Review: Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld

The behemoth is the fiercest creature in the British navy. It can swallow enemy battleships with one bite. The Darwinists will need it, now that they are at war with the Clanker powers.

Deryn is a girl posing as a boy in the British Air Service, and Alek is the heir to an empire posing as a commoner. Finally together aboard the airship Leviathan, they hope to bring the war to a halt. But when disaster strikes the Leviathan’s peacekeeping mission, they find themselves alone and hunted in enemy territory.

Alek and Deryn will need great skill, new allies, and brave hearts to face what’s ahead.

I started reading this book as soon as it arrived back at the end of September, but unfortunately I then proceeded to mislay it. I spent hours searching through every room in the house, thinking I had put it down somewhere unusual in an absent-minded moment. More books arrived, work got busy, and finding my copy of Behemoth somehow slipped down my list of priorities. Imagine my delight when, purely by chance a couple of weeks ago, I found it under the driver's seat of my car. How it got there I no longer cared, all that mattered was that I would be able to restart it, and just in case I finished it in a single sitting this time - this wasn't exactly a chore as it is nothing short of brilliant. In fact, looking back now, I feel that if I had completed it at first attempt then it may have beaten David Gatward's The Dark to The Book Zone Book of the Month title back in October.

The first book in this series, Leviathan, was one of my favourite books of 2009 and at the time in my review I described it as "one of the finest examples of steampunk fiction for boys that I have come across". I think I may have receieved the odd word of criticism at the time for calling it steampunk (I seem to remember one commentator suggesting that it should be more accurately referred to as dieselpunk), but I feel that over the past year the definition of what is and isn't steampunk has become increasingly blurred - no longer is is restricted to an alternate Victorian reality, thanks to the great workds of authors like Cherie Priest (Boneshaker and Dreadnought) and Scott Westerfeld. 

For those of you who have not discovered Leviathan yet, the story is set in alternate Europe at the outbreak of The Great War. So far, so what's the alternate bit? Well that's where Scott Westerfeld's amazing imagination comes into the fore - the British (and some of their allies) are Darwinists, a society who follow the discoveries of Charles Darwin, who after developing the Theory of Evolution went on to become the father of genetic science. His discoveries led to advances in science so that now the British use vehicles, weapons and other devices that have are custom-fabricated biological creations, with nary a gearwheel or piston in sight. Across the Channel, the Germans are the principle super-power, and they abhor the blasphemous creations of the Darwinists. Instead, they rely on the power of steam and diesel and the metal machines that they drive, and as such have been christened the 'Clankers'.

This book picks up straight after the closing scenes of Leviathan, with protagonists Alek and Deryn on board the living airship, heading towards Constantinople as part of the British mission to encourage the Sultan and his Ottoman Empire from siding with the Clankers in the war that is just kicking off in Europe. Deryn is still trying to hide the fact that she is a girl, Alek, technically a prisoner on the Leviathan as it arrives in Constantinople, is still hiding his own true identity as the possible heir to the Austrian empire. As they arrive in Constantinople, or Istanbul as the locals now prefer it to be known, the crew of the Leviathan find that they are not alone in trying to influence the Ottoman ruler as the Germans have already arrived, and the sight of so many clanker-style machines around the city suggests that the delays experienced by the Darwinists in the first book may prove to be catastrophic. This leads for a greater element of political intrigue than we saw in the previous story, with the Germans, Ottomans, British, Austrians and groups of unhappy anarchists all working behind each others' backs to meet their own wants and needs.

Must as I loved Leviathan, I feel that the reason this book is even better than its predecessor is due to its location. Gone are the claustrophobic scenes set within the Leviathan, and Alek's frantic escape from his clanker pursuers, with the action flitting from one protagonist to another, chapter by chapter. Instead, we have a story set predominantly in one city, and a richly descibed one it is too. We are able to picture in our heads the sights, sounds and smells of this fantastic alternate Istanbul, with its rich familiar traditions and religions interwoven with Westerfeld's imagined technologies, biological or otherwise. And even though the story's point of view still alternates between the two main characters throughout the story, this time they are roughly in the same locale, interacting with the same people, which makes for a much more rewarding read in my opinion.

Behemoth is even more chock-full of riveting action scenes that its predecessor, as Alek and Deryn are thrown into one perilous situation after another. Every life-threatening scene further develops the close friendship that has grown between the two, although the fact that Deryn is starting to develop romantic feelings towards the Austrian prince does start to complicate things in her mind. Boys who steer away from books with romantic elements should not be put off though, these are only a small (but essential) part of the story.

As in Leviathan, another stand-out element of this book are the incredible black and white illustrtations of artsist Keith Thompson. I have to confess, the moment the book arrived the first thing I did was scan quickly through the book to gaze longingly at each of the beautifully detailed images. I have so far managed to resist the ever growing urge to buy a couple of his Behemoth prints, but I am not sure how much longer my willpower will hold out (I do have a BIG birthday coming up in April though... hmmmmm). I have included a couple of the images at the end of this post (click on them to view the super-sized versions) but you can see more of his amazing work here at his website.

The third, and final instalment in the trilogy, called Goliath, is scheduled for a September 2011 release, and yet again I find myself wishing my life away. My thanks go to Simon and Schuster for sending me a copy to review.

New paperback releases - June 2010

Whilst I was waiting in line for Charlie Higson's session at the Hay Festival I had a brief conversation with the mother of three boys who had with them an impressive pile of books. Somehow we got onto the subject of hardbacks versus paperbacks, with her saying that she rarely buys hardbacks as they are often quite expensive and therefore her boys either have to borrow the books from the library or wait until the paperback edition is released. Her one small moan was that whilst the hardback editions of popular books generally arrive with quite a fanfare of publicity, the paperbacks are often released without a lot of fuss and it would be nice if blogs such as The Book Zone could occasionally highlight when these books are getting their paperback release. So, with this in mind, here are a few of the big paperback releases of boy-friendly books for this month:

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

It is the cusp of World War I, and all the European powers are arming up. The Austro-Hungarians and Germans have their Clankers, steam-driven iron machines loaded with guns and ammunition. The British Darwinists employ fabricated animals as their weaponry. The Leviathan is a living airship, the most formidable airbeast in the skies of Europe.

Aleksandar Ferdinand, prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battle-torn Stormwalker and a loyal crew of men. Deryn Sharp is a commoner, a girl disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She's a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.

With the Great War brewing, Alek's and Deryn's paths cross in the most unexpected way, taking them both aboard the Leviathan on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure. One that will change both their lives forever.

In my review back then I described this book as "one of the finest examples of steampunk fiction for boys that I have come across". Since then I have read Cherie Priest's amazing Boneshaker, but Leviathan is still a good second place. Is it steam punk? Or is it diesel punk? Whatever it is I really enjoyed this imaginative story with its original premise when I first read it at the tail end of last year. 

Crocodile Tears by Anthony Horowitz

Targeted by a hitman and under threat of his past being exposed by the media, Alex reluctantly turns to MI6. But their help doesn't come cheap: they need Alex to spy on the activities at a GM crop plant. There he spots Desmond McCain, a high profile charity organiser, who realises that Alex is on to him and the real plans for the money he's raising. Kidnapped and whisked off to Africa, Alex learns the full horror of McCain's plot: to create an epic disaster that will kill millions. Forced to ask MI6 for protection, Alex finds himself being manipulated in a deadly game that could lead to the destruction of an entire East African country.

Mission 8 for the seemingly indestructible Alex Rider, and in my opinion one of the best books in the series. In my review I stated that: "Reading Crocodile Tears is very much like watching a well-made action movie – Mr Horowitz manages to balance perfectly the highs and lows of the story so that during the quieter moments you are tense with wondering what happens next, and then you get fantastic full-on, white-knuckle action scenes that have you turning the pages as fast as possible to find out just how Alex is going to survive the latest test on his abilities. In this respect this book was very similar to the adult action thrillers written by Matthew Reilly, who readily admits he to writing action movies in novel form. There is no chance to get bored reading this book – the pacing is perfect throughout."

It doesn't really seem like ten years since the first Alex Rider book was published. In order to celebrate this Walker Books is publishing the entire series in new cover designs. In addition, each of the books also contains a new Afterword by Mr Horowitz, in which he takes us behind the scenes of the series with information about the gadgets, locations, characters and many more insider secrets. 


And if you like reading all this extra background information then as an extra little treat, today I saw this great article in The Telegraph about the trip Anthony Horowitz took to Egypt in order to research the next Alex Rider book, to be called Scorpia Rising. Follow this link to read the full article.

The Enemy by Charlie Higson

They'll chase you. They'll rip you open. They'll feed on you...When the sickness came, every parent, policeman, politician - every adult - fell ill. The lucky ones died. The others are crazed, confused and hungry. Only children under fourteen remain, and they're fighting to survive. Now there are rumours of a safe place to hide. And so a gang of children begin their quest across London, where all through the city - down alleyways, in deserted houses, underground - the grown-ups lie in wait. But can they make it there - alive?

 

This book was published in hardback before I started this blog so no review has appeared on here so far. However, I did mention it only yesterday in my write up about Mr Higson's highly informative session. If that isn't enough for you then you could do a lot worse than go over to My Favourite Books and read Mark De Jager's great review of it. As an added bonus for the paperback edition you also get a chance to read the first chapter of the sequel to The Enemy, enitled The Dead, as well as a short interview with the author.

Review: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

It is the cusp of World War I, and all the European powers are arming up. The Austro-Hungarians and Germans have their Clankers, steam-driven iron machines loaded with guns and ammunition. The British Darwinists employ fabricated animals as their weaponry. The Leviathan is a living airship, the most formidable airbeast in the skies of Europe.

Aleksandar Ferdinand, prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battle-torn Stormwalker and a loyal crew of men. Deryn Sharp is a commoner, a girl disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She's a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.

With the Great War brewing, Alek's and Deryn's paths cross in the most unexpected way, taking them both aboard the Leviathan on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure. One that will change both their lives forever.

OK..... a whole week since I last posted but a sudden Ofsted inspection reduced my reading time significantly this week. Having started this book last Sunday night (I always read before turning the light off at night, and have done for as long as I can remember) I then put it aside for a few days as I  wanted to give it quality reading time - it really is the sort of book you just don't want to put down. When I did finally have the time to read it I managed to have enough spare time to finish it in one sitting and I honestly didn't want it to end - in the words of Kate Bush...... Wow! And I will say that again..... Wow!! What a story!

In my opinion this book is one of the finest examples of steampunk fiction for boys that I have come across. Steampunk is a genre that is becoming increasingly popular in the fiction world and throughout other areas of popular culture, but many of the best examples have so far been written for the adult market. I won't go into detail about what steampunk is - a simple google of the word will give you more than 2 million hits - but for a great introduction to the steampunk genre in fiction look no further than this great blog post by the very talented Alexandra Shostak.

Most steampunk stories are set in Victorian times, but despite this story being set during the the early days of the First World War all the elements of a typical steampunk story are there: alternate history; technology and machines that are very much out of their time; societies with opposing views on the ethics of their different technologies; airships; and action and adventure in abundance.

My favourite element of this story is Scott Westerfeld's creation of Darwinist technology; in this story Charles Darwin has not only developed his Theory of Evolution, he is also credited with the discovery of DNA and genetic science and this breakthrough has been used by British scientists to create the most fantastic, fabricated biological machines. This is biotechnology, but certainly not as we know it! These fabricated machines are not just new animals creations - many of them are made of the genes of multiple creatures to become more like ecosystems that individual organisms. The Leviathan is the prime example of this in the story. Most steampunk stories include the use of airships but to my knowledge no-one has ever written about an airship that is a combination of "umpteen different beasties". Westerfeld's descriptive writing about these fabulous creations is incredibly vivid, yet never affects the pace of the story which is almost breathless throughout. And should your imagination begin to tire at any point, there are always Keith Thompson's 50 sumptuous illustrations throughout the book (I'll pop a couple of them at the bottom of this review). Many books for Young Adults would benefit considerably from illustrations, in much the way many adult books had illustrations back in the Victorian era.

In contrast to the biotechnology used by Britain, the Austrian/German nations in the book rely on 'Clankers' - petrol/diesel mechanical technology, but again very different from the machines that were used by these countries in our world's Great War. These aren't tanks with caterpillar tracks; instead they are huge walking machines resembling giant robots (in fact Alek, the principle Austrian character in the story will not even entertain the idea that a war machine could move around on anything other than legs: "How else would a war machine get around? On treads, like an old-fashioned farm tractor?" These continental powers also believe that the Darwinian creations are godless, and Westerfeld uses this fundamental difference in beliefs between the two powers well, implying throughout that it is the underlying reason for the tension between the two Powers, much like religion is in many parts of the world and wars today.

The characters too are wholly believable. On the one hand we are first presented with Prince Aleksander, son of the Archduke Ferdinand and potential heir to an empire. As in our world's history the Archduke is murdered in Sarajevo, but this is where the story diverges from our own world's. Alek, with the help of a few faithful family 'staff', manages to escape on a clanker on the night of his parents' murders and sets off on an adventure across Austria, evading the enemy powers that would have him join his dead parents.

The otehr principle character is Deryn Sharp, a girl who desperately wants to join the Air Service. Unfortunately females are prohibted from doing this and so she 'joins up' in the guise of a boy. A slight mishap during a training exercise leaves Deryn (or Dylan as she is now known) stationed aboard the Leviathan, her lifelong dreams rapidly becoming reality. Through skill, hardwork and some good fortune she manages to retain her place on the ship as it embarks on a special mission to ferry the enigmatic Dr. Barlow to Constantinople..... just as the hostilities break out on the continent.

Of course, Alek's and Deryn's paths eventually cross through the skillful story-telling abilities of Mr Westerfeld, and a close friendship begins to blossom despite their different beliefs and backgrounds. I loved the way that the author manages to keep you fully interested in both characters, even in the early stages of the book when they are still hundreds of miles part, by changing the character viewpoint every two chapters.

I'm not going to say any more, for fear of getting carried away and spoiling the book for readers. Suffice to say, I was left hungry for a lot more by the time I finished the book, with Westerfeld leaving us with a cliff-hanger ending in the tradition of the old Republic movie serials - no Harry Potter-esque end of term return to home for these two young people. Sadly, the sequel is not due to be published until October 2010, but I am sure that by then Westerfeld will have a huge following.

Having a grumpy moment

As a teacher of Graphic Design I really appreciate attractive book packaging and so I become a little disappointed when I feel that the covers of UK editions are not as attractive as their US counterparts.

Fortunately this doesn't happen too often but two books that have recently landed on my doormat have caused me to frown more than a little. The first of these was Scott Westerfeld's "Leviathan". Don't get me wrong - the cover of the UK edition is a stunning illustration by Keith Thompson, who also produced the beautiful black and white illustrations throughout the book. But I really did fall in love with the cover of the US edition when I first saw it. There is something about the Steampunk aesthetic that really appeals to me, and I feel that the US cover (on the left) is a stunning example of this.

The other book cover that has me slightly disappointed is Rick Yancey's "The Monstrumologist". Not only are the covers widely different in design, but these differences seem to add a little confusion as to who the target audience actually is. Now I've made my thoughts on age-banding very clear in a previous post so this possible confusion isn't my issue here - I just think the cover of US edition (left) is far more in keeping with the Gothic, dark tone of the story (or as much of it as I have read so far), evoking images of mad Victorian scientists and illicit experiements. The UK cover is fairly generic of many recent UK horror book covers (Darren Shan's Demonata series?); it is "cartoon-ish" in nature and may attract younger readers who could find some of the content a little too dark.

I guess there will be a lot of people out there who will disagree with me; after all, it is really just a matter of personal taste, but it would be interesting to hear the publisher's reasoning for making changes such as these. And why the need to add the subtitle "The Terror Beneath" to "The Monstrumologist"?