Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld

Adventurous, Original, Captivating 

Fiction / Non-Fiction Mix: The book follows the stories of a British commoner, and an Austrian prince, as they try to survive WWI.

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I feel that this is, and will remain, one of my top 5 favorite books. The story has interesting concepts, such as the different factions that are at war, and their methods of fighting. In addition, it is quite descriptive with the characters and scenes, and has some artwork to help you paint the image. It has good character development, and is always grabbing your attention by dropping events with every couple turns of the page. As the story starts, it feels a little slow compared to the previous book. However, it picks up by about the third or fourth chapter. Though it may slow down for a while here and there, the author makes up for it by introducing a mix of small events, that only last a paragraph or two, and larger events, that can last whole chapters. I also find that the split perspective narration is an interesting choice on the author's part. Sure it may be slightly confusing when there's a big event as the perspective changes, however, it seems to point out the change rather quickly so you don't have to necessarily think about it for too long.

4.5/5