On January 2, 1863 Seattle is all but destroyed. The first test-drive of Leviticus Blue’s Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine goes horrifically awry, tearing apart the city and unleashing a deadly cloud of Blight gas. The citizens of Seattle flee as the gas begins to sicken, kill, and reanimate hundreds of people. A wall is erected around the city, keeping the gas and flesh-eating undead sealed inside – along with a small population of survivors, misfits, and seedy entrepreneurs.
Author: Cherie Priest
Pages: 416
Published: 2009
Bottom Line: It’s exciting, full of twists and turns, and populated by a cast of tough and ornery heroes, villains, and everything in between. Also: zombies. Thousands of zombies. Reeking, moaning, desiccated hordes of Blight-infected rotters.
I really wanted to like this novel a lot more than I did. That isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy it – Boneshaker is a diverting, page-turning read – I just didn’t love it. When I came to the end I wasn’t at the edge of my seat, and I’m not quivering in anticipation for the next installment (as I am for the third book in Suzanne Collins’ excellent Hunger Games series).
Now, I have a nagging suspicion that this might have do with the protagonists of Boneshaker. I have always been particularly fond of feisty young females whom I immediately relate to (i.e. Lyra Belacqua, Lizzie Bennet, and even poor Susie Salmon). Boneshaker‘s 35-year old, careworn single mother and her 15-year old son were simply a bit beyond my range of natural experience, and so I could not place myself in their shoes. That is not to say that the story isn’t interesting (it is), that the world isn’t immersive (it’s delightfully intricate), or the action isn’t thrilling (the rotters terrify me) – it’s just that I didn’t have as much at stake here emotionally, as I do in other books where I immediately visualize myself as the heroine.
That aside, Cherie Priest’s steampunk zombie adventure all but begs to be read. With an eye-capturing cover, an attention-grabbing premise and a bevy of critical acclaim I couldn’t wait to get this book into my hands. As soon as I started, I couldn’t put this book down. It’s exciting, full of twists and turns, and populated by a cast of tough and ornery heroes, villains, and everything in between. Also: zombies. Thousands of zombies. Reeking, moaning, desiccated hordes of Blight-infected rotters.
On January 2, 1863 Seattle is all but destroyed. The first test-drive of Leviticus Blue’s Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine goes horrifically awry, tearing apart the city and unleashing a deadly cloud of Blight gas. The citizens of Seattle flee as the gas begins to sicken, kill, and reanimate hundreds of people. A wall is erected around the city, keeping the gas and flesh-eating undead sealed inside – along with a small population of survivors, misfits, and seedy entrepreneurs.
Outside the walls, a small, filthy, and dirt-poor community has formed to house all of the people who simply have nowhere to go or no desire to leave. One such person is Briar Wilkes, the widow of the much-reviled Leviticus Blue and the daughter of a local folk hero/villain, Maynard Wilkes. She scrapes together an existence for herself and her son, Ezekiel, by working at a plant which removes the Blight poisoning the drinking water.
Zeke, unhappy with the entire community’s view of his father as Satan, sets out to prove that his father was a good man. Armed only with a gas mask, determination, and a foolhardy plan he winnows his way through the walls into the rotting corpse of Seattle. Realizing her boy is gone, his momma has no choice but to go after him and drag him out of Hell herself.
The desiccated city is a character in and of itself, and perhaps one of the most intriguing ones. Full of a thick, heavy gas that blocks out all sunlight and destroys all life, Seattle is almost perfectly dark. The streets are mangled, the buildings are precarious and falling apart, and the streets are overrun by thousands of extremely hungry, angry, and fast zombies with no other thought in their heads but filling their bellies with human flesh.
The uninfected residents of Seattle have constructed a fascinating (literally) underground community, and eke out a living with what must be a true testament of human determination or stubbornness. They are aided by the usual imaginative steampunk technology – such as the delightful Doozy Dazer, a sonic gun that stuns all zombies within range for three minutes.
Briar and Zeke meet a bevy of interesting characters here on their journey, including a native princess, a human tank, a one-armed woman with a cybernetic arm, and a diabolical evil genius. I don’t want to spoil anything because this is a truly exciting book, so I’m not going to delve much deeper into the plot.
Briar Wilkes, the heroine, is the sort of tough-as-nails woman I’d someday love to be (minus the hard life, loss, and utter devastation). She never, ever gives up no matter how hard it is, or how many putrid rotters are screaming for her flesh. Briar is a great character and, I must admit, when the narrative would periodically switch to Zeke’s point of view, I was always a little disappointed.
A great read for those who love steampunk or zombies, but also a very accessible one for those who don’t. The zombie mythology here is sufficiently explained and doesn’t leave the reader frustrated and wondering how the dead are rising (well, too much anyway). The characters are interesting and vivid, the pacing is quite good, and there’s always a new plot twist or action scene hurtling at the reader. Definitely give Cherie Priest’s Boneshaker a good once-over!
I really wanted to like this novel a lot more than I did. That isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy it – Boneshaker is a diverting, page-turning read – I just didn’t love it. When I came to the end I wasn’t at the edge of my seat, and I’m not quivering in anticipation for the next installment (as I am for the third book in Suzanne Collins’ excellent Hunger Games series).
Now, I have a nagging suspicion that this might have do with the protagonists of Boneshaker. I have always been particularly fond of feisty young females whom I immediately relate to (i.e. Lyra Belacqua, Lizzie Bennet, and even poor Susie Salmon). Boneshaker’s 35-year old, careworn single mother and her 15-year old son were simply a bit beyond my range of natural experience, and so I could not place myself in their shoes. That is not to say that the story isn’t interesting (it is), that the world isn’t immersive (it’s delightfully intricate), or the action isn’t thrilling (the rotters terrify me) – it’s just that I didn’t have as much at stake here emotionally, as I do in other books where I immediately visualize myself as the heroine.
That aside, Cherie Priest’s steampunk zombie adventure all but begs to be read. With an eye-capturing cover, an attention-grabbing premise and a bevy of critical acclaim I couldn’t wait to get this book into my hands. As soon as I started, I couldn’t put this book down. It’s exciting, full of twists and turns, and populated by a cast of tough and ornery heroes, villains, and everything in between. Also: zombies. Thousands of zombies. Reeking, moaning, desiccated hordes of Blight-infected rotters.
On January 2, 1863 Seattle is all but destroyed. The first test-drive of Leviticus Blue’s Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine goes horrifically awry, tearing apart the city and unleashing a deadly cloud of Blight gas. The citizens of Seattle flee as the gas begins to sicken, kill, and reanimate hundreds of people. A wall is erected around the city, keeping the gas and flesh-eating undead sealed inside – along with a small population of survivors, misfits, and seedy entrepreneurs.
Outside the walls, a small, filthy, and dirt-poor community has formed to house all of the people who simply have nowhere to go or no desire to leave. One such person is Briar Wilkes, the widow of the much-reviled Leviticus Blue and the daughter of a local folk hero/villain, Maynard Wilkes. She scrapes together an existence for herself and her son, Ezekiel, by working at a plant which removes the Blight poisoning the drinking water.
Zeke, unhappy with the entire community’s view of his father as Satan, sets out to prove that his father was a good man. Armed only with a gas mask, determination, and a foolhardy plan he winnows his way through the walls into the rotting corpse of Seattle. Realizing her boy is gone, his momma has no choice but to go after him and drag him out of Hell herself.
The desiccated city is a character in and of itself, and perhaps one of the most intriguing ones. Full of a thick, heavy gas that blocks out all sunlight and destroys all life, Seattle is almost perfectly dark. The streets are mangled, the buildings are precarious and falling apart, and the streets are overrun by thousands of extremely hungry, angry, and fast zombies with no other thought in their heads but filling their bellies with human flesh.
The uninfected residents of Seattle have constructed a fascinating (literally) underground community, and eke out a living with what must be a true testament of human determination or stubbornness. They are aided by the usual imaginative steampunk technology – such as the delightful Doozy Dazer, a sonic gun that stuns all zombies within range for three minutes.
Briar and Zeke meet a bevy of interesting characters here on their journey, including a native princess, a human tank, a one-armed woman with a cybernetic arm, and a diabolical evil genius. I don’t want to spoil anything because this is a truly exciting book, so I’m not going to delve much deeper into the plot.
Briar Wilkes, the heroine, is the sort of tough-as-nails woman I’d someday love to be (minus the hard life, loss, and utter devastation). She never, ever gives up no matter how hard it is, or how many putrid rotters are screaming for her flesh. Briar is a great character and, I must admit, when the narrative would periodically switch to Zeke’s point of view, I was always a little disappointed.
A great read for those who love steampunk or zombies, but also a very accessible one for those who don’t. The zombie mythology here is sufficiently explained and doesn’t leave the reader frustrated and wondering how the dead are rising (well, too much anyway). The characters are interesting and vivid, the pacing is quite good, and there’s always a new plot twist or action scene hurtling at the reader. Definitely give Cherie Priest’s Boneshaker a good once-over!
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THE NOVEL NEMATODE 