So this is not one of my favorite books. Col comes off as a whiny rich kid who lets society's notions dictate his opinions on the social hierarchy that exists on the Worldshaker. Riff was an interesting twist and for a little bit I hoped I would end up enjoying the book. Col's feelings for Riff have no basis and it annoyed me for much of the story how he would continue to whine and complain and be jealous of Padder who 'surprise surprise' turns out to be related to Riff. Gillabeth is a feminist More...

"Worldshaker" bot für mich eine Kulisse ganz nach meinem Geschmack! Die pompösen Räumlichkeiten der Elite mit Salons und Gartendecks, Prunk und Luxus stehen in krassem Gegensatz zum Unten, wo Maschinen, Dampf und Hitze vorherrschen und wo die Dreckigen leben, die untersten der untersten.
Schon zu Beginn wird man mitten in die Geschichte geworfen. Richard Harland hält sich zu Beginn nicht lange mit Beschreibungen auf und die Handlung wird in zügigem Tempo vorangetrieben.
Erst nach und nach erschlie More...

It's hard to give a rating to this book because I disliked the beginning and enjoyed the end.
There are a few things that bothered me that I can overlook, the length of the chapters being an example (short chapters are one of my biggest pet peeves, in this book the chapters average 5 pages which makes them less annoying but still bothersome). One thing I could not look past was the way Riff was portrayed. I felt like she didn't fit with the romance idea that the author was trying to create. Her s More...

Sixteen-year-old Col Porpentine is being groomed as the next Commander of Worldshaker, a juggernaut where elite families live on the upper decks while the Filthies toil below, but when he meets Riff, a Filthy girl on the run, he discovers how ignorant he is of his home and its residents.

This steampunk sci fi novel delivers a hefty dose of satire, particularly of British aristocracy. Third person narration. World building is elaborately detailed and satisfying. Exciting and fast-paced plot that p More...

Worldshaker is a Romeo and Juliet love story set in steam-punk world where “civilized” people live on massive steam powered vessels. Colbert Porpentine is the Romeo of this tale and also the grandson of the supreme commander of the Worldshaker dreadnought. Col as it turns out, has been chosen to succeed his grandfather as supreme commander of Worldshaker. However, an encounter with a Filthy (or lower class) girl causes Colbert to question his life on the Worldshaker. The Filthy girl Riff (or Jul More...

Col Porpentine is the grandson of the Supreme Commander of the Worldshaker, the immense juggernaut as huge as a city. He knows his place in the world and society. He knows who rules the world and who helps the world, AKA the Worldshaker, work. His family is of the uppermost of society, the ruler of their world is Queen Victoria II. He is poised to take over as supreme commander when the time comes. But then his world is shaken when he inadvertantly meets Riff, one of the thousands of Filthies wh More...

This isn't a bad book, per se - it's just a little oversimple.

The basic premise is similar to that of the Mortal Engines trilogy, with an AU British Empire (and all the important nations, it seems) constantly traveling the world on their worldshaking, groundchurning machines.

It doesn't take long in the book - spoiler alert! - to find out that the good people are good and the bad people are very, very bad. Our hero's own family and society has very little to recommend them. They've enslaved their More...

I picked this up in the adult book reading section and really think it needed to be over in the young adult section as I think the book would sit better there.

It was enjoyable read.

The world Harland has created has a great deal of interest and there was enough smattering of a back story to understand how this place came into being. There are lot of themes/views/politics running slyly through the book which includes colonialism, communism, class struggles, and exposing the voice of the 'other'. More...

A great steam-punk story to introduce people into the genre. The story was captivating, though some what predictable. My main complaints though, are the time setting, and that the ending seemed rushed.

The story is supposed to be set in the 1990's, yet the author takes every possible step to put us in a Victorian Era environment. I can't see why he didn't just set in the actual Victorian Era, it would save a lot of confusion, and a lot less effort on his part to press the Victorian aesthetic on More...

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 More...

I've been having difficulty writing a review for this book, though I'm not sure why.

In short, I thought it was an enjoyable romp, even if many of the elements were rather familiar. Mr. Harland captures the stuffiness of Victorian principles well, and yet manages to make some of his upper-class characters empathetic. His writing is crisp, and he generally kept things moving forward at a good clip, while managing to toss in some character development.

Are there cliches involved, and has Mr. Harland More...

Normally I don't go for books of this genre but i decided to pick it up out of curiosity after seeing it on the shelves of Borders for so long.Needless to say i was pleasantly suprised. The main character Col starts out ignorant of the warped world he lives in where the upper class(upper decks) are the haves and the filthies/menials are the have nots. The filthies are pretty much slaves and forced to become menials: mindless working slaves. He meets Riff, a filthy girl who shows him that filthie More...

I thought that this was pretty good. I've read better but it was still good. There were some parts where I was waiting for the action to get on, but those parts were also interesting to read.

I was also hoping to see more of the Below. We only saw a little of it and it disappointed me. While he did a good job describing things, I would have like to see more descriptions of the other rooms and people in the Upper Decks. I couldn't really remember how a lot of the people were described eailer in t More...

This was really fun. It retreads lots of other stories maybe, but it does it well with likable characters. I read it quickly and enjoyed it.

It's kind of like a cross of the Leviathan series and the Hungry City Chronicles (1st book:Mortal Engines). Rich, privileged kid has to learn the truth about the "filthy" people who support his lifestyle, and then decide how far he is willing to go to make waves in his "cultured" society.

Col may be a little exaggeratedly good, and the crazy, crazy throwback More...

Colbert Porpentine is a wealthy child on the massive juggernaut ''Worldshaker''. Colbert now has to hide a secret that he had helped a filthy escape from the lower decks. Many things are now stopping Colbert from keeping that secret including his classmates, his sister, and everyone else that is close to him has a chance to catch him. Riff (the filthy Colbert helped escape) is leading the revolution of the filthies. Colbert was supposed to be the next supreme commander after his grandfather step More...

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Honestly, I'm a bit conflicted about this book. On one hand, it had some excellent character development, with villains that angered me in a good way (nearly making me want to chuck my Nook at the nearest wall), and some sweet action. On the other hand, the story sagged a LOT half of the time, and I just was not interested at those momements. The characters and dialogue did not live up to snuff in that half of the book I disliked. More...

This is the first Richard Harland book I've read, and I'll definitely be looking for more.

Worldshaker is a terrific steampunk adventure, set on a massive juggernaut (the eponymous 'World Shaker') which set off across the world in the 19th century. Privileged upper decks boy, Colbert Porpentine - next in line to be the Supreme Commander of the vessel - has his own little world shaken up when he encounters a lower decks 'filthy' Riff.

It has excitement and adventure and great characters, some of More...

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I thought this would fit more into the adventure genre I have enjoyed reading in the past. All the reviews were throwing around mentions of steampunk and romance. OH my was this book wrong for me. Col lives on the upper decks of this Juggernaut, which is a huge ship that even goes over land. Living on the upper decks signifies his rank in the society of the Worldshaker! He then, by chance, meets a filthy named Riff, she lives on the very More...

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Richard Harland’s Worldshaker is a dystopian steampunk adventure aimed at young adult readers. Although it is targeted at a younger audience, I found this novel to be an entertaining and worthwhile read that I finished in one sitting.

A steampunk coming of age story
Worldshaker tells the story of Col Porpentine, grandson of Sir Mormus Porpentine, Supreme Commander of the industrial juggernaut Worldshaker. Col lives a privileged yet sheltered life on the elit More...

This was the first time in my life that I couldn't finish a book. I skimmed the second half because I found the writing style really annoying. The plot really made no sense and I was confused half the time. Even when I got to the climax I was bored. And books usually don't bore me. I hated how the author portrayed Riff and certain other characters. I felt like the author told us everything instead of showing us. Plus the excessive use of exclamation points annoyed me.

I did like a few things howe More...

2.5 stars. Worldshaker started off quite well, despite a weak protagonist in Col, but then it hit a wall around the middle and nothing happened for about a hundred pages. It does pick up briefly at the end with a rush of action, but everything goes by so quickly and ends so quickly that I'm left going, "...That's it?!" I must admit I was a little disappointed.

It begins with Col's initial meeting with Riff and his personal struggle over the matter as he tries to accept that Filthies are not stupi More...

Giant cities on wheels--Philip Reeve published his version first and created a much more vivid and believable world. There's a lot of action in this one and it gets you to think about class structures. Parts are so absurd they make great humorous satire, but at other times the surreal nature of the way both the upper and lower classes live creates such a distance that you lose investment in what happens to them. The hero seems much younger than 16, almost too naive to be believed. Did he really More...

The fair thing for me to do would be to give this book three stars, not two. It's not a bad book. It's actually a pretty good book. But...
well, there's so much to say. I just hope I can remember everything I was thinking. I also hope I have the ability to write it out coherently.

Col...I wasn't a huge fan of his character. He's a wealthy, sheltered, naive teenage boy who didn't really have any personality, and none of that inspired affection in me. Then he meets Riff, and he morphs into this sap More...

Col and his family live on the Worldshaker - 2 1/2 miles long and 3/4 of a mile wide, 53+ decks tall and over ten thousand people on board. Col has lived a very sheltered life - he has never questioned anything....until he actually meets a "Filthy". Riff is a Filthy that was "brought up" to become a "Menial", but she managed to escape and ended up hiding in Col's room. After spending some time with Riff, Col realizes that things aren't really as his family and teachers have taught him. Col is fo More...

I picked this random book from the shelves of the library and thought that i could give it a go. I am kind of choosy on what i read.

What i enjoyed most was the plot. It was rather appealing as I had never come across a story revolving strongly around discrimination and oppression and... well politics stuff. Its plot its rather exciting and it was a page turner for me, i must admit. It also had some unexpected twists around the plot.

What i was really disappointed about was:
- Ending
Somewhat a More...

It had a okay idea but utterly failed in execution. I pretty much hated it. The only semi-ish worth while character was Riff and that was just in the beginning. She got worse towards the end. Everyone was annoying and made stupid choices. The plot itself didn't really make sense and was basically worthless. They have the equivalent of slaves that live in the "Filthy" section below decks. Didn't we get past the whole slave thing? So we reverted. Okay, tell me why! And I had a lot more questions w More...