Boneshaker (Sci Fi Essential Books) (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Maternal love faces formidable challenges in this stellar steampunk tale. In an alternate 1880s America, mad inventor Leviticus Blue is blamed for destroying Civil War–era Seattle. When Zeke Wilkes, Blue's son, goes into the walled wreck of a city to clear his father's name, Zeke's mother, Briar Wilkes, follows him in an airship, determined to rescue her son from the toxic gas that turns people into zombies (called rotters and described in gut-churning detail). When Briar learns that Seattle still has a mad inventor, Dr. Minnericht, who eerily resembles her dead husband, a simple rescue quickly turns into a thrilling race to save Zeke from the man who may be his father. Intelligent, exceptionally well written and showcasing a phenomenal strong female protagonist who embodies the complexities inherent in motherhood, this yarn is a must-read for the discerning steampunk fan. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description

In the early days of the Civil War, rumors of gold in the frozen Klondike brought hordes of newcomers to the Pacific Northwest. Anxious to compete, Russian prospectors commissioned inventor Leviticus Blue to create a great machine that could mine through Alaska’s ice. Thus was Dr. Blue’s Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine born.

 

But on its first test run the Boneshaker went terribly awry, destroying several blocks of downtown Seattle and unearthing a subterranean vein of blight gas that turned anyone who breathed it into the living dead.

 

Now it is sixteen years later, and a wall has been built to enclose the devastated and toxic city. Just beyond it lives Blue’s widow, Briar Wilkes. Life is hard with a ruined reputation and a teenaged boy to support, but she and Ezekiel are managing. Until Ezekiel undertakes a secret crusade to rewrite history.

 

His quest will take him under the wall and into a city teeming with ravenous undead, air pirates, criminal overlords, and heavily armed refugees. And only Briar can bring him out alive.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; Original edition (September 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765318415
• ISBN-13: 978-0765318411
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (69 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,183 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Full of Steampunk awesomeness, September 29, 2009

By	The Mad Hatter "booktionary.blogspot.com" (NY State, United States) - See all my reviews

Cherie Priest is one of those authors I've been hearing good things about for years. However, I've never tried her books previously as I'm not into horror or ghost related tales much, but when I heard she was doing a Steampunk book I immediately added it to my watch list. It did not disappoint at all. Boneshaker is full of Steampunk awesomeness. The setting is unbelievable detailed with its decrepitness yet infused with a ragamuffin lifestyle of people getting by in the most unexpected ways. You've got mad scientists, steampowered tech, ravenous zombies, air ships, and air pirates all in an eerie apocalyptic landscape. Yet this is a story with heart.

Set in Seattle circa 19th century, but in an alternative history where the civil war is on going and the gold rush made it to Seattle a little earlier. Boneshaker refers to a machine that wrecked the downtown of Seattle about 15 years prior, which released a gas that turned people to zombies. The ruined portion of the city has been walled-up since and most people live in what is called "The Outskirts." Zeke is looking to redeem the Father and Grand Father he never knew for their involvement surrounding the events of the boneshaker so he travels into the walled-off city looking for proof. His mother predictably goes in after him, but what ensues is a rollicking look into a vivid world. The point of view switches between mother and son as they stumble through the city and meet allies and enemies.

One thing that may bother some hardcore Steampunkers is this isn't much real Victorian-ness going on, but the other elements of Steampunk are here. Boneshaker has more of a greasy soot covered Wild West feel to it, but it does make it refreshing to leave England. The characters start off a bit standoffish, but grow quickly endearing. Briar is especially a tough nut to crack as she has built-up so many layers between her and her son Zeke, yet she is my favorite. Briar is a woman who made some very hard choices in life and hasn't had it easy because of those paths chosen. There are a lot of other intriguing characters as well in this blight soaked city.

Superbly plotted and paced, if you are going to read one Steampunk book this year make it Boneshaker. I give Boneshaker 9 out of 10 Hats. Cherie has a second novel in the series titled Dreadnought coming in 2010 with Tor and a novella, Clementine, expected with Subterranean Press as well.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Steampunk and zombies are perfect for each other, October 10, 2009

By	Erika (California) - See all my reviews

There are several really cool things about Cherie Priest's Boneshaker: the first is the eye-catching cover; the second, that it's steampunk; the third--only noticeable when you peek inside--is the brown- (née, sepia) colored font. Reading Boneshaker is like looking into an old Victorian photograph--the exact effect I'd want if I was writing a book to fit a genre influenced primarily by that era. This isn't the first book I've read with a font color other than black (an edition of Michael Ende's The Neverending Story that I own comes to mind), but it was surprising and fit well with the genre.

Cherie Priest did a little (okay, a lot) of alteration to history for this book. The Civil War is instead the Great Rebellion and has been ongoing for the past 18 years. I'm not too familiar with Seattle's history, but she mentions in the Author's Note at the end that she took many liberties with that as well. If you can stand suspending your belief in historical accuracies and want to read a book that's all about "a grand and dangerous adventure" (p. 62) then Boneshaker shouldn't bother you at all.

In fact, if you like zombies, you'll love Boneshaker; let me tell you why. The book opens with an excerpt from a book in progress written by Hale Quarter laying out the historical foundation of which we'll need to know in order to understand the repercussions of certain events. It's the 1860s and the Russians want to break up Alaskan ice to find gold, but haven't got the means to do it themselves. Lucky Leviticus Blue wins the contest that follows and in a short amount of time, creates Dr. Blue's Incredible Bone-shaking Drill Engine. Inspired by greed and power, the Russians pressure Blue to finish earlier than the deadline, but a test run for demonstration purposes goes awry and Blue's Drill Engine winds up tearing through the underground of several blocks including those of a district lined with banks. Money is stolen, people are injured and killed, but when it's all over Blue and his machine are nowhere to be found. Shortly after, healthy people otherwise unaffected by the Drill's menacing journey start to fall sick and die, but they don't stay dead for very long.

When the novel opens onto the first chapter, we meet Briar Wilkes and her son Ezekiel--Zeke for short--living in what's now become the Outskirts. The drill's haphazard run opened up an underground vein that's been releasing dangerous fumes into the air for the past 16 years; the blocks ruined by this blight has been partitioned off from the rest of the city. A huge wall now separates it from unaffected grounds and it's in the Outskirts Briar has been raising her son. As we soon find out, there's a man named Hale Quarter nosing around for information regarding Briar's husband and father--Leviticus Blue and Maynard Wilkes, respectively. Everyone believes Blue responsible for the Great Blight; Briar and Zeke have had the past 16 years as punishment, reminders from an angry public that won't let Blue's legacy die. Convinced of his father's innocence, Zeke develops a plan to enter the old city and find evidence to prove his case.

Boneshaker is all action and suspense, with zombies. In fact, I felt at one point the zombies almost became the driving force of the novel, leaving Zeke and Briar's journey to the periphery. It seems as if the book started with one purpose in mind--finding the truth about Leviticus Blue--and the zombies became the rouse for Priest to change tactics halfway through the book. As it turns out, there's more to the novel than Leviticus Blue.

The suspense that looms over the mysterious Minnericht was written well--so well I was a little scared when he actually appeared; he was creepy, frightening, and forceful in all the ways Priest had led us to believe. He's only one character out of an entire cast that all stood out amazingly on their own. If Priest can do one thing really well, it's write interesting and vivid characters. My particular favorites were Lucy, Cly, and Jeremiah (although why his dialogue was always italicized when he wore his mask, I'll never understand). The women in particular are strong-willed and independent. They're as fierce as the next person in an environment I'd expect nothing less from. I was only confused because a lot of times Zeke came off as too immature and trusting for a boy of his age (15 going on 16). For the sake of the book, there wouldn't be too much of a plot without him making certain decisions, but I couldn't help thinking he was more like 12 going on 13 for as youthful as he acted.

In any case, there were a couple of other disappointments. I wish Priest had done more with lemon sap because let's face it: a drug that, with chronic and prolonged use, will eventually turn you into a zombie is a really, really cool idea. I also was never quite sure what actually caused the blight--the reasons were given as suggestions, offered to the characters and readers as something logical to consider, but never in such a way that I trusted it completely as something to believe. Other than that, I loved Boneshaker.

There's all sorts of extras that make the book worth reading, the least of which is the setting; the Civil War never looked so different when labeled the Great Rebellion and prolonged for 18 years. I think most of all, the characters fleshed out the personality of the city with their rough, no-nonsense demeanors, soft hearts, and determination. If you want to read a book about survival and hope with a menacing bad guy and weapons with names like the Doozy Dazer, then read Boneshaker. The zombies and the mad scientist don't hurt either.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read and a wild ride, October 9, 2009

By	A. Jones (Virginia, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is dense with fun: there's zombies, airships, a strong female protagonist, a demonized mad scientist, a heroic lawman, family secrets, love, loyalty, excitement, adventure, and really wild things. On the surface of it, it's the story of a woman going into a wasteland to retrieve her wayward son, but the delights are in the details.

Priest's writing is evocative; there are a couple sequences involving gas masks where I had to put it down because I was having flashbacks to boot camp. The story seduces you gently at first, then grabs you by the front of the shirt and drags you into the thick of things. The world is well thought out and the exposition discreet, it frames the characters nicely without being obtrusive.

Two enthusiastic thumbs up.