First things first: am I the only person in the world who puts the accent on the first syllable? BEE-he-moth? Really? What's the matter with everyone? 
 Secondly: This is another one of those books (see also: the entire Percy Jackson series) that gets four stars because I'm averaging out my son's and my responses. He would give this five stars, no question; it's a solid three from me. This reminds me a lot of Westerfeld's Uglies series, insofar as the second book really rides on the strengths of the first. Unlike the Uglies series, I think I'd willingly read the third book because I like the world so much better. 
 Once again, however: the characters read young to me. There's LOTS of action, and yet strangely little happens. Lilit was a welcome addition - maybe even the high point of the book - but... eh. If you're an eight-year-old boy, however (and surely some of you ARE), this book is full of LIGHTNING! And BOFFINS! And AWESOME! So it all depends what you're in it for. 
 And can I quibble with the Turks making machines look like living creatures? Because they're Muslims? I know Turkish art has more figures than one typically sees in Islamic art, but a giant moving statue of the sultan? I'm just not buying it. 
 Also: perspicacious was my word, damnit. Is that weird, to be proprietary about a word? Probably.