Oh, I loved this series -- I read all 3 books in less than a week. I don't enjoy all YA, but I didn't feel talked down to in these at all. It's an alternate history of WWI, where the two sides of the conflict have followed different directions in technology. The Germans are Clankers, with complex robots, zepplins and helicopters. The British are Darwinists, doing gene-splicing to create extraordinary flying beasts and the like. The main characters are two teenagers, one the heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire (on the run from the Germans and his grandfather the Emperor), and the other a British midshipmen on a flying ship who happens to be a girl posing as a boy in order to serve. Dashing derring-do! Really, really cool machines and critters! Interesting characters! Beautiful illustrations!