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    Behemoth
    Behemoth
    Behemoth
    Audiobook9 hours

    Behemoth

    Written by Scott Westerfeld

    Narrated by Alan Cumming

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    The latest in the New York Times bestselling breakout steampunk series from Scott Westerfeld.

    At the end of Leviathan, our heroes Alek and Deryn were aboard a mighty air ship heading toward Constantinople to deliver a secret package. But their secrets—Alek’s family is responsible for starting World War I, and Deryn is a girl passing as a guy in the British Air Service—are in jeopardy when their mission goes awry. The only way to save themselves in a hostile, politically charged city is to offer up the thing that matters most—their air ship.

    In this striking futuristic rendition of an alternate past where machines are pitted against genetically modified beasts in the first world war, lines between allies and enemies blur, and the consequences are Behemoth .
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateOct 5, 2010
    ISBN9781442334113
    Author

    Scott Westerfeld

    Scott Westerfeld is the author of ten books for young adults, including Peeps, The Last Days, and the Midnighters trilogy. He was born in Texas in 1963, is married to the Hugo-nominated writer Justine Larbalestier, and splits his time between New York and Sydney. His latest book is Extras, the fourth in the bestselling Uglies series.

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    Reviews for Behemoth

    4/5

    803 ratings93 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I adored Leviathan, so it's rough for me to say that I didn't love this as much. I think Behemoth suffers from the typical problem that most sequels do: it needs to continue the excitement and energy of the first book, but not go too far that the third book won't have anything left.This book also has a lot less worldbuilding, which was one of the aspects that I loved. I realize that the emotional development of the two central characters needs to be explored, but what really made the first book a page-turner was the excitement of figuring out this world of Clankers and Darwinists and how neither was exactly better or worse than the other.Still, an overall good read. Counting down the months till the next one.
    • 5/5
      Great 3rd book to this fantastic and fantastical series! Full of action and adventure. This book was a very satisfying conclusion to a great series.
    • 4/5
      Another rollicking adventure. I’m still not sure that I really truly believe in Deryn as a girl, but that may be because we’ve only seen her when she’s acting the part of a boy. [Nov. 2010]
    • 5/5
      Absolutely love this series, and the narrator is great! I read this originally about 7-8 years ago, and honestly a lot of it I couldn't understand at that point. I only remembered the basic premise, but I remembered enjoying what I did understand. Finally, I decided to check out the audio books and binged all 3 of them in 3 days. Love all the different voices and accents, definitely helps make it very immersive.
    • 5/5
      I love these books, it has been so nice to revisit them.
    • 4/5
      In this fast-moving sequel to Leviathan, Prince Alek and Midshipman Derrin Sharp find themselves on a diplomatic mission to Istanbul. Things don't go well for the diplomats, and Alek and Derrin find themselves on their own.
    • 5/5
      Adorably started, these children stole my heart right from the very start. Because I read all three of these novels in one week, they all kind of blur in my head. So I'm going to write them all one big review pretty much.


      This series is promising to become one of top ten my favorite mini-series I would read in the early part of this year/all of 2012 (so far, as we area only 1/3 of the way in). I was captivated with how things happened, the slow reveal, how our characters learned things, how they handled ending up places, what was more important morality among people or loyalty to a cause.

      The illustrations made my heart sore every time. I like that the children aren't super-people by the end, but still feeling their way through the world. I adore madly the Lady Boffin and The Count. I want to know ssssoo much more about the gifted pets, because you know they go, continuing to be awesome.


      If you have not read this series (and I was already one of the late, late comers, with the series already completely when I found it), You Should Be Now. Go, go. Get copies. Giggle and love it.
    • 4/5
      I am in love with the world this book. The audio book version is also very well done. Barking spiders!
    • 3/5
      teen fiction; steam punk/fantasy. I hadn't read the first book in this series, but the second installment was fine.
    • 5/5
      Behemoth might be even better than Leviathan; it is exciting and clever and thrilling and has loads more Clanker and Darwinist creations to marvel over as Mr Westerfield describes them in great detail. As the first book laid out the intricate world inside the ship Leviathan, the second book lays out the intense political atmosphere that exists outside the ship as it takes place mostly in Istanbul, a country rife with struggle and the focus of such superpowers as England and Germany. I was worried about Westerfield's treatment of a foreign culture, but he treats Istanbul with the respect it deserves and does not make the characters that inhabit it merely cookie cutter types to fit into country stereotypes. There's a young woman introduced in this book who is a stellar mechanist and very much woman's lib and she becomes an interesting and surprising character without falling into any of the pitfalls of stereotypically strong women from foreign countries. Overall, Behemoth is a clear step-up in the quality of the series - but only the third book due sometime next year will tell whether the series as a whole is a success.
    • 3/5
      No recapping on account of this being the second in a series, and if you haven’t read Leviathan then you’ll be spoiled, and I wouldn’t want to do that to anyone. I will say, however, that our two main characters Deryn and Alek are still stuck in the middle of the war between the Clankers and the Darwinists. The Clankers are those Austrian-Hungarian/German powers who favour mechanical constructs. The Darwinists are the British/French etc allies who prefer to tinker with life itself and create airships and much much more out of living creatures.

      I really really enjoyed the first book in this series. It was such an interesting take, with the steampunk mixed with the fabricated creatures. And I really enjoyed the two protagonists, so I was looking forward to this one. Unfortunately something about it just didn’t click with me. I’m not sure why, but it fell a little flat.

      It is still an entertaining read, and a wonderful take on the first World War, and the Ottoman Empire, it just felt as though the story never really got going.

      But I’ll still be on the look out for the next book because it was entertaining and readable, and very likeable. Just not as fantastic as the first. I do hope I amn’t damning this book with faint praise, because that is not my intention. There is a lot of action and derring-do, plus the world-building is creative and interesting. Maybe it was whatever mood I was in while reading it, and you’ll have better luck with it? If you’ve read and enjoyed book 1 I’m sure that this will keep you entertained, almost as much as the first :)
    • 5/5
      Even better than the first book in the series. Awesome YA fiction and while an alternative history, teaches more about WWI than most people would probably ever otherwise be exposed to.
    • 4/5
      Not as engaging as the first book. The first book was a constant assortment of wonders and details whereas this one takes it too much for granted that the reader gets the jist of Clunkers v Darwinists by now and strictly wants story instead of atmosphere and setting. There were far less of those "Willy Wonka opening the doors to the candy room" moments. I would have adored more exploration of the societies Westerfeld has created in this series - instead I got a fairly run-of-the-mill heir-to-the-throne running for his life story. Don't get me wrong, I still greatly enjoyed it - it just wasn't as much of what I was hoping for.
    • 3/5
      3.5 stars. This is really my fault. It took me a long time to read this book and due to that, I didn't enjoy it as much. I got into a reading slump shortly after starting it and had to put it down...for more than 6 months. I didn't enjoy this one as much as I did the first. I still enjoyed the world though. There are new characters in the sequel that I really like and hope to learn more about in the third book.
    • 5/5
      I'm really enjoying these books. I've listened to them, with Alan Cumming narrating, and he's wonderful!
    • 4/5
      Excellent steampunk - really interesting twist to World War 1, with a strong female heroine.
    • 4/5

      This is a very, very enjoyable book.

      First world war. Add steampunk. International intrigue. Spies. Krakens, flying whales, airships and a dash of Hornblower. Shake vigorously. Enjoy!
    • 4/5
      Fun and exciting. The afterword, which discusses the real history of the time, is quite interesting. However the romantic feelings of one protagonist are intrusive and annoying.
    • 4/5
      Had a bit of the second-book syndrome near the end, but was still just as fun to read as the first book alongside new secondary characters.
    • 4/5
      Lives up to expectations as a sequel to Leviathan. The pacing is good, including the development of the characters and their relationships. Action-packed like the first. Leaves the reader eager for the third book.
    • 2/5
      his is the second in the Leviathan Trilogy - the story of Deryn Sharp - midshipman on the fabricated airship Leviathan for the British Army at the start of WWl. Deryn is hiding a deep secret - he is a girl! But that is not the secret hidden away in this installment. Alek - future king of Austria - is also hidden away on the Leviathan. As are three eggs waiting to hatch with fabricated 'beasties' of some sort. The story picks up where Leviathan ended. The huge ship is making it's way to the Ottoman Empire to drop off the beasties. On the way they pursue two German ironclad ships - a seemingly simple task. After all, the Leviathan is a huge airship. But the German ships have a new weapon hidden on their decks - a Tessla cannon. We might call it a lightening cannon. One shot of that cannon an lightening strikes any and all metal surfaces. As the Leviathan moves closer to the Ottoman Empire the world becomes filled with Clanker machines - huge moving robots shaped like elephants, Gollums, waking beds and an Orient Express train that can walk and grab things. It's a world of machines belching black smoke and filling the air with their clanks and whirs. It is also a world on the brink of war. The streets are filling up with Germans as the Sultan decides whether to side with the Brits or the Germans. One side offers him fabricated beasts like the Leviathan and the other amazing machines like the Orient Express. With the help of Deryn and an escaped Alek the resistance forces help the new Sultan decide which side to join. This is a good installment. Full of action and intrigue. I like Deryn and I want her to succeed - but as she falls in love with Alek I don't really think there is any hope. Too many secrets. And... I would love to fly on the Leviathan - a hydrogen filled whale! Or the amazing human kite that Lillit flies away on...maybe sometime!!!
    • 2/5
      A bit more interesting than the first part. Alot of action, along with the fantasy and historical fiction kept me reading to the end, and wanting to read the next book in the trilogy to find out what happens to the main characters.
    • 2/5
      I thought book two dragged a bit. It had the same feel as book one, but didn't leave any real lasting impression. Also here is about the time where I wanted to call bull crap on those perspicacious critters. They are a little too smart. I don't believe.

      Decent book. but not memorable. Two stars.
    • 4/5
      This is the second book in Scott Westerfeld’s inventive steampunk YA trilogy, in which World War I is reimagined as a swashbuckling adventure in which the Central Powers use enormous robotic fighting machines while the Allies use genetically engineered creatures for war, from the kraken-like beasts of the Royal Navy to the “fighting bears” of the Russian Army. Having escaped Europe aboard the Royal Navy airship Leviathan, heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne Alek and his girl-disguised-as-a-boy friend Deryn find themselves in Istanbul, melting pot of cultures, a city and a nation on the brink of a revolution and being tugged both ways by the Clankers and the Darwinists to join the war.On paper these books are good – imaginative, swashbuckling, well-written and deftly plotted. It’s sort of hard for me to objectively judge them. I find my attention wandering, but maybe that’s my fault. I’d never say I’m too old to be reading YA fiction (because nobody is) but maybe I want something more complex than cliche dilemmas (noble boy in commoner’s clothing, tomboy in a man’s world) and sound and fury set pieces (lots of giant robots and crashing destruction). Or maybe I’m unfavourably comparing the trilogy to the masterpiece of YA fiction that is Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines series – which is also unfair, since my love of that series probably stems in part from nostalgia, i.e. the fact that I read it when I was actually a Young Adult. (The days, man. Those were the days.)So what can I say? Never mind my self-indulgent fretting. I can say with some conviction that Behemoth is a worthy successor to Leviathan, that it’s solid YA adventure fiction, and that if I’d read it in high school I would have loved it. Adult readers – your mileage may vary.
    • 4/5
      Scott Westerfeld really knows how to build a world. It's been a year and a half since I read Leviathan, but I didn't have any trouble slipping into his world once more. The characters were just as believable and likable as before.

      This book did exactly what a second book in a series should do. It carried on the story seamlessly, gave me plenty of action and questions to solidify my interest, continued to build tension and set me up for the next book.

      Now I can't wait for the last book to come out. How will Alec learn that Deryn is a girl? And will he really run a mile? That's my burning question!
    • 3/5
      Der zweite Teil hat mir deutlich besser gefallen als der erste, was wohl hauptsächlich daran lag, dass die Geschichte deutlich komplexer wurde und es weniger Kriegskampfszenen gab. Nachwievor fand ich die Liebeskomponente zwischen Protagonistin und Protagonist überflüssig. Dafür gab es mit der ersten quasi handelnden Tierschöpfung einen extra niedichkeits-Faktor. Schön auch, dass es eine dritte wichtige weibliche Figur gibt.

      Dann jetzt auf zum dritten und letzten Teil...
    • 5/5

      First of all, I want to apologize to everyone for the very long absence I've had on this site. I've recently moved and in the procedure, I completed Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan Trilogy completely. That being said, the books were not my own but were borrowed from the library, and in the end, I had to place them back before I was able to settle down on the internet and tend to status updates and more.

      Because of this, however, my status updates are incomplete for this review, and I will probably not edit or add them until a time when I sit down and reread this trilogy again, which--I strongly emphasize--I am definitely going to do! I do not want to write in status updates now, because I had not recorded any during my reading. There was really very little time to be afforded to keeping track of my own reading. This is why I'm only getting back into it all now.

      So while this will not be a normal review, and while I do plan on getting back into things and reviewing this book thoroughly once more in the future, I'm going to make it short and get back on track.

      In conclusion, if there's one thing that you have to take away from this review, it's this:

      I am buying this trilogy. I must have this trilogy!!!! I could not get enough of these books! So much so that I swept through the second book and the third without stopping! IT WAS DELICIOUS. It was WONDERFUL!!!! Seriously, if you're looking for something that has adventure, action, suspense, plot twists, and fantastic characters, character development, interactions and more-- you not only need to read this trilogy, I highly recommend you buy these books. They contain something in them that is classic, easy to enjoy, and yet has the complexities of a story that you can admire and grow with.

      It's so very easy to love this trilogy. If you're not the type to risk things on a "buy and then see what happens" spree, then at least take these out in library or borrow them from a friend that has them.

      Again, sorry for the horrendous review. I promise to get back on top of things shortly. In the meanwhile, as if I haven't repeated it enough: Check out this enjoyable trilogy! You won't regret it!
    • 4/5
      Oustanding book. God, this is so good I can hardly believe it. So interesting and packed full of twists and turns. The one thing preventing me from giving it 5 stars is Alek's sexist remarks throughout, I do hope he sees the error of his ways in the last book. Oh and that kiss at the end! I'm secretly in love with Lilit but don't tell anyone. Unputdownable, quite literally. I had tons of other things to do this weekend but couldn't leave this book behind, it stays with you, the world-building is terrific. So excited about Goliath!
    • 5/5
      A brilliant novel! I like the fact that Weterfeld works hard to make his female characters action stars. I also really loved the build up to the reveal; it came at exactly the right time. Much better than the first novel in the series (and that one was pretty darn good). HIGHLY recommended.
    • 4/5
      Another well written adventure in the beautifully realised setting of the Darwinist/Clanker wars. I love the creature concepts here - especially the lorises (and I learned a new word too!) and I enjoy the growing relationship/friendship between Deryn and Alek. I cannot wait until Deryn's secret is revealed. That has so much potential for both embarrassment and future development.

      I have put Goliath on reserve already, and eagerly await its arrival.