Behemoth

I'm not in as good a mood as I was in October when I read Leviathan. This story was set on the ground more than in an airship, with more Clanker steel and diesel than steampunkesque Darwinist fabricated beasties, and so was less interesting; also I feel less forgiving of the author's cavalier attitude toward genetic interference. Vitriolic barnacles that can breed with natural ones? The first book didn't mention interbreeding, as I recall, so the hocus-pocus planet-fuckery didn't annoy me. Also I wasn't as easily annoyed. ( )

It took me a lot longer to get pulled into Behemoth than it did with the first book in the series – Leviathan. Maybe it’s just part of that traditional curse of the second part of a trilogy. I had no problem with the storyline, it just didn’t catch my attention as quickly.

The artwork was once again stellar and adds a great deal to the story, helping the reader to picture all of the steampunk gadgets and engineered animals.

Even though it was filled with political maneuverings there were still some fun fight scenes and dramatic deeds. My main issue was that I didn’t feel as connected to the characters in Behemoth. It seemed as if the focus was less on the relationships between the characters in this volume and more on moving the plot along. I would have liked a more in-depth look at the inner thoughts of the characters. We did get to see more of the developing friendship between Deryn and the prince, and with the addition of new characters things become more complicated. Those complicated relationships were barely discussed, and I hope that they are elaborated on much more in book three. ( )

Behemoth continues the alternate steampunk history of World War I. Alek and Deryn are on the Leviathan and on their way to Istanbul on a diplomatic mission. Of course--things go awry. A good follow-up and second book in the trilogy. Alan Cumming is a good narrator for this YA book.

Better than the first one, definitely. Not that Leviathan was bad, but this one seems to be much more tightly plotted and paced and the amount of irritating fake "slang" is thrown around a bit less by the main characters. The best part of this series is all of the crazy bio-mechanical (or straight-up mechanical) inventions that Westerfeld comes up with- for sheer variety you gotta love all of the various goofy walkers that appear in the latter half of the book. I'm also enjoying what appears to be some acknowledgment by Westerfeld that Deryn's disguise as a boy is pretty thin as the suspension of disbelief on that plot point was always pretty tricky. I'll be interested to see how the final book turns out. ( )

Alan Cumming gets the full five. Amazing control over pace, character voices, subtle inflections and complicated words like PERSPICACIOUS. I thought I would miss the illustrations, which are still fabulous, but with Cumming reading you don't need them.
And of course Westerfeld knows just how to string us along... I hate waiting for the third book. ( )