Behemoth - 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 really enjoyed this book! I like historical fiction well enough, but when you add fantasy, steampunk, whatever you want to call it, it becomes 1,000x more interesting!
In the first book Deryn/Dylan had yet to be revealed as a girl disguised as a boy; the same is true in Behemoth. While Deryn has feelings for Alek and has nearly told him what she is a couple of times; in Alek's eyes Deryn is Dylan, a midshipman aboard the Leviathan.
Though it seems a s if everyone else but Alek knows Deryn's secret.
There is also the matter of the Darwinists and the belief in Evolution, though less prominent in this book, it's still there.
I loved all the different developments in this book, the way things go wrong and such. Though I guess some of it was a little predictable, but not annoyingly so.
And I must mention the drawings again! There is one in every chapter, and my goodness are they elaborate!
For a girl whose most complicated drawing is a stick figure with hair, these things are amazing! It's incredible how much detail and imagination goes into one of them!
I've really come to care for the characters in such a sort amount of time, particularly Deryn and Alek. I love them both equally which is a little odd, because I usually have one character that I like more than any of the others. I really, really appreciate these book's lack of romance and inappropriateness! Very good books!
Title - Behemoth
Author - Scott Westerfeld
Series/Trilogy Title - The Leviathan Trilogy
Book in Series/Trilogy - #2
Pages - 485
Type of Book - Steampunk fiction
Website - http://scottwesterfeld.com/