How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The Austrian horses glinted in the moonlight, their riders standing tall in the saddle, swords raised. Behind them, two ranks of diesel-powered walking machines stood ready to fire, cannon aimed over the heads of the cavalry. A zeppelin scouted no-man's-land at the center of the battlefield, its metal skin sparkling.
The French and British infantry crouched behind their fortifications—a letter opener, an ink jar, and a line of fountain pens—knowing they stood no chance against the might of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But a row of Darwinist monsters loomed behind them, ready to devour any who dared retreat. (1.1-2)
That's one way to open a novel. At this point, we don't yet know anything about the Darwinists and Clankers. What can we learn about them from this passage?
Quote #2
Surely the Germans and their Austrian chums weren't so daft as to start a war just because some aristocrat had been assassinated. The Clankers were like Newkirk's mum. They were afraid of fabricated species and worshipped their mechanical engines. Did they think their mob of walking contraptions and buzzing aeroplanes could stand against the Darwinist might of Russia, France, and Britain? (12.73)
This is obviously from Deryn's Darwinist perspective. What does it say about her understanding of Darwinist and Clanker technology?
Quote #3
"God's wounds," he swore. This wasn't a machine at all, but a Darwinist creation!
He'd seen monsters before, of course—talking lizards in the fashionable parlors of Prague, a draft animal displayed in a traveling circus—but nothing as gigantic as this. It was like one of his war toys come to life, a thousand times larger and more incredible. (22.6-7)
In the first quote, we saw Alek playing at war, but here he sees a real-life fabricated beast. How do his war games compare to his actual experience of encountering the Leviathan?