Behemoth

By: Scott Westerfeld

Matt HatchReading Miss RochePeriod 33/13/12

Scott Westerfeld: BiographyScott Westerfeld born May 5, 1963 in Dallas. He went to school at Arts Magnet High School in Dallas, Texas and graduated from Vassar with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy in 1985. As a young man he moved many times while his Dad worked on the Apollo missions for NASA. He has written eighteen books in his career as a novelist. Five of them were adults books and the other thirteen were for young adults. He was a musician and wrote music for New York dancers. He married an Australian author named Justine Larbalestier in 2001. The other young adult series that he wrote other than the Leviathan series was Uglies, So Yesterday, Peeps, Midnighters, and The Risen Empire. He also created the Powerpuff Girls choose your own adventure books sometime along his career. He was a factory worker (making lead soldiers!) , a substitute teacher, a textbook editor, a software designer, and a ghost writer. He has done many things with his life and had quite an exciting one I believe.

Webpage: http://scottwesterfeld.com/about-the-author

SummaryBehemoth is a steampunk novel about the struggles that a boy name Alek (a prince) has and a girl named Deryn has. In their world there are Darwinists and Clankers. The Darwinists fabricate together new animals (like the Leviathan) for their way of life . Clankers use machines (like the Goeben) for their way of life. They do not get along well together normally but Alek and Deryn have a special relationship. Alek is an engineer for the Leviathan’s engines also even though his country is at war with Britain. This is why his escaping is a big deal but also why the ship’s captain could not report his escape. Alek joins the an anarchist group because he feels obligated to help stop the war. Deryn meets up with him and thinks that he is crazy but after he told her the reason he was with them she agreed with his idea. Zaven, Lilit, and Nene play a big role in the book because of what their group does. They help Alek and Deryn stop the war and save the Leviathan from impending doom. Lilit also causes envy with Deryn when Deryn believes that Alek and her like each other. Deryn later finds out however that Lilit really likes Deryn thinking that she is a boy. The ways how Zaven, Lilit, and Nene helped Alek and Deryn is by providing them with walker s to destroy a giant Tesla cannon. Alek and Deryn arrive first and take down one elephant like Clanker contraption. They get into trouble but take down another elephant. The attention of the other elephants was diverted by the others. Zaven soon gets hit and it seems as though he won’t be able to move with the walker. Klopp and Bauer run to Alek’s aid and the Oriental Express hits them. Lilit takes down one more elephant. Then the perspicacious Loris says “Express,” Alek realizes that the train’s arms could mow down the cannon. They get to the train car where the controls are and hit one shove the cannon enough to break one bolt. It fires at them and Zaven sacrifices himself and pushes is down. They then find Lilit who kisses Deryn and leaves. They go the aid of Klopp and Bauer and send semaphore signals with the walker’s arms saying Sharp. Klopp is injured badly and needs the ship’s surgeon. Alek can still escape though. Will Alek leave or stay? Read on to find out.

CharactersMain Characters

1. Alek Hapsburg: first narrator of the novel, fifteen years old, very smart and a fast

learner, son of Archduke Ferdinand and set not to inherit anything as well as his uncle is concerned, he also speaks Latin, German, English, French, and Hungarian fluently.

2. Deryn/Dylan Sharp: second narrator of the book, teenager, whose father died in a horrible accident, with the help of her brother and disguised as a boy she sneaks onto the Air Service, and she is willing to risk her life to fly.

3. Count Volger: strategist, ally and tutor of Alek , bitter and determined, and a snob.

4. Dr. Nora Darwin Barlow: extremely witty, doctor of Darwinism/putting life threads of different animals together, granddaughter of Charles Darwin the founder of darwinism, inventor of the mysterious cargo.

5-Otto Klopp: knowledgeable of machines, nice, ally and tutor of Alek , an optimist.

6- Zaven: intelligent, leader, martyr, anarchist, strategist.

7-Lilit: pretty, likes Deryn, able to get through tough times.

8-Nene: knowledgeable, helpful, old, reads personalities.

Supporting Characters

1. Cpl. Bauer: loyal, young, gave up everything on the missions for Alek’s safety.

2. Master Engineer Hoffman: intelligent, Hapsburg guards, best engineer, cooks.

3. Eddie Malone: smart, always trying to get a story, good at getting secrets.

Characters Continued

PlotIntroduction

– Alek is teaching Deryn how to fence.

– Deryn gets semaphore flags from Midshipman Newkirk that he sees the two German ironclads.

Rising Action– Alek is pushed by Klopp and then saves Klopp from a gunshot which hits Alek

instead.

– The Leviathan is struck by a Tesla cannon.

– Deryn saves Newkirk from being drowning in the ocean after his Huxley died.

– Count Volger tricks Deryn.

– Deryn saves the Dauntless.

– Alek, Klopp, and Bauer escape the Leviathan with one of Dr. Barlow’s mysterious creatures, and with Deryn’s knowledge.

– The Germans secretly destroy Dr. Barlow’s egg at the sultan’s palace.

– Eddie Malone takes a message to Count Volger.

– Deryn completes her secret mission but everyone dies.

Plot Continued– Alek meets Zaven, Lilit, and Nene.

– Deryn and Alek meet.

– Alek loses his letter from the Pope after being chased by Germans and him, Lilit, and Deryn must retrieve it. Here Deryn discovers that Lilit likes her thinking she is a boy.

– Alek and Deryn devise a plan to destroy the tesla cannon to save the Leviathan.

Climax– Alek, Deryn, Klopp, Lilit, Zaven, and Bauer go to destroy the Tesla cannon.

– Zaven sacrifices himself to destroy the cannon and Bauer and Klopp nearly die.

Falling Action– Deryn convinces Alek to get on the Leviathan with her.

– Alek’s picture can now be seen and his identity is revealed.

Conclusion– Alek and Deryn save the Leviathan and all the crew aboard and continue their epic

quest.

New Vocabulary1. Perspicacious- adj. having or showing an ability to notice and understand things

that are difficult or not obvious.

“’By being perspicacious, of course.’” 36%

2. Elephantine- adj. very large like an elephant

“The machine could pull a sledge or wagon like a real elephantine, she supposed, but there was none in sight.” 22%

3. Stateroom – n. a private compartment on a ship

“They only locked Count Volger in his stateroom and I had to bring him breakfast every day!” 93%

4. Masthead - adj. the title of a newspaper or magazine at the head of the front or editorial page

“It was in English – New York World, read the masthead.” 96%

5. Declamations – n. the act or art of declaiming

“Soon Bovril was reciting whole conversations that Deryn shared with Alek or Lilit or Zaven, while the new beastie made declamations that sounded just like Dr. Barlow talking, even a few that had to be Count Volger!” 95%

Starring Actors:Alek Hapsburg played by: Logan

Lerman

Deryn Sharp played by: Emma Watson

Starring Actors:

Starring Actors:Dr. Nora Darwin Barlow played by:

Helen Mirren

Count Volger played by: Hugh Laurie

Otto Klopp played by: Liam Neeson

Master Engineer Hoffman played by: Ian Somerhalder

Starring Actors:

Starring Actors:Cpl. Bauer played by: Chris Evans

Zaven played by: Brad Pitt

Starring Actors:Lilit played by: Zoey Deschanel

Nene played by: Glenn Close

Eddie Malone played by: Henry Cavill

Soundtrack Tunes1. The scene where Alek, Deryn, and Zaven push down the Tesla cannon:

“Epic Legend”No lyrics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbuRp285_Sk

2. The scene where the Goebon strikes the Leviathan“A Losing Battle”

Lyrics not available.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci9YuE_YwJ4

RatingI gave Behemoth a rating of

5 out of 5 stars

The book was action packed and always made you want to read more. It had amazing amounts of detail as well. The new

characters I thought were extremely well developed. The way it makes every action important. I also liked how they incorporated

languages into the book and how knowing one could prove extremely useful. I liked how every character had a meaning and fulfilled that meaning. I also liked the creature the perspicacious

Loris and the way it acted. The book also combined the fantasy of Darwinists and Clankers with reality like the ship the Germans “borrowed” from the Ottomans. The last thing I liked about the book was the heroism depicted: I thought it made the book very exciting. Overall I thought this book was extremely well written

and I can’t wait to read the third book.