but no real issue with them. Gillabeth was understandable. The filthies were pretty cool, and juggernauts? Sweeet. Gotta love great, powerful, steam-powered machines that crush stuff as they roam the world. 
 The next big issue is the ending. It fell short. The solution, well, it wasn't one really. I just can't see the filthies taking over and sending the other families off, onto the actual earth. One, the filthies have no idea how to run a juggernaut or a society. They'll make obvious mistakes and would have no clue how to deal with the responsibility. Two, the upper deck families would have an impossible time just letting them to take over. There needs to be a balance, and the ending that Harland reached was not balanced, and therefore unbelievable. 
 Still, like I said, the writing was all right, the characters were good enough, and I wanted to finish it. I liked it.