REVIEW: Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
Publishing Information: Paperback; 416 pages
Publisher: Tor Books 29 September 2009
ISBN 10: 0765318415
ISBN 13: 978-0765318411
Standalone
Copy: out of pocket
Reviewer: Tyson

Back of the Book: "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."


When I learned that there was a steam punk novel called Boneshaker based in my hometown of Seattle I quickly ordered it. The thought of zombies stumbling through downtown appealed to me. While I have not read a lot of steam punk, mainly Chris Wooding, I had hoped to expand my author base and experience with the sub-genre.

Priest does an excellent job of showing the reader Seattle as it was during that time in history (with a few minor changes to drive her story). Anyone who has lived or visited Seattle will easily recognize the landmarks and geographical areas that are portrayed in the book. As I read Boneshaker I returned to seattle as everything was written with vivid clarity. Priest does an excellent job of world building.

The characters were a bit off for me. Deep down it is about a mother's love for her child and while that is something everyone can associate with. Boneshaker did not get it done for me personally. I found Ezekiel to be stubborn and idiotic, every choice he made confounded me. He was portrayed as a street kid with street smarts; however, once he crosses over the wall he forgets all that he has learned about being a kid surviving on his wits in the streets of Seattle and makes mistake after terrible mistake.

The pacing of Boneshaker was well done, there are a few lulls in the novel but, Priests quickly builds things back up to a frenzy. A few plot points were also a bit obvious which knocked my opinion of the book down a few notches.

While the premise of Boneshaker was intriguing and the location was familiar to me, I ended up looking to see how many pages were left in the novel so that I could go on to something else. My major complaint with Priest's Boneshaker was that I never had an investment in the characters and their predicament.

Plot 6.5
Characterization 5
Style 7.5

Overall 6/10