Behemoth

The incredible characters were the best part of Behemoth. All the folks in Instanbul who Deryn and Alek meet are pretty cool, and the rebellion which they ferment is well brought off.

It fits right into the rest of the trilogy. Since each ends on a bit of a cliff hanger, you will want to listen to each one!

i rather liked Volger - he's rascally & pretty cool as narrated here.

On to book 3!

Great story! I grabbed this as soon as I'd finished up Leviathan as that one ended on a bit of a cliffhanger. Half way through, and the story is carrying on grandly! Can't wait to see what the perspicacious loris turns out to be & where Deryn and Aleks go next.

I love this series! The writing is creative and extends the imagination. The narration is fabulous and brings the characters to life. Leviathan had me hooked, but Behemoth is even better. Don't miss this one!

Living machines and reworked history....the concept was a little bizarre at first but it worked.

not all books can make the leap to audio and still work well. this one does. great reader.

Nope.

Teen book that is a good adult read too.

In case you hadn't noticed this series revolves around a love story, but a bit of an odd one. No surprise there for a YA book. The friendship between Deryn and Alek that began in Leviathan has unleashed feelings of a more complicated nature... at least for one of them. Deryn still manages to keep her gender a secret from Alek, but not from all others. And despite the obvious direction her feelings are leading her she continues her ability to conceal that particular secret from even herself.

Oh, and the world is still at war too providing an opportunity for further excitement. This time around the Clankers and Darwinists vie for the allegiance of the Ottoman empire. Our intrepid heroes find themselves separated for a time pursuing their own paths as they try to find their own place in the world as anyone their age longs to. Inevitably their paths reunite them in Istanbul. Here Westerfeld decides to take a further detour from history and throw Deryn and Alek into a hotbed of revolution that just may lead the Ottomans down a different path from the one we read about in our history books. Ever the loyal midshipman, Deryn focuses on finding a way to use the events to fulfill her duty to king and country while staying loyal to her friends. Alek seeks an opportunity to use what resources are left to him to aid a cause he can believe in.

Their enterprises are exuberantly related yet again by Alan Cumming, still one of the best readers I have had the pleasure to listen to.

A fantastic second installment to this exciting steampunk/biopunk series that is just bursting with action, more beasties and more Clanker contraptions! I enjoyed BEHMOTH nearly as much as LEVIATHAN and am anxious to get started on the final book, GOLIATH... to find out what the future holds for Deryn and Alek.

Oh yes, I would happily listen again. This is a great sequel to Leviathon, which ended on a bit of a cliffhanger. Here we get introduced to Instanbul & Deryn and Alek's adventures in formenting revolution in the city and how they help the British Darwinists.

If you're looking for some good young adult reading material, this is a fine series. Westerfield's setting is a re-imagining of the world at the time of World War I, but with the two sides armed with fantastical steampunk technology. The British and their Darwinist allies use fabricated (genetically engineered) creatures, such as living airships, while the Clanker Germans and Austrians rely on sophisticated machinery.

Behemoth, the second book in the series, continues at the same rolicking pace as the first, this time in the Ottoman capital of Istanbul. The story's two protagonists, a young British airman (who is actually a girl in disguise) and a deposed teenage heir to Austria's throne, are both appealing characters, and play off one another in a fun way. Westerfield does a decent job of blending the real-life history of World War I with his own world creation, using the ideological differences between the Darwinist and the Clanker powers as part of the story's backdrop (one wonders if his version of America, which apparently follows both paths, will feature in the next book). However, compared to its predecessor, this is a more straight-up adventure story, and I thought that a bit of the tragic historical resonance that I liked about Leviathan got lost among the gadgets and creatures.

Still, the young target audience is unlikely to mind. If you happen to be a parent looking for reading material for your children, there's no profanity or sex, and I can't say that the violence would get more than a PG rating. Also, the audiobook reader does a pretty good job with voices. His portrayal of Deryn's Scottish accent and Alek's Austrian one are now part of the charm for me.

Here continues the engaging adventure that began in Leviathan...Aleks, Deryn and the others are vivid and winning characters. The writing is intelligent and informative but does not forget a sense of humor! Superb narration by Alan Cumming

Once again, Alan Cumming does an excellent job as the reader. I also appreciate the author's afterword breaking down the history from the fiction.