Clementine and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

Sell Us Your Item
For a $0.40 Gift Card
Trade in
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Start reading Clementine on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Color:
Image not available

To view this video download Flash Player

 

Clementine [Hardcover]

Cherie Priest
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)


Available from these sellers.


Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition $4.99  
Hardcover --  
Audible Audio Edition, Unabridged $9.95 or Free with Audible 30-day free trial
Image
Save on Popular Books This Summer
Browse our Bookshelf Favorites store for big savings on popular fiction, nonfiction, children's books, and more.

Book Description

July 30, 2010
Maria Isabella Boyd's success as a Confederate spy has made her too famous for further espionage work, and now her employment options are slim. Exiled, widowed, and on the brink of poverty...she reluctantly goes to work for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in Chicago.

Adding insult to injury, her first big assignment is commissioned by the Union Army. In short, a federally sponsored transport dirigible is being violently pursued across the Rockies and Uncle Sam isn't pleased. The Clementine is carrying a top secret load of military essentials--essentials which must be delivered to Louisville, Kentucky, without delay.

Intelligence suggests that the unrelenting pursuer is a runaway slave who's been wanted by authorities on both sides of the Mason-Dixon for fifteen years. In that time, Captain Croggon Beauregard Hainey has felonied his way back and forth across the continent, leaving a trail of broken banks, stolen war machines, and illegally distributed weaponry from sea to shining sea.

And now it s Maria's job to go get him.

He's dangerous quarry and she's a dangerous woman, but when forces conspire against them both, they take a chance and form an alliance. She joins his crew, and he uses her connections. She follows his orders. He takes her advice.

And somebody, somewhere, is going to rue the day he crossed either one of them.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Piracy meets politics head-on in this steampunk thriller, loosely linked to Priest's much-lauded Boneshaker (2009). Maria Isabella Boyd, a notorious former actress and Confederate spy, is on her first mission for the renowned Pinkerton Detective Agency. The airship Clementine must deliver its cargo unimpeded, but its former owner, escaped slave–turned–air pirate Croggon Hainey, is determined to recover the ship he stole fair and square. A simple pursuit quickly evolves, and soon Maria and Croggon are forced to fight on the same side. Explosive battle scenes, riveting action, and a sharp-eyed examination of the mistrust between Croggon's all-black crew and very white, very Southern Maria play out in a desperate race against the clock. Though the unflinching portrayal of complex race relations is aimed at adult readers, Priest's swashbuckling tale is also quite accessible for older teens. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 208 pages
  • Publisher: Subterranean; Deluxe Hardcover Edition edition (July 30, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1596063084
  • ISBN-13: 978-1596063082
  • Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,261,431 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Cherie Priest is the author of twelve novels, including the steampunk pulp adventures Dreadnought, Clementine, Ganymede, and Boneshaker. Boneshaker was nominated for both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award; it was a PNBA Award winner, and winner of the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. Cherie also wrote Fathom and the Eden Moore series from Tor (Macmillan), Bloodshot and Hellbent for Bantam, and three novellas published by Subterranean Press. In addition to all of the above, she is a newly minted member of the Wild Cards Consortium - and her first foray into George R. R. Martin's superhero universe, Fort Freak (for which she wrote the frame story), debuted in 2011. Cherie's short stories and nonfiction articles have appeared in such fine publications as Weird Tales, Subterranean Magazine, Publishers Weekly, The Living Dead 2, and the Thackeray T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities. She presently lives in Chattanooga, TN, with her husband, a fluffy young dog, and a fat black cat.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A steam-powered wild ride through the sky August 6, 2010
Format:Hardcover
Cherie Priest's second long-form entry Clementine in The Clockwork Century world follows a side story from the Hugo nominated Boneshaker (Sci Fi Essential Books), which just happens to be one of my favorite reads from last year. Having read Boneshaker isn't necessary to enjoy Clementine, but it does add to some of the references made.

The story flips between two perspectives which are both uniquely idiosyncratic and well developed in their own right. The stars are airship captain and escaped slave Croggon Hainey and former confederate spy and patriot Maria "Belle" Boyd. Both are something of a living legend or menace in this world depending on what side of the fence your are viewing from. Neither take crap from anyone.

Croggin is chasing after his airship the Free Crow, which was nefariously stolen from him in Seattle. Belle is sent to ensure the Free Crow reaches its destination without Croggin's interference. Belle is actually based on a true person of the same name who acted as a spy for the Confederate army. Priest builds on her history to create a very determined and dangerous character very much true to life. Clementine's greatest strength is the dialog of the main characters. Each has their own style that colors the characters perfectly.

Clementine is a much more subtle story than Boneshaker, but it is no less enthralling as every chapter moves at a brisk pace. Airship fights, spies, thieves, and giant guns all make Clementine a seriously steam-powered wild ride through the sky, which showcases a larger part of Priest's Clockwork Century fractured North America. The war of the North versus the South is still on going in the late 19th century filled with steam-powered weaponry and mad scientist trying to turn the tide of the war one way or the other.

I did feel Cherie had to rein herself in with the book to keep it to novella length as she clearly loves this world and its inhabitants. Hopefully, she'll treat us to more with Belle and Croggin. Belle definitely has an adventure left for here. I kept expecting more of a intimate relationship to develop between Croggin and Belle, but things do seem to have been left open somewhat in that regard. The story arc does complete itself rather well with a fitting culmination and a few surprises along the way. We also learn being a Mad Scientist doesn't necessarily mean they are a bad scientist.

Priest is gives us glimpses of a world that is wide and wild in a story that hardly touches the ground. Clementine shows off the southern flair that Cherie has become famous for, but will please even hardened Steampunk fans with her ingenuity at keeping everything fresh and yet historically stylized. Cherie still has a lot more in store for us in The Clockwork Century including at least two more shorts and the next full length novel Dreadnought, which Tor will be releasing this September. She is definitely earning the moniker as the Queen of Steampunk, but she may have to duel it out with Gail Carriger in some sort of no holds-barred battle royale.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Another Entertaining Clockwork Century Story September 9, 2012
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Clementine is a short novel that takes place in Priest's Clockwork Century universe. Since these are all more shared worlds novels than continuing storylines, it is not necessary to have read the other novels in order to understand Clementine. That being said, the world building of the other novels does add to the enjoyment of this one.

Clementine is a lean, mean adventure novel. While there is a small supporting cast, Priest focuses on two main characters. Pirate Croggon Hainey is determined to get his airship back. He's willing to undertake a violent cross-country chase if that's what it takes. Belle Boyd, former Confederate spy turned Pinkerton agent, is assigned to stop him and make sure that the ship's cargo arrives in Kentucky.

Priest's narrow focus means that the short length of this novel does not work to its detriment. She develops the two protagonists and has plenty of room for their fast paced adventures. The plot moves swiftly, & is surprisingly compelling given its simplicity.

While not as significant as Priest's other Clockwork Century novels, Clementine is an entertaining read and adds more depth & texture to the world she has created.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing but readable followup to Boneshaker December 15, 2011
By Mike
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Hainey, a free slave in this alternate version of the late 1800's where the Civil War has dragged out nearly two decades, has a brief but memorable part in Boneshaker. Enough so that I was very much looking forward to reading the story of his stolen ship treated in this sequel. Boneshaker paints him and his zeppelin flying cohorts in the Han Solo, neutral pirate/smuggler vein of character, but what we get here is a little different, and ultimately unsatisfying.

From the start, when Maria is introduced as the Pinkerton detective assigned to reel him in, it is made clear that Hainey has done some bad things to earn his reputation - bad enough that Maria's orders are clear, she may slay him or capture him and return him to the South, whatever she wishes so long as he doesn't get back his stolen ship. These two characters are what the story revolves around, and halfway through they fall flat.

*** SPOILERS ***
Hainey's fall from the reader's grace occurs when he mows down in cold blood a crowd of dockyard workers, men whom are only trying to prevent his crew's theft of a docked zeppelin. He doesn't fire at their feet or scare them into submission, any of the usual tropes we normally indulge an author. It is really hard to sympathize with this character after that point - there's a fine line between Han Solo mowing down Imperials, and a man mowing down innocent dockhands. There is a similar killing of an innocent Chinaman in Boneshaker, and Priest handles that scene and its aftermath very well. She makes it a very revealing moment for both characters involved. Priest breezes past Hainey's murders under the guise of self/crew-defense, and it is simply not consistent with the character we had seen or hoped for up to that point - there is no regret or guilt felt. Priest had hinted that Hainey deserved his reputation, but its ultimately a disappointment to the reader. It was difficult to care about whether or not he got his precious ship back after that point.

Maria is a more consistent disappointment. The book builds up to her showdown with Hainey, and when it happens its smack-dab in the middle of the ship theft, where the two join in the mutual escape with their lives. The resulting truce between them is logical, but the showdown is awkward in many ways and a letdown. Rarely does the author examine Maria's motivations - despite having worked for the Confederacy, you never once hear her thoughts on slavery, or on Hainey and what she would've ultimately done with him, had a certain plot device threatening the South not changed her goals. She comes off very flat and only marginally gains any sympathy as a character, in stark contrast to Briar Wilkes, the mother hellbent on finding her son in Boneshaker. The layers of story just peel off Briar as Boneshaker progresses, ending with a fantastic reveal at the end, but Maria remains an unrewarding cipher from start to finish.

Likewise, there is no reveal for Hainey and the story of his precious Free Crow. He wants it back, that's the story. We learn less than a paragraph about it beyond what we got back in Boneshaker. Speaking of the zeppelins, Priest can be forgiven for glossing over details in the first book where they are a sideline to the story, but Clementine should have painted in that sketch. I still have no idea how to picture these things - are warships entirely armored, including the gas bags? They seem to operate more as jet airships than they do as floating airships, which gets hard to picture. Is the reader really supposed to take seriously a tense scene where a pistol shot from an expert marksman at close range may miss and ricochet to explode the hydrogen tanks, just pages after a scene where a poorly controlled shoulder-mounted Gatling is fired among them? There are similar inconsistencies that mar Boneshaker but here they added up just enough to keep me from buying into the world and enjoying the ride.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Very nice
I really enjoy all of the Clockwork Century books by Cherie Priest. The story pulls me in and makes me believe in this alternate history.
Published 29 days ago by J. Walker
5.0 out of 5 stars Yes. Just Yes.
The Clockwork Century series is fantastic. It's Steampunk, scifi, alternate history... It's everything you could really want in a book series.
Published 1 month ago by Sami
4.0 out of 5 stars Fun book and fantastic steam punk world
Though, not quite as good as her two previous books in the series, this is still a good story which moves along quickly and features a favorite theme of the steam punk genera --... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Hawkshadow
4.0 out of 5 stars Another Winner by Ms. Priest
This is a (too) short Followup to the brilliant "Boneshaker". A quick read - I blew through it in a weekend. Read more
Published 2 months ago by L. Draeger
5.0 out of 5 stars Fun frolicking steam-powered ride
A highly imaginative well written, fly by the seat if your pants story. Priest proves she has an excellent handle on the genre if western steam punk. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Dodgerfan442
5.0 out of 5 stars Much Cheaper on Kindle
I was looking for this book for my girlfriend and the only other copies were in hard back for around $100, go for the kindle version if you can it's much more affordable.
Published 4 months ago by Michael H. Lynch
4.0 out of 5 stars Very Fun Steampunk Adventure
Clementine is a fun adventure with very unique characters set during the Civil War, the heroine a discarded Union spy forced to work for Pinkerton and the hero an airship pirate... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Connie Flynn
4.0 out of 5 stars For the series
I enjoyed each of the books in this series. One of the neat things I've discovered is that each book seems to be written in a different styling. Read more
Published 9 months ago by orizano
3.0 out of 5 stars Not Great and Not Bad
this is what I thought was a sequel, and then I saw that it was shorter than the first so I realized that this was a short story about a character that we met in Boneshaker - it... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Joe
4.0 out of 5 stars Another good story by Priest set in the Clockwork Century world
I found this shorter novel fun and interesting to read. Cherie Priest continues/adds to her Clockwork Century world by giving us this fun, if a little silly, novella that brings... Read more
Published 16 months ago by James Ridgway
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Forums

Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions

Topic From this Discussion
$68 for a hardcover short story?
I don't get it either. For some reason this story is very, very hard to find. It's not for sale anywhere else except for the author's website and it's still outrageously expensive. I don't understand! It should be, what, ten? Twenty dollars at the most? Surely a novella isn't worth... Read more
Dec 22, 2010 by Curst Saden |  See all 2 posts
25 dollars for 208 pages?
I'm befuddled by this as well...price is up to $48 for a rather short novel - if I'd clicked Buy without paying attention I would have been rather put out.
Nov 26, 2010 by A. Horton |  See all 2 posts
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 






Look for Similar Items by Category