How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Deryn snorted. A few people—Monkey Luddites, they were called—were afraid of Darwinist beasties on principle. They thought that crossbreeding natural creatures was more blasphemy than science, even if fabs had been the backbone of the British Empire for the last fifty years. (4.12)
A luddite is a person who rejects new technology, and we assume monkey is a reference to human evolution. Perhaps the Darwinists are saying that those who reject fabrication are not as highly evolved as those who accept it.
Quote #2
But before Deryn had been born, the great coal-fired engines had been overtaken by fabricated beasties, muscles and sinews replacing boilers and gears. These days the only chimney smoke came from ovens, not huge factories, and the storm had cleared even that murk from the air.
Deryn could see fabs wherever she looked. Over Buckingham Palace a flock of strafing hawks patrolled in spirals, carrying nets that would slice the wings off any aeroplane that ventured too close. Messenger terns crisscrossed the Square Mile, undeterred by the weather. The streets were full of draft animals: hippoesques and equine breeds, an elephantine dragging a sledge full of bricks through the rain. The storm that had almost snuffed out her Huxley had barely slowed the city down. (8.5-6)
Here we get a clear picture of how integral fabricated beasties are to London life. It seems like they've at least been good for clearing the air of pollution caused by other forms of energy. Maybe we need to get some beasties into all the energy debates: definitely sounds cooler than coal versus natural gas versus something else that's not as cool as a beastie.
Quote #3
The Leviathan's body was made from the life threads of a whale, but a hundred other species were tangled into its design, countless creatures fitting together like the gears of a stopwatch. Flocks of fabricated birds swarmed around it—scouts, fighters, and predators to gather food. Deryn saw messenger lizards and other beasties scampering across its skin.
According to her aerology manual, the big hydrogen breathers were modeled on the tiny South American islands where Darwin had made his famous discoveries. The Leviathan wasn't one beastie, but a vast web of life in ever-shifting balance. (8.44-45)
This is Deryn's first view of her beloved Leviathan, and it gives the reader a pretty good picture, as well. We have to confess that we always think of Leviathan as the whale's name, and of the other creatures as "crew" who are also aboard. It's hard to remember that the whole thing makes up the airship.