For supporters of Charles I and his son, the middle of the 17^th Century was a hard time and in the aftermath of the Restoration was a time to show they were right.  Behemoth is Thomas Hobbes’ history of the lead up to the English Civil War and the resulting Interregnum.

Covering roughly two decades of political, military, cultural, and religious upheaval within the frame of a dialogue, Thomas Hobbes uses the political framework written in Leviathan to analyze the breakdown of political order and how it was restored.  The first and second section of the book concerns how Charles I strong political position was undermined by seven factions acting independently of one another and how the King’s attempts to combat one faction were used by other factions to represent tyranny against their own party eventually leading to a rupture and war between King and Parliament.  The third section covered the civil war itself with neither side getting an advantage until the rise of Oliver Cromwell turned the tide for Parliament that eventually lead to the capture of the King and after political machinations from both sides, Charles is put on trial then executed.  The last section highlights how Parliament had no idea how to replace the King and went from one solution to another all the while Cromwell continued to accumulate power until taking over the place of Charles in all but the title of King.  However, after Cromwell’s death and weakness of his son’s leadership, General Monck uses his army to takeover the political situation and invite Charles II to take the throne.

While Hobbes uses the ideas in Leviathan to frame this history, it is essentially a Royalist view of the history of the 1640s and 1650s.  Throughout the book the prime factor that Hobbes saw as being the instigator of Parliament’s position against the King wasn’t taxes, but religion more specifically Presbyterian minister preaching from the pulpit against the King so they could achieve leadership of the nation like John Calvin had done in Geneva.  Though Hobbes did mention several other factors, his obsession on the religious aspect overawed everything else in this history which at times became too much.

Behemoth is ultimately a royalist history of events in the mid-17^th Century.  Thomas Hobbes shows the breakdown of political order when the sovereign’s position is challenged and usurped by those that have no right to it and the chaos that follows, but through his partisan lens.

Behemoth

by Scott Westerfeld
audio book narrated by Alan Cumming
Book 2 of Leviathan

If I wanted to be honest with myself, I both don't remember much about this book, but also very much enjoyed listening to it.  I can see that Behemoth sort of suffers from that second book syndrome--at least in my case, it didn't do much for me--and yet, at the same time, there were a lot of new character developments that helped propel the book forward.

I won't reiterate the concept behind the Leviathan series--the whole Darwinists versus Clankers of World War I.  But I DID find the introduction of the Perspicacious loris quite fun.  It DID take some time before I could picture the creature in my head... and probably would have benefited from going out and doing a search for an artist's rendering.  After all, for the longest time, I thought it was some sort of reptilian creature until the narrative started mentioning its fur.  Of course, that was my own stupid imagination considering a loris is, indeed, a cute little primate thing... duh.

And in the book, it is a cute little primate thing, and it tends toward repeating words, alerting useful noises, giving our main characters insights and clues; and having it in the background softened a lot of the darkness of the impending war.

Meanwhile, character and story-wise, the plot was interesting to an extent, but I found that it felt like there was entirely too much going on.  And a lot of the actions of our characters didn't really make a whole lot of sense.  I would almost agree with Count Volgar that Alek's actions were a bit foolish, as he so readily reveals his identity as the runaway prince from Austria-Hungary to everyone.  And all because he's got this notion that he was the one who needed to end the war somehow.  I'm not entirely sure that Alek remembers he's just a kid, and a prince who's being hunted.

And while I had mentioned that there was a lot of new character developments, I'm not entirely sure that those developments really lasted.  Alek and Deryn learn more about each other, and their friendship seems to get that much tighter.  The introduction of Lilit to create a bit of romantic tension was interesting, but I'm not sure quite necessary for the romantic tension.

This story, after all, still reads a bit juvenile in voice, and I have a hard time picturing any kind of romance developing at all.  As far as I'm concerned, Deryn and Alek are just best friends even as there is constant mention of how Deryn has developed feelings for Alek.

In spite of all of my complaints and quibbles of this particular installment of Leviathan, however, I found myself immensely enjoying the forward progress starting from the last half of the book.  As I'd mentioned in my review of Leviathan, I found the narration that follows Deryn the most interesting.  In contrast, I found Alek's parts of the story a bit lacking, and I'm not sure what it is about Alek I don't really like--maybe too much of his "Woe is me, but I'm the chosen one" attitude?

When Deryn and Alek reunite towards the middle half of the book, things felt like they were finally going somewhere.  But while there was a lot of action, the whole course of the series plot still felt a bit stagnant.  Thus is the fate of being the second book in a trilogy, I suppose.

Meanwhile, even as I write this review, I'm almost done with the last book and probably ready to write its review.  This pretty much tells anyone, myself mainly, how much I'm enjoying this trilogy even in spite of all my complaints.  Blinders... they're always good for something, right?  =D

No-one is going to take a novella called Toxic Behemoth too seriously, but author David Bernstein chooses to start this Kaiju-centric tale with some fairly extreme criminal underground action. Caught completely off-guard, I wasn't sure what I was reading until that tale becomes the type of story Kaiju fans are more familiar with around 20% in.

From there, it all becomes fairly standard, with the somewhat varied take of having several chapters from the point of view of the massive monster. The book moves at a starling brisk pace, so before you even know it, the navy are attacking the creature and it is showing off a range of impressive special abilities. Then it starts wreaking havoc and the fun truly begins.

To be honest, I was on board with this one all the way until the last 5%. But Bernstein opts to throw in an ending which did not at all fit with what came before it, and runs completely counter to much of what was previously established - even if bigger Kaiju fans might appreciate what he was aiming to do. But the ending left me with very cold and in and of itself dropped my rating a whole star.

3 Missile-Deflecting Tentacles for Toxic Behemoth

Apparently, The Infernal Devices is also considered steampunk, but I consider that to be more of a historical fantasy/paranormal genre. So, that is why I’m going to consider Leviathan the very first steampunk novel I’ve ever read.

People should seriously read this series. I feel bad that I put off Behemoth for so long until I was scanning my shelves and realized that I hadn’t continued on with SO many series that I’d started.

After the events of Leviathan, the ship is now headed into Istanbul, and this alternate world was SO good to read about, I think that one of the best things about this series—aside from the funny and clever characters—is the amazing worldbuilding! I think Scott Westerfeld has done an AMAZING job with combining the alternate history with facts and representation.

“I know we can’t use beasties here in Clanker-land,” Deryn said, “but why make a walker look like an animal?”

 

“Diplomacy is all about symbols,” Dr. Barlow said. “Elephants signify royalty and power; according to legend an elephant divined the prophet Mohammed’s birth. The sultan’s own war machines are made in this same shape.”

This literally makes my historical fiction side feel like a million bucks.

While the events that do happen in Istanbul aren’t really in the favor of our beloved characters, the way they manage to get themselves out of these situations is pretty fun to read about! We have Alek, who has unfortunately split up with Volger and is on the run; and then we have Deryn—or “Dylan”—who accompanied Dr. Barlow to Istanbul but the Sultan has seemed to crush their eggs based on previous issues with Winston Churchill. But DESPITE all of this political mess, Scott Westerfeld still manages to make this situation so funny!

Count Volger stared at her for a long moment, and Deryn realized that she’d let her voice go all squeaky. That was what came out of thinking too hard about Alek—it turned her pure dead girly sometimes.  

 And although Alek isn’t my most favorite character . . .

But if a girl could pilot the monstrosity, it couldn’t be too difficult.

(I mean, the problem isn’t the girl thing, a lot of people thought like that in that time, it’s just that he assumes that as the “destined one” he has to be able to do everything and has the greatest secrets) He did eventually grow on me :D

“Shush!” Alek looked about. Fabricated beasts might not be strictly illegal, but there was no point in drawing attention to himself. Besides, it as insufferable that the creature’s own accent was better than his own.

He does have his moments. :D

I want to take a moment to talk about Keith Thompson. OMG. Like, how long did it take for him to create such amazing pictures! I was impressed with the illustrations in Leviathan, but for some reason, in Behemoth, I was blown away! I think it’s because we got to see SO many things, like a Clanker city. We got to see Deryn and her comrades jumping off the Leviathan, and holy moly, we got to see. The. Behemoth. That thing is HUGE! Like, has Keith Thompson illustrated anything else?! Because I am going to check it out! :D

My favorite part of the book:

“But she can’t like me,” Deryn said. “I’m a . . . barking airman!”

Overall, Behemoth is much better than Leviathan, and now I am really starting to see how the events that were building up in Leviathan played out! I am so glad that I gave this a read because it was so interesting and so many things happened in this that gave the feel of war. The fights between the machinery, and the political alliances. It was interesting to see Scott Westerfeld’s note on alternate history. I think all historical fans need to check this out!

Thanks for reading my review everyone, and hope you all have a great day! Until the next one!

Behemoth continues the plot where Leviathan left off. In a alternate World War I, where the Clankers use machinery and Darwinists use genetically manipulated animals as their favored weapon.  This second book is packed with even more action and adventure that its predecessor, but with a much linear plot. Alek and his crew have been taken in by the Leviathan and after an attack in which Alek is injured he decides to escape. Alek will try to stop the Ottoman Empire from entering the war. Deryn runs in to trouble herself and her feelings for Alek begging to grow.  If you read Leviathan, continuing the series with Behemoth (book 2) and Goliath (book 3) would be a great choice. Westerfeld out does himself once again creating well rounded characters and vivid descriptions in this Steampunk novel. 

Westerfeld, S. (2010).Behemoth. New York: Simon Pulse.