“This book, the second in Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan trilogy, finds Prince Alek and 'Dylan' Sharp journeying the Ottoman Empire, ostensibly on a mission of peace. Unfortunately, there are two complications facing the crew of the Leviathan--for one, First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill has seized a warship and it's accompanying behemoth bought and paid for by the Ottomans, fearing it will be used against Britain should the Empire go to war. Worse still, the Germans have a massive presence in the Empire's capital of Istanbul--two of their ironclad ships have been inducted wholesale into the Ottoman Navy and the Germans are hard at work constructing a massive Tesla Cannon, a lightening based super weapon that could spell doom for Britain's fleet of hydrogen breathers. Should the Ottomans enter the war on Germany's side, they could close up the Dardanelles effectively starving the Russian's Southern army and are ideally situated to to threaten Britain's Far East possessions. Fortunately for our heroes, the Empire is being wracked by internal strife--while the sultan still rules, his power in tenuous at best and he is forced to depend on the Germans to keep him in power. Meanwhile, a anarchist group calling itself the Committee for Union and Progress is organizing a rebellion to overthrow the sultan and oust his hated German allies. Against this backdrop of plotting and intrigue, Alek makes good his escape from the Leviathan, hoping to use the political chaos to disappear into the far reaches of the Empire. In the meantime, Dylan is tasked with a secret mission--to sabotage the massive anti-kraken nets the Turks have constructed at the mouth of the Dardanelles. Within a month, the Levithan will lead the behemoth--a massive creature capable of destroying a dreadnought--up the straits and unleash it upon the unsuspecting German ironclads. What no one knows is that the German's Tesla cannon will also be operational within a month...More ambitious in scope than it's predecessor, 'Behemoth' moves along at a good pace and features some great action. More importantly, it moves the burgeoning love story between Alek and 'Dylan' along quite well (even if it is decidedly one sided) even managing to mudding the waters a bit by having the waifish anarchist Lilith have an intense crush on 'Dylan' (though in the end it is strongly implied she knows all about Dylan's little secret after giving 'him' a passionate kiss). Alek unfortunately is given short shrift here--with everyone around him having deduced 'Dylan's' little secret (from Volger to Barlow to Lilith and even the little beastie Bovril), the prince comes off as a bit clueless. I suspect he is in for a shock in the next book but that is another story. As before, the highlight of the book is the imaginative and fanciful illustrations by Keith Thompson. His illustrations showing the Turks various walkers are very well done, imparting them with a flavor and character all their own. Three particular standouts are the German propaganda poster image at the beginning of the book, the Sahmeran walker (based on a legendary mythic goddess) and the titular Behemoth as it attacks the Goeben--truly spectacular! All in all, a great read and one that makes me look forward to the final volume! Highly recommended!”
DOC-209 wrote this review Wednesday, February 1, 2012.
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