German Behemoth

Posted on by scott

I’m liking this German cover of Behemoth, which follows the original flavor Leviathan cover rather faithfully:

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According to Google Translate, Im Labyrinth der Macht means “In the labyrinth of power.” Pretty good tag line for the book.

Comes out from CBJ in Germany on April 24, 2011.

Note that this isn’t what the US cover would have looked like if the redux hadn’t happened. This is:

behemothnoncover

Leave all complaints and compliments in the comment thread below.

106 thoughts on “German Behemoth”

  2. ok…that’s out of the way…i like covers without pictures of characters on them like the US version. i like the intricate designs of the two covers above, but either way, no matter how the cover looks…the book is still AMAZING!!! 😀

    ~If i don’t look at you, it’s because i can’t see who you truly are.~

  3. I think you should have stuck to this cover, i personally like this better. same with the orginal Leviathan cover

  4. DEVASTATED at the cover style change for the US books….I loved the original style! It was absolutely amazing!

    Super sad the Behemoth cover posted didn’t get used. 🙁 !

    Can’t wait for the next one!

  5. And they changed the US cover from this coolio one above to to the one they currently have because . . . ?

  7. Ah! Apart from the fact that I didn’t like the over change because my books wouldn’t match after the change, I just plain liked the original cover better than the one with the characters on the front—I thought it was more elegant before the change.

  12. Hmmmm.. . . . i love both the covers but it doesn’t really matter to me as long as the picture painted by the writer is good thats what matters

    p.s i can’t wait untill it comes out!

  15. Man, I really did like the original style better. It was so stylish! And the new style kind of clashes with the internal illustrations, imo.

  16. I like both, but i would rather have a fantastic book with a mediocre cover than a mediocre book with a fantastic cover. It doesn’t really make a difference to me.

  17. I like it, but it’s kind of distracting. What I mean is, it’s almost… hard to look at with all the background noise. But, I do like how it symbolically represents the book.

  18. Original covers beat redo’s! I was really mad when I went to the book store to buy Behemoth and saw the cover, and since I have the original Leviathan cover with the Behemoth redo I just took them off since they didn’t match.

  19. I like my books to match and really enjoyed the original mechanical-inspired covers. Silly America for switching them! Does that mean that Goliath will have to follow the new design format?

  20. To be completely honest, I absolutely love the US cover above more so than then other one that I currently have. I don’t care as much about the covers matching when it actually comes to the content of the books as they are both stunning. However if given the choice I would choose the originals hands down in this case.

  22. Well, at least the spines still look nice together on my shelf. Very sad that the covers no longer match, but that is the way with books sometimes. At least the content stays the same! Love the series, btw.

  23. Too bad the Australian cover is the same as the US, because the original cover looks beautiful and really eye catching. But I am still purchasing the series no matter the cover, but I think the original is more effective.

  24. I fancy covers without characters, too.

    Always when putting a face on something you take away the readers chance to imagine their own.

    Just like after you’ve seen a movie of your favorite book and (wether you liked the movie or not) when re-reading it you just see the actor’s face and not “your” character’s face.

  25. The covers without the characters on them are way, way better. I feel like all books these days have stock images of people on the covers, and the original Behemoth cover is just so freakin’ beautiful; it can stand alone.

  28. DANG IT.
    I loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove that cover!
    They so should of stuck with it!
    I don’t really care about the matching as much as how I don’t like people on covers..Except for the Uglies series, actually. Just thought of that. And some other ones.
    Heh Heh.
    But the original is better!

  29. Graaghhhh I wish they had used that cover! It’s so pretty and steampunky and has awesome covers!
    But I do wonder who’ll be on the Goliath cover. Lilith maybe? Any clues/hints?

  30. I’d love to see special editions of Behemoth with that cover eventually! Or even just a nifty option to order that cover? maybe a DIY PDF print-out? eh! it might be a fun idea. 😉

  34. I loved the original cover design: it’s why I picked Leviathan up at my library BEFORE realizing it was written by one of my favorite authors. It’s just so freaking cool. I appreciate the elegance of people-free covers, and I could leave it out on my desk and people would go, “Ooh, what’s that?” whereas now I have to shield the cover when I read in school for practical reasons, which is unfortunate because it’s a little cool. But there’s no merit to a photo-strewn cover in a brilliant series like this.
    (Also, now my books don’t MATCH. This topples one of the fundamental fancies deep within my soul.)
    …Who’s going to be on the third reduxed cover? I think they ran out of main characters.
    Bitter rant over! Going to go stare amorously at the original cover or bake a cake or something.

  35. I’m with eveyone else who likes the original covers better.
    They are intricate and exactly what I’d expect thing in the world of Leviathan to look like.
    Also that tag line is awesome!

    With the current covers the two protagonists are already used up. So my question is: Who’s going to be on the front of Goliath? Bovril?

  38. Wow…. the US cover woudl have been great without the redux! With the people on the books it seems so crowded….
    I really like what the Behemoth cover was going to be. Too bad that’s not what it is. 🙁

  39. Man… Why didn’t we get this in the US?! Gah, so mad… Great book still, but I’ve never been a fan of having pictures of people on the cover of books :/

  40. Since I ended up buying the audiobook of Behemoth and I really want a paper copy and I know German, I think I will buy this one instead! That really is a stellar cover, and I REALLY REALLY DO NOT like covers with real people on them (with one or two exceptions, of course). One of the reasons I didn’t buy this one hardcover is BECAUSE of the lame cover. Too bad we can’t get together and have a strike or something to get whoever-it-is to go back to the original style… that style is WAY cooler than ANY face! And it destroys the chance for imagination to create its own version of the characters.

  42. I think the US cover makes a good companion for the US hardback, and I’m disappointed that they didn’t use it. Mildly disappointed, I should say, since I probably still wouldn’t have bought it due to what seems to me to be an overly tall format for the book. I actually prefer the cover that has the faces on it (though I still can’t figure out which is meant to be Deryn and which is meant to be Alek), but not having the hardcovers match did guarantee I’d only be buying the paperbacks.

  48. Wow… I like this US cover better. I mean, the new one is great and all, but this one seems to capture the feel of the series better in a simplistic yet effective design.

    The story was still fantastic though. 🙂

  49. They really should have stuck with the original cover. Even Sammy agrees! I saw this posted on his website already.

  50. I do not get the decision to change the US cover art at all. I have mismatched books on my shelf for one thing which, as a bibliophile, irks me to no end. The thing that really bothers me thou is that it was a pointless shift. I do not understand the logic of giving us character images on the cover, especially as it does not quite fit with the art. This is not the first book that this has occurred with that I love either. Mary Hoffman’s “Stravaganza” also had a mid series shift from simple cover art to a photographic cover and I confess it disturbs me: clearly the art was designed–at lest in this case–so why change a simple and workable design?
    All this being said; I have, of late, made deep considerations into the purchase of the UK releases.

  51. Why didn’t we get the awesome cover design…?
    Not that I don’t like Deryn and Alek, but the first is extensively better in my opinion.

  52. Argh why did you put the cover we could have had??? I love that version SO much more….wanna see the Behemoth cover now please! 🙂

  53. GAH!!! I love that version of the cover – why do publishers always think the YA demographic won’t buy a book unless it has an angst-ridden face on the cover?!? I protest. We are intelligent enough to read the books without teens on the covers screaming “HEY LOOK, I’M YOUNG JUST LIKE YOU!”

  54. Complaint: Why isn’t it this cover?! The cover on my book is someone looking to the side with a little twinkle in his/hers eyes. (Boring!)

    Compliment: This cover is gorgeous. Love the intricate designs!

  55. @Bee
    HAHAHA i love “why do publishers always think the YA demographic won’t buy a book unless it has an angst-ridden face on the cover?!”
    Made me laugh!
    And also, someone else stated they had to hide the new cover at school, and I TOTALLY GET IT. People think the book is stupid b/c of that (which is stupid, but whatever) and I have to say, when I pick up a book and it has a person on it, for some reason it turns me off of that book. Maybe on this one more because the pictures look so…..fake.

    And as for those who are wondering who will be on the Goliath cover….Alek and Deryn, maybe?

    GRR. I Think i may have a book-cover DIY ahead of me… 😛

  56. Actually, I have a question…..

    WHAT IS VOLGER’S FIRST NAME? My friends and I REALLY want to know and we’ve been using ridiculous names and I REALLY REALLY REALLY WANNA KNOW!!

  58. I so wish you would have stuck with this cover design for the US books. My books would match then! Part of what I love about Leviathan is that it’s so aesthetically pleasing as well as plain awesome to read. I really hate the people on the covers. Honestly, if you re-released Behemoth with that cover, I would buy it again. That cover is absolutely gorgeous.

  59. Why didn’t they use that one??! I love that and it DOES follow the flavor. Consistency publishing people! Consistency! At least use the cover above for hard cover and the one used for paperback.

  60. I would not have picked up Leviathan if it had the cover on it that it has now. I picked it up because of the cool original cover. When I was reading Leviathan, I loved showing everyone the beautiful cover. I didn’t do that with Behemoth. I think the switch was a very poor choice.

  61. I prefer these covers to the final American cover as well. I don’t think the current cover is particularly *un*attractive, but 1) as a rule, I don’t like book covers that feature photoshopped people on them, and 2) the mechanically-inspired cover designs are more intriguing to look at. I spent a significant amount of time admiring all the little details of the ‘Leviathan’ cover; this was not the case with the ‘Behemoth’ cover.

    Like others have suggested, I recommend that the publisher rerelease the book with this unused cover, too. I avoided buying the book–despite loving it–because I disliked the cover so much in contrast to the ‘Leviathan’ cover.

    You should post a full wraparound-size image file of the original cover so we can all print it out and put it over the covers of the current copies. 🙂

  63. @Bee

    You are ridiculously right….it seems like every book has some fake-looking model on it! Apparently there are “trends” that publishers follow (such as, I think Cassie Clare mentioned that it is now more “in”/wanted to see entire faces of models on the cover, which is why her new book has Clary’s whole face on it…..or something like that. Okay, I’m butchering it.

    Scott-la, do you know anything about “trends” in book covers?)

  64. How about sleeves in the original style? Could high-definition PDFs be made available in a Shop or Download section?
    The German cover is nice but IMHO a bit too Clanker (should I be surprised?) except for the little green face 🙂

  65. I prefer both versions posted than the one that was actually used. In reply to Kailey-wa, I don’t see how seeing a face on the cover of a book is appealing to anyone. Do people get so lazy that they can’t imagine the characters themselves? Maybe I’m misunderstanding the point. Anyway, to me, consistency is far more appealing than a profile.

  68. Everyone that I know (except a few who commented above) either don’t care whether or not there are models on the cover, or (MUCH more common) very very strongly dislike a cover BECAUSE there is a person’s face on it. If you’re going to read a book, you might as well imagine your own characters (in this case, guided a little by the beautiful illustrations in the book). Having someone’s actual face on the cover to represent a character bugs me. They don’t look anything like the character… especially because they’re real…
    So, there’s my rant.
    No model faces on book covers, please.

  70. @elise – I took this cover off too! I felt embarrassed to bring it anyplace. This book is AMAZING, but you wouldn’t be able to tel that from the cover!

    @ kailey-wa – I think the current trend is “young beautiful people staring off into distance”. Which irks me because a) It’s not original anymore and b) I like to use my own imagination to figure out what the characters look like, not have it dictated to by some stupid cover model! Or, in the case of Leviathan/Behemoth, I like to imagine the characters based off the beautiful illustrations inside – which, can I just say, the cover did not seem at ALL congruous to the illustrations?? That bothered me even more!

  71. I like the German cover better. I wish someone put an English translated edition of the German cover somewhere on the net…

  72. The live action covers are absolutely awful, use the original one with the clogs and whatnot. They are better and give the book a better and more mature look. Or use the illustrators illustrations for the cover. they’re awesome!

  73. Urgh, My two signed copies dont match. The story is great so I guess I’m happy. The whole “This is what it could have looked like” thing justs snaps my sprockets n’ grinds my gears.

  75. That cover is so much cooler! And it would match my hardcover Leviathan! Gr. But, you can’t judge a book by its cover and the story inside is truly amazing ^.^

  77. I agree a little bit with ‘random’ about how having a character on the front of the book slightly takes away from the imaginative version of the character. But then again most of the time I ignore whatever characters are on the cover and come up with my own idea of what they look like.

    I do wonder why you changed from the blue to green? Green is my favorite color and I really like it on the cover that got published, but it seems like such a dramatic change. Though I think green might suit Goliath better because I think ‘large’ when I think Goliath which kind of reminds me of the hulk in a way (don’t ask) so green would make more sense for that cover.

    Oh well, either way the covers are pretty cool and very clanker-ish which works well! Can’t wait for Goliath ^_^

  78. Ugh… the original cover is SO much cooler… can the goliath cover be in the original style?

  79. You guys’ve said it all…go pre-redo cover!! (Its BLUEEE) Im just wondering…what colour will Goliath be? And of course, face or no face???

  80. omg, i think the old one was totally bubblie! and the new one is well…whatever, but it dosnt really matter because your writeing is soooo good 🙂 and lik wen exactly is your goliath coming out, i dont know if i can wait!!
    <3 u!

  81. I love your books either way, but I do like the above covers better than the covers in the U.S. I don’t really like the cover all that much, I like the ones above better!
    I love your craft and have got me inspired to write my own stories!
    Hope to see your new books on the shelves!

  85. i’m sorry off of the subject of your new book. i started rereading the midnghters series and i just can’t wrap my brian that it is the end. the third book is such a cliff hanger though it it is an awesome book., it erks me that its open for another book and there not. It would be cool if there were like short storys or somthing. there is so much more potintaial for the series, like different powers other cluse into the history of the midnighters and a way to get Jess back (that really erks me). please if its possible could you do this

  86. … I think I was better off not knowing what the cover would have been… I loved the first cover for Leviathan (what got me to read it in the first place, hello!) and now the copy I actually own has the fake Alek picture…

    On a separate note, now have to get the German exchange student to buy me a copy of that when he goes home. Just because.

  88. Dear Mr. Westerfeld,
    I’m a big fan of yours. I recently finished reading the UGLY series and decided to try LEVIATHAN. I loved it so much I bought a hardcover copy of BEHEMOTH at a local Borders. Unfortuantely while I was reading the book I noticed the page numbers went from 88 to 122. Also, the story did not make sense. I was reading chapter nine and with one flip of the page I was in chapter thirteen. I am very sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if there was anything I could do about that. I am very eager to read BEHEMOTH and find out what happens in CONSTANTINOPLE. Warm regards.

  89. The original cover is beautiful!! I hope that it will be released. I love the original style, and I hope that Goliath has it!

  90. I like the frist cover. It show that the books are contred if you have that sertong cover and the other cover doesn’t resamble the pictiures inside the book . Athoner idea I had is that you could show the marchins or the aniels on the cover.

  92. So, I JUST finished Behemoth, and I loved it. Though I was execpecting a certain secret to be told to a certain Alek, and maybe a certain Midshipman to kiss a certian Alek (Not being subtle at ALL.), but… Ah, well. XD
    And I, too, love the original covers! The current covers are okay for a different novel, but Leviathan and Behemoth (and the rest of your novels!) are literary masterpieces, and deserve a masterpiece of a cover!

  93. Yeah, the German covers rock. Luckily I’m German and can’t wait to fill the gap next to my version of “Leviathan – Die Geheime Mission” (The secret mission) with Behemoth. 😀 Now when will it finally be April?

  94. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PRETTTTTYYY!!! seeing this angers me. i much prefer these covers and MUCH dislike my non-matching LEVIATHAN/BEHEMOTH copies!

    -Lizzy-wa OUT! 🙁

  95. they should sell a version of the book with this cover for all of those who have OCD and want matching books. this cover is amazing!

  96. Covers are the least of my problems!As long as the book is the same all nation-round I’m Happy!

  97. @Kim
    I admire your optimistic glass-is-half-full attitude, but you’ve gotta agree that the ‘without teens staring off into the distance and trying to look like they’re thinking deep thougts’ cover is kinda lame. They totally shoulda stuck with the original. That was super cool. But whatever 🙂

  98. i like both much, much, very much better than the one it’s set on right now. the original rocked and i thought i’d be cool to keep to the same design for the others. but oh well *deep loong sigh* i guess you can’t do anything.

  99. I say that you should really try to make the Leviathen series into movies or a show. I hope that you do you also would make lots of money.

  100. Non-matching covers aside *twitch*, I also prefer the original cover designs to the redux. The original designs have a certain energy to them that the redesigns lack.

  101. The german cover and original are amazing. I dont like the new one at all, its just kind of funky looking, and it doesnt match keith’s illustrations or your dicriptions of the charactors at all, which really bugs me. Anyways, whats the point of making a new cover if the original cover was allredy done, and they dont match the first book’s cover? also, i find that covers with a picture of the person are not as attractive to people looking for a book, unless it is just a silhouette.

  102. I like this cover much better than the one with Deryn/Alek on them. The ones without have a certain characteristic to them, a certain spark of life. Also it’s continuous with the Leviathan’s cover, which is only the Clanker’s crest. *sigh* I agree with Vrinja, the Germans are lucky to have such a cool cover, not that I’m – for lack of better word – dissing the artists of the official cover for the US. The official is still good, but not, shall I say, characteristic?

  103. This sucks! I have the cover with Deryn on it! Why can’t there be just one cover like most books!?!?

  105. I am so sad that they never published with the original US cover 🙁 so sad. That cover is gorgeous. Any chance the publishers can be convinced to do a special edition like with Lauren Oliver’s Delirium? Hint hint >.> <.<

  106. The original covers were better. I don’t hate the new ones, it’s just not as awesome. Why did they change it?

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