There's a lot to like in Cherie Priest's Boneshaker, unless you're not a fan of good writing, imaginative tales, alternative histories, and, (don't forget) steampunk, science fiction, zombie-ish creatures, mother-love, flying ships, outlaws, good-guys that are not squeaky clean or handsome but certainly are heroic, women who can curse and fight, and a bit of mystery to unravel. In another time in Seattle, during in the second decade of the civil war back in the east, things are generally a mess. Sixteen years earlier, in an attempt to win a contest sponsored by the Russians, to figure out a way to mine for gold beneath the frozen Klondike, Leviticus Blue (great name btw) created the Incredible Bone Shaking Drill Engine. On its first run, it changed Seattle forever -- a huge chunk of downtown was destroyed, and a deadly gas began leaking out. This blight gas scarred and burned anything it touched and turned anyone who breathed it into a rotter -- the living dead (and yes, they eat people). The deadly area of the city was walled off, Leviticus Blue disappeared, and his widow, Briar, has been living under the cloud of his deeds, and the clouds that hang over Seattle, raising their son Zeke. When Zeke runs away, into the walled off, deadly city, to learn the truth about his father, Briar follows, to bring him out, and things get interesting. There were a number of details that captured me in the telling of this tale, but the one that perhaps I appreciated the most was the relationship between Briar and Zeke. Anyone who has been a teenager or raised a teenager understands that there in a normal amount of tension in the parent-child relationship as fledgling wings are unfurled. But it's not all anger and angst. In this relationship, Zeke, with youthful optimism, initially planned to zip into the forbidden land, find the truth and be home before his mother noticed he had gone. But the nature of the land behind the wall and an earthquake collapsing his exit path nixed that. Sure, he was mad at his mom for never giving him the dirt on his dad -- she never told him anything, but he still, clearly, loved her. And Briar, angry as she may be at her boy's stunt, goes after him with the fierce love of a mother protecting her cub, not the white-hot anger of a parent seeking a disobedient child. She has her regrets as to things she's done she would have done differently if given a second chance. What parent, indeed, what person, doesn't? But she goes after him because he's her son and she loves him. Priest could have played up adolescent anger, but she didn't and I really appreciated that. If this had been a steampunk-coming-of-age novel, it wouldn't have been half as good. Lots of little, great, details delighted me in the telling of this story. Sure, there were some predictable moments, but I think that having some predictable moments, balanced by "oh wow, I didn't see that coming" moments helps to keep the reader alert. All in all, I look forward to reading more of Priest's writing, in the future.
Review by bookczuk (LibraryThing), March 24, 2011 Maybe picking a book based on the fact that it had zombies in it led me to expect something different. Boneshaker is book about family more than any of the colorful elements. The story moves along a nice pace and has very few scenes that feel unnecessary. My favorite part was realizing the book actually ended when the story was over.
Review by LeslieRose (LibraryThing), March 18, 2011 Steampunk at its finest. Great world and characters along with gadgets, gold and zombies... what a combination!! If you're tired of vampire-romance and still want something YA and fantasy, give this story a try. You won't be disappointed.
Review by clif_hiker (LibraryThing), February 12, 2011 I enjoyed this book very much. It's what I hoped steampunk would be, but with the added pleasure of zombies! I like zombies. And mad scientists. And funky contraptions. Will read the other books in this series.
Review by Alleycatfish (LibraryThing), February 2, 2011 An alternate history science fiction novel set in Seattle in 1879; Boneshaker is the story of the Wilkes/Blue family. Leviticus Blue, an inventor and Briar’s husband creates a huge drill that will enable the Russians to mine gold beneath the permafrost in Alaska, unfortunately Leviticus tests the ‘Boneshaker’ before it is ready and cuts a catastrophic swath underneath downtown Seattle causing structures to collapse and sink into the ground. The Boneshaker also pierces a vein of poisonous gas that is released, killing all those exposed to it- or worse turning them into zombies. In an effort to control the heavy poisonous gas, an enormous wall is erected around the downtown core of Seattle and most inhabitants’ leave to live outside the wall. Briar and Ezekiel Wilkes, Leviticus Blue’s widow and son live on the outskirts outside the wall as outcasts much maligned for the deeds of Leviticus. Ezekiel gets it into his head one day to find information about his father and ventures back beyond the wall into the ruins of Seattle, an area scourged by zombies, air pirates, and other unsavory individuals- not too mention that the poisonous gas is still present. Of course, Briar must go after him and Boneshaker is the story of their adventures and mysteries solved within the walled city. The two are helped by some dwellers due to the memory of Maynard Wilkes, Briar’s grandfather who is something of a folk hero to the denizens of the walled in city.
Air pirates, unsavory characters, danger and adventure- what’s not to like? The zombies. I found that the zombies were an unnecessary component to the story and it could have been a really great book without them. Couldn’t there just be poisonous gas and the dangers of warring dwellers within the walls of the city? I thought that the book was good, but could have been better. I enjoyed it, apart from the zombie stuff- that I know is really popular right now, but I felt it really cheapened the story somehow. Almost as if the zombies were an afterthought in order to appeal to fans of zombie fiction as well as fans of steampunk. There were good action scenes, interesting characters and best of all- no romance. Briar Wilkes is a strong female protagonist, and I always like a strong female protagonist. Overall, I did enjoy the book a fun read and I would recommend it to those that are fans of the genre.
Review by iHalo (LibraryThing), January 22, 2011 After all the hype about this book, I was prepared to be disappointed. It did take me over 75 pages for the story to 'grab' me, but once grabbed, I stayed that way. I'm looking forward to the next installment. I guess this falls in the "steampunk without Empire" category, but that didn't really matter to me. The story of a woman hunting for her wayward son is compelling and the setting and circumstances only make it more so. As far as steampunk elements: airships - check; goggles - check; odd contraptions - check; mad scientist(sort of) - check. I couldn't realistically ask for more.
Review by raypratt (LibraryThing), January 16, 2011 My first time reading a book by Cherie Priest and am really impressed. This book follows Briar and her son Zeke. It was kind of slow reading at first but then picked up. You have them both running around a walled in city polluted with poisoned gas and zombies all around. Zeke went in first looking for information on his father and then Briar went in after him. At first I thought they'd run into each other earlier in the book. But each had their own adventure and didn't meet up until near the end which was great. This is why I couldn't put the book down. I kept wanting more, kept wanting to finally see them meet up.
Review by TonyaMelissa (LibraryThing), January 16, 2011 Perhaps this book was too fantastic for me. It had all the trappings of a solid steampunk story, they just didn't coalesce for me.
Review by TheDavisChanger (LibraryThing), December 22, 2010 Boneshaker is a story about a son who goes in search for the truth about his dead father and his mother who goes after him inside the enclosed part of Seattle which is full of hidden dangers and zombies. The story was nicely imagined and designed of post-apocalyptic view of Seattle in the 1890s and the workings of an inner city surviving with zombies. And not too many science fiction books feature a 35 year old heroine who kicks butt. For all the work that Cherie Priest put into the creation of the world, I had hopped that she would have spent more time on the rest of her characters, such as the villains of the story. The meeting of the main villain seemed rushed and not fully developed, nor the threat that he imposed to others in the walled in city. And then the story rushed to an ending with an epilogue that didn't add anything to the story. The story is enjoyable, though the ending is a bit of disappointment and as it may be turned into a series, I really left with a need to know more. I think it works betters as self contained story that should have been flushed out more, not a serial.
Review by kkisser (LibraryThing), November 23, 2010 I loved this book from the very beginning. It is a steampunk novel that takes place in and around what amounts to a post-apocalyptic Seattle circa 1879. Like any steampunk novel it is filled with as many bizarre gadgets as there are bizarre characters. The chapters are split between following the two main characters Briar Wilkes and her son Zeke Wilkes. The novel is very fast paced with action and twists at every corner that leaves you itching to find out what happens. There is plenty of drama as well as comedy to be found in this book. It is an absolutely outstanding novel.
Review by UrbanFantasyGuy (LibraryThing), November 21, 2010 Airships remind me of Stardust (I never saw Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow), and I could totally picture Boneshaker as a movie as I became more engrossed with the book. The plot kept gaining steam (pun!) and roared into one amazing finish after leading us roundabout with the good and bad characters not exactly being forthright as they ought to be. I loved it! The chapter bounces back and forth between Briar and Zeke as each of them have their own separate adventures in the walled portion of Seattle. Which worked most of the time until I got so into one of their stories that I didn't want to wait a whole chapter before finding out what happened to them! I think this was done deliberately, but it doesn't mean I have to like it! :) I loved Briar - she was a tough cookie, tired of the world and its hatred of her husband and/or father, but willing to work among the hostility since it kept food on the table. When she goes after Zeke, my respect for her grew as she totally remained efficient and competent. She was no Buffy Summers, but she knew how to stay alive and would die fighting her little heart out if only to save her son!
Review by theepicrat (LibraryThing), November 19, 2010 The thing I liked the most from Cherie Priest's Boneshaker are her wonderful detailed descriptions of this alternate world. She brings to life this interesting and strange alternate steam punk history and you do feel at times you are right in the story as well. The story was fun and action filled with lots of interesting characters.
Review by stevetempo (LibraryThing), November 9, 2010 Started with some reservation, since it's steampunk and I expected it to be dull if you do not have any visuals. Boy, was I wrong. Really enjoyed this, very nice story and enough description to get a good feel about the world.
Review by timstoop (LibraryThing), November 8, 2010 Boneshaker is a wonderful novel filled with fully-realized characters, action which drives the plot's various threads into a whole which is satisfying, and says more than a few things about the tendency of humanity to look after one's own more than others. "Steampunk" might be the category for this, but "damned good, you should read it!" is a far more useful description.
Review by iamiam (LibraryThing), October 20, 2010 Yeah, it’s zombie steampunk. But it’s also the story of Briar Wilkes, entering a poisoned city where rotters roam the streets and only breathing masks keep the living from being turned into rotters too, in search of her son Ezekiel. Ezekiel’s gone inside to find out whether his father was really the monster who broke the hole in the world that now leaks the blight that turns people into rotters and also, if properly distilled, produces a highly addictive drug. There are airships and robot arms and strange guns, and a Civil War unduly extended by the presence of steampunk technology, though the story is set in Seattle and so the war appears only as background. I enjoyed it!
Review by rivkat (LibraryThing), September 30, 2010 Plot: 15 years ago, Leviticus Blue created a machine to dig through the ice in Alaska. But it went terribly wrong, destroying most of Seattle and releasing a poisonous gas that turns people into zombies. A wall has since been constructed to keep the gas and the zombies inside. Levi’s widow, Briar Wilkes lives in squalor in the Outskirts of the wall and works long hours at the water distilling plant. She and her son are never allowed to forget what her husband has done. But 15 year old Zeke is not willing to believe that his father, and his grandfather, were villains. Without telling his mother, he sneaks under the wall to prove his theory. When he gets trapped on the other side, Briar must go after him and save him. I must confess, I have a weakness for steampunk. I love Westerfeld’s Leviathan (see the book trailer below) more than is healthy and if I could afford it, my computer would look like this. I can tell, just from reading this book, that Priest loves it too and her writing really brings the world to life. Zombie stories, I don’t like as much. My problem being that I like character driven stories and when you focus on mindless, rotting corpses there isn’t really any strong personality to drive the story. But Priest’s zombies never steal the show; they do what good zombies should and simply create atmosphere, a constant feeling of apprehension that stalks the heroes through their adventures. It isn’t about the zombies, at all. It is about living with consequences. And it is about Briar, a hard working, kick-ass woman and a loving, if arguably, bad mother. She is a wonderful character with strengths and flaws, mistakes and moments of heroism. All the other characters are interesting and three dimensional. I would kill for a book on Lucy, the one armed bar owner, or the Indian princess or one of the airship captains (and I do think there is one forthcoming), or… well, I could go on for ever. But I don’t think I want a sequel; this book is perfect just the way it is.
Review by roguelibrarian (LibraryThing), September 26, 2010 In the 1860’s, the Russians look for a way to drill into the ice in the Klondike where there is supposed to be gold because they don’t possess the technology. To generate interest, they create a contest with a cash prize for the person who can create a machine that will access the gold for them. Leviticus Blue from Seattle is the lucky inventor that wins for his Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine. When he tests the machine, he tears through the city’s underground (and pausing at the banks) and returns home. Unbeknownst to him, his path through the city has caved in, leaving countless injured or dead. On top of that, it released a gas called the Blight from the earth that turns normal people into flesh eating zombies. Sixteen years later, after the city has been evacuated and walled up, Briar Wilkes is still dealing with the consequences of her late husband’s folly. Her teenage son, Zeke, convinced of his father’s innocence, goes into the abandoned city to clear his father’s name. Briar tries to follow him into the city, but his way in and out caved in after an earthquake. How can she get in the city to save her son? Is he even still alive? When I first heard about this book, I was so excited! Steampunk, dirigibles, zombies, mad scientists, and alternate history: what’s not to like? I was not disappointed at all when I finally got to read it. Although the history is altered a bit to suit the story, I didn’t really notice the changes. This is partly due to the fact that I’m not a huge history buff, but part of it is because of Cherie Priest’s superb writing. Her style flows incredibly well, drawing the reader into the book. The details that she includes really bring the characters and setting to life. The Victorian era in post-Boneshaker Seattle isn’t what one would expect, but for good reason. The people who live in the Outskirts (outside of the wall from the Blight filled city) struggle to survive and make a living and feel isolated from the world as a whole. The writing also excels in fleshing out each character so they feel like real people. Briar Wilkes is my favorite character in the novel. She’s a tough as nails, no nonsense woman who will go through, under, or over any obstacle to get to her boy. Discrimination or condescension from others has no affect on her and she does what needs to be done. Her life is made very difficult because of her involvement with Leviticus, the destroyer of Seattle, and a lesser person would have broken or given up. Briar is admirable and stretches herself to her limits. I enjoyed the chapters that were from her point of view much more than the chapters in Zeke’s. On each chapter header there is either a pair of goggles or a lantern to indicate who is the focus of the chapter (goggles for Briar and the lantern for Zeke). Zeke is a typical teenager, which is the reason for most of my annoyance with him. He’s kind of annoying and thinks it’s such a great idea to go into a city rife with zombies, poisonous gas, and criminals in order to wander around aimlessly and try to find where his parents used to live for some indeterminate evidence to clear his father’s name. With Briar’s narrative, more is known than just Zeke’s view about who to trust and who to be wary of and we see Zeke make wrong decisions about this at least a few times. It’s kind of frustrating, but in general, he’s a smart and industrious character. Boneshaker is a fast paced, fun read. Even though the zombies aren’t the focus of the book, they still remain a constant danger that the characters always need to be aware of, giving the narrative that little dose of adrenaline and horror. I would recommend this book to fans of steampunk, alternate histories, and science fiction in general.
Review by titania86 (LibraryThing), September 14, 2010 I know lots of people loved this book. I found most of it slow. I had to force myself to get through it. The last 20% or so was okay but maybe it was because I was skimming it. This was a steampunk novel of sorts based in an alternate Seattle around the time of the Civil War.
Review by gsmattingly (LibraryThing), September 6, 2010 god, I hated this book. It was nonsensical. In a bad way. HHAAAATE.
Review by Aprillia (LibraryThing), September 1, 2010 I started reading this book against my better judgement, but I should have gone with my first instinct. Boneshaker reads like 1) it was written by someone trying to get optioned for a movie, 2) the author came up with A REALLY COOL IDEA for an RPG and decided to write a book about it, and/or 3) it was written as joke, combining two fads (steampunk and zombies) to see how many readers/suckers would take the bait. The book is all plot and no story--characters come and go for no reason at all, and the backstory servers only to move people from point A to point B. To add insult to injury, Priest spends paragraph after paragraph providing needless details about stuff that doesn't matter. One sentence about a character bothered by wearing a gas mask would have been sufficient, but I had lost count of the words spent on this topic even midway through the book.
Review by downdb (LibraryThing), September 1, 2010 Boneshaker, I will admit, had me doubtful at first. It’s a book about a city taken over by zombies, which is a genre I have not previously explored much, and the beginning is slow. Once the story picks up, however, it becomes far more interesting and exponentially harder to put down. I will admit that this came at the point that the main characters had to shoot zombies in the face, but hey, that’s just me. There is also a steampunk feel to it, which I was dubious about but now I think I could get pretty into it. It’s an interesting genre to read about. The main story revolves around a boy trying to find the truth behind the creation of the zombies, which many people blame his father for. At the beginning I was mentally shrugging and going along with this, but as the story progressed I grew more and more interested in the truth. The story and the characters are so well fleshed out and three-dimensional that it’s hard to believe the events didn’t happen in reality. Speaking of, I am impressed by the amount of realism in this book—the author had obviously done her research. It is set in the era of the Civil War, on the west coast away from the action. There are several strays from history, but they are small and only done for the purpose of, for example, increasing the population of the town. There is also the matter that several questions go unanswered, as is so often the case in real life. The zombification of the town, for example, is attributed to a volcanic gas released by a drill. What this gas is or why it turns people into zombies is never addressed, and this doesn’t matter in the reader’s mind because none of the characters care either. Everyone in the town has given up on trying to cure the Blight, as they call it, and some of them have in fact begun to make drugs out of it. This seems to me a particularly well thought-out point, as people have always searched for ways to make money from other’s hardships. Along the same line is that the drug, called lemon sap, causes people to develop gangrene and rot over time and yet people keep taking it. It is their only escape from their world, which honestly gave me goosebumps. The village would honestly be a dark place to live, but it never struck me as a particularly depressing place. It was more like people had gotten used to their world and, in their way, did what they had to do. There was little to no feeling of despair or apathy in the book because the people had no time to do either—they had to work day and night to get by. Because of that, I sympathized more with them than I would have if they were just depressed. All in all, this book was definitely one I would put in my favorites, given the development and realism involved.
Review by mwack (LibraryThing), August 25, 2010 This was a book that was on my radar for a long time before I read it. I was fortunate enough to get a copy when I attended a science fiction and fantasy author panel at the ALA 2010 Annual Conference. I have been gradually working my way through a substantial “To Read” pile that is sitting on my nightstand and finally got to this one. Now I regret, in hindsight, that it has taken me so long to get to it. As I was reading this book my thoughts kept flipping between two different ideas: * “Wow, this would make a really great movie.” * “Wow, this would make a really great video game.” The book moves with a good cinematical pace leaping between the perspective of Briar Wilkes and her son Zeke as they manage the hazards and obstacles of an 1870s apocalyptic Seattle. Priest sets up her story well by giving us an alternate history where the American Civil War is still being fought after sixteen years which has driven technology beyond it’s accepted historical level. After a tragic incident with an earth boring drill (the titular Boneshaker), a large section of Seattle’s financial district collapsed and a strange gas was released into the city. This gas, aside from being toxic to humans, had the bizarre property of being able to raise dead people into ravenous zombies. The afflicted part of the city was walled off as a protective measure and most of Seattle’s inhabitants lived around the outside of these walls. There is a sizable community that continued to exist inside the wall living life the way they want to. It is within this society that much of the action in the book occurs. Aside from a prologue outlining the incident that strikes Seattle, we are thrown directly into the story and gain much of the character’s background through flashbacks and their narration. This book falls squarely into the Steampunk genre with the requisite goggled and gas-masked characters and lots of fantastically anachronistic machines and gadgets. There are some excellent scenes dealing with the zombie (called “rotters” in the books) hordes and with the mad scientist character that has set himself up as the despot of the walled-in society. There is also a unique mix of characters that our two protagonists encounter inside the wall. As is usual in stories like this, everyone we meet has their own reasons for being here, some of whom are straightforward about their motives and others are mysterious. Past all the swashbuckling adventures and cool Steampunk vibe, this story is really about a mother trying to find her son and willing to do anything to accomplish that task. Muddying the waters are themes of loss, betrayal and the consequences of keeping secrets. We get to see, at times, people operating at their very best and people at their worst. You know, the literary properties that have a great effect on readers. Priest does an excellent job developing characters that we can feel strongly, both negatively and positively. It becomes clear near the end of the book that the author intended this to be part of a multiple volume work as she introduces a new conflict early enough for it to develop and pique our interests and close enough to the end to ensure there would not be a resolution. This is fine though, as she is able to wrap up the main plot that has driven us through the story and to give us answers to questions that hang around from early in the book. Also fortunate is that the first of the sequels, Clementine, is already available and the conclusion to the trilogy, Dreadnought, is being release late next month (September 28). Overall, this was a very thrilling book to read and fully satisfied my anticipation for it. The author evidently did an extensive job researching the area and the time period that the book was set. In her afterword, she explains the reasoning behind several key historical changes. Blended into that alternate Seattle we got a excellent mix of characters and plots that made the entire book a lot of fun to read. I certainly hope that someone licenses this for a film or television series (a miniseries of the entire trilogy might work) as it would make excellent entertainment in one of those mediums as well.
Review by FSkornia (LibraryThing), August 20, 2010 I liked this book so much that I stayed up late to finish it all in one sitting. I haven't read much in the steampunk genre before this, but I will definitely be looking for more like it.
Review by Tricoteuse (LibraryThing), July 12, 2010 The boneshaker, a gigantic machine, invented to drill through ice to find gold, goes wrong,intentionally or not, and not only destroys buildings and kills people in the process, but it also sets free an underground deposit of a gas that, if inhaled, changes people into the undead, zombies. The son of the inventor wants to clear his fathers name and journeys into the walled-off area, where the 'accident' happened and the gas and its victims are contained. When his mum finds out she goes after him - and here starts the adventure. Airships, pirates, Zombies, inventors, Chinamen = steampunk as one wants it. This book is well written, thought through and draws you in. It is basically a thriller - has he or hasn't he sent the boneshaker into the buildings, will or won't the boy finish his mission, will the mother find him, is the evil inventor - but I will stop there, find out for yourself as you hide with your gas-mask in the underground, trying to find somebody trustworthy, listening to the moan of the zombies above. Brilliant book.
Review by HeikeM (LibraryThing), July 12, 2010 The book started well. The first half of the book was very well written but the climax failed. The bad guy was simply not bad enough in the sense that never was there any terror about him.
Review by kaipakartik (LibraryThing), June 18, 2010 More reviews: page 1 | page 2 | page 3 | [page 4] | page 5 | page 6