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Boneshaker (The Clockwork Century #1)

by Cherie Priest (Goodreads Author)

3.54 of 5 stars 3.54 · rating details · 14,017 ratings · 2,352 reviews

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 wen...more

ebook, 979 pages

Published September 29th 2009 by Tor Books

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Dec 22, 2010 Architeuthis rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2000s, fiction-that-speculates

``Miss Eliza Bennet, let me persuade you to follow my example, and take a turn about the room. -- I assure you the anti-gravity hoverchannel is very refreshing after sitting so long in one attitude.''

Eliza was surprised, but agreed to it immediately. She unstrapt herself from her leather seat restraints and stood, careful to maintain her balance as the airship encountered turbulence. When she entered the hoverchannel, she activated the polarity redistribution magnets within her combat suit and b...more

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Mar 20, 2010 Colleen rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: steampunk, dark-fantasy

(1.5)

Steampunk and zombies and mini-apocalypse, oh my. How could you go wrong?

For starters, you could have lead characters that I never really connected with or cared that much about. Protagonists whose most active role was to get themselves into the city, and then who became fortunes of fate, as things happened to them.

I did like some of the secondary characters better, especially Swakhammer. (Though it seemed weird to me that Briar called calling him Mr. Swakhammer. It was probably meant to b...more (1.5)

Steampunk and zombies and mini-apocalypse, oh my. How could you go wrong?

For starters, you could have lead characters that I never really connected with or cared that much about. Protagonists whose most active role was to get themselves into the city, and then who became fortunes of fate, as things happened to them.

I did like some of the secondary characters better, especially Swakhammer. (Though it seemed weird to me that Briar called calling him Mr. Swakhammer. It was probably meant to be an affectation to remind us of the time period, when men and women were more formal, but since these characters are so informal, it was just kind of weird. Just another layer of distance in a book which keeps you at yours...

I think, really, that's what it is. The characters are never really developed - it's more an actiony-adventure type story, which could be fine, except it seemed like it almost wanted to be a deeper, more thoughtful story at times, it just never quite managed to be so.

Oh, and the brown font on the off-white paper killed me at first, but I did mostly get used to it.

Anyway, I never felt truly frightened or saddened for these characters and their exploits, though I did sometimes feel annoyed that they seemed so ingrateful for the help people were giving them (Briar), and that they kept running off and getting themselves in trouble without finding out what was going on first (Zeke). And I never really connected with them, so didn't much care.

And the whole thing with the big bad was meh. And I don't just mean the anti-climactic end, I mean everything about it. The build-up, the reveal, everything. There's something which happens at the end which Briar is said not to care about because her focus is on something else. Well, I didn't care, either.

Wow - do you think I could say "I didn't care" any more?

The only thing I did sort of care about is the fate of Swahkhammer, which we're left not knowing. I read somewhere that this is the first of a planned trilogy, but I doubt I'll continue unless I hear really good things about the follow-up.

All that said, I do agree with one reviewer who said that this story could make a good movie, though. Visually it would be pretty awesome, and you can get away with less develoepd characters and more haphazard happenings in movies.(less)

62 likes · like · see review

May 04, 2013 Clouds - (¿head-in-the?) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: locus-sci-fi, science-fiction, reviewed, science-fiction-stand-alone, read-in-2012

Christmas 2010: I realised that I had got stuck in a rut. I was re-reading old favourites again and again, waiting for a few trusted authors to release new works. Something had to be done.

On the spur of the moment I set myself a challenge, to read every book to have won the Locus Sci-Fi award. That’s 35 books, 6 of which I’d previously read, leaving 29 titles by 14 authors who were new to me.

While working through this reading list I got married, went on my honeymoon, switched career and became...more

16 likes · like · see review

Dec 09, 2009 Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sf-fantasy, zombies, post-apocalyptic-dystopia, library-books

Dazzling inventions, air pirates, evil bad guys, underground vaults, goggles, daring rescues, gold, Blight gas, a one-armed bartender, a princess, zombies. Oh, what fun!

The setting was vividly described and rich in details. The main characters were well developed and fascinating. Briar Wilkes, widow of Leviticus Blue, eccentric inventor, searches for her teenage son, Zeke, in a walled-off section of Seattle, where a dangerous yellow gas shrouds the city, forcing the remaining inhabitants to liv...more

33 likes · like · see review

May 14, 2012 mark monday rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: foggy-nights

engaging but decidedly minor yarn featuring brave women, pirate airships, a zombie plague, and a battered & barricaded alternate seattle. the steampunk elements are of the american west variety, so as far as the atmosphere conveyed, this is more muggy days than foggy nights. enjoyable for the most part, although the highly tedious & annoying character of the son made the last third tough-going at times.

i really don't have much else to say. this was a pleasant and forgettable way to pass...more

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Jun 12, 2012 Dan Schwent rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: christmas-gift, steampunk, 2010

Sixteen years after Leviticus Blue reputedly robbed a string of banks and released the Blight using his drilling machine, the Boneshaker, his son Ezekiel goes back into the walled remains of Seattle, braving rotters and Doornails, to clear his name. His mother, Briar Wilkes, goes into the walled wasteland to bring him out. Can she find Zeke before Dr. Minnericht finds him?

I've got mixed feelings about this one. For one thing, the writing doesn't tickle my innards and the characters are all prett...more

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Nov 29, 2012 Maja rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: alternating-povs, moments-of-great-frustration, failed-to-impress, own-a-dtb, pan-macmillan, steampunk, review-copy, zombies-zombies-everywhere, reviewed-in-2012

Is there anything a mother wouldn’t do to save her son? Even if they are mostly estranged and angry at each other? Would she willingly walk into a place where the air is poisonous and hundreds of zombies roam about?

Of course she would. I would, too.

That’s the choice Briar is forced to make, and it really isn’t a choice at all. Sixteen years ago, Seattle was destroyed by one of her late husband’s inventions, and she became an outcast, a poor, single mother with no one to rely on. From that poin...more Is there anything a mother wouldn’t do to save her son? Even if they are mostly estranged and angry at each other? Would she willingly walk into a place where the air is poisonous and hundreds of zombies roam about?

Of course she would. I would, too.

That’s the choice Briar is forced to make, and it really isn’t a choice at all. Sixteen years ago, Seattle was destroyed by one of her late husband’s inventions, and she became an outcast, a poor, single mother with no one to rely on. From that point on, Briar and her son were lucky when they could cross the street without someone spitting on them for something neither of them played any part in.
Briar’s son Zeke is only sixteen and he’s desperate to clear his father’s name, not knowing that his father really is guilty of turning Seattle into a poisonous prison. And there is no doubt in Briar’s mind, her late husband poisoned the air, flattened the city and created rotters, the zombies. But every boy wants his father to be perfect, so Zeke runs away from home to go to Seattle and prove his father’s innocence.

As much as I enjoyed the (too few) steampunk elements in Boneshaker, what I found most intriguing was the complexity of Briar’s relationship with her teenage son Zeke. I normally dislike situations that stem from lack of communication between characters, but in Boneshaker, their reasons for not sharing secrets with each other were so painful and real that I couldn’t blame Cherie Priest for deciding to write it exactly like that. It is what made these characters truly alive, as if they didn’t exist until they were around each other or thinking about each other. Despite the alternate history setting and all those fantastic inventions, despite the zombies and everything else that was exciting, Briar and Zeke were what really kept me on the edge of my seat. When it comes to character bulding, Cherie Priest is the best psychologist I’ve come across since Ann Aguirre, which is saying something, my friends.

But it appears that everything good comes at a price, and excellent characterization was very pricey indeed. In terms of steampunk, Boneshaker leaves a lot to be desired. I realize I’m very nitpicky when it comes to this sub-genre, but if authors won’t use the endless possibilities it provides, I see no point in writing it at all. The steampunk bits did not blow me away like they did in Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, and I expected more from Priest language-wise, to be honest. Still, keep in mind that Boneshaker won the 2010 Locus Award for Science-Fiction, so this is probably just me being unreasonable and difficult. I get like that sometimes, just ask my siblings. :)

Although Boneshaker didn’t leave me completely satisfied, I am intrigued and eager to read the next book in this series.

(less)

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Feb 22, 2011 Cassy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: physical-own, 2011, fiction-scifi-fantasy-paranormal, event-met-author, region-america-canada

This was my first foray into steampunk – unless Golden Compass counts. This may not be my genre. I am willing to keep going for a book or two, but the prospects are poor. And according to the clerk at the bookstore, Soulless must be my next read.

I was on the fence about reading this one. It was officially on my to-read list, but the ho-hum reviews were making me doubt the placement. Then I heard Cherie Priest was coming to a local bookstore, Murder by the Book (great name, right?) in a week. I t...more

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Mar 07, 2010 Emilie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 10, fiction

boneshaker is a really fun steampunk adventure story. it takes place in an alternate seattle.
briar wilkes is the widow of leviticus blue, the man held responsible for destroying seattle and causing the Blight, a poisonous gas that can kill and can create zombies.
briar’s father is considered to be a villain, too, though to some he is a folk hero.

now briar’s son, zeke, is an adolescent, and both are outsiders because of their relation to blue. zeke believes that both his grandfather and father are...more

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Sep 26, 2010 Aerin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: apocalyptic, science-fiction, zombies, pnw, well-that-was-awesome, americana, alt-history, urban-bizarre

Without a doubt this is the very best steampunk-zombie-pirate-dirigible-madscientist-subterranean-postapocalyptic adventure set in 19th-Century Seattle that I have ever read.

Basically, this book exists to answer the question: What happens when you take a bunch of disparate awesome things and cram them all together into a single book? The answer, it turns out, is this: A book with exponential levels of awesomeness! It is awesome to the nth degree! In a word (which I got from my friend, who won't...more

33 likes · like · see review

Oct 02, 2010 Brad rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, counter-fantastical, doing-the-dishes, steampunk, young-adult, zombies

I dug Cherie Priest’s Boneshaker, but I wanted so much more.

I dug Blighted Seattle and the Outskirts, but I wanted more detail in the former and more time in the latter.

I dug the Rotters, but I wanted more rot, more zombie madness, and more exploration of their potential ability to communicate and problem solve.

I dug the pseudo-history and Hale Quarter, the fictional biographer, but I wanted more installments of his history.

I dug the back story of Leviticus Blue, but I wanted to be convinced th...more

33 likes · like · see review

Apr 07, 2010 Stephen rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: award-nominee-hugo, award-nominee-nebula, multiple-award-nominee, audiobook, science-fiction, 2006-2010, punked, alternative-history, ya

2.5 stars. I liked the set up of this steampunk story and I thought the characters were well developed (especially Briar who I thought was great). That said, for some reason I did not get "hooked" on the story and found myself just getting through the book. For me, I would have liked to have learned more about the "alternate" world in which the book is set in and have the story tie into (or at least hint at) bigger issues to come. There were some nice tidbits about the larger world but I would h...more

22 likes · like · see review

Apr 13, 2010 Zeek rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: steampunk, urban-fantasy, chick-fantasy, fantasy-modern, post-apocolyptic

This one was, so many times, almost a dnf for me. It took the author far too long to engage the audience as her characters wandered around meeting more and more characters, all the while tryinig to find others.

But I liked the ending, and the promise of how it might end is what kept me reading.

Briar Blue has a big secret- oh not that her husband and his dreaded machine known as the Boneshaker set off an explosion that caused a blight to occur which turns people into Zombies, whilst extending the...more

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Dec 07, 2010 Stephanie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, read-in-2010, steampunk, alternate-history

No longer a vital city, Seattle is now completely walled off to contain a poisonous gas that now seeps from the city's underground areas after a man-made disaster caused havoc to the city center. The gas, called Blight, killed thousands of Seattle's inhabitants then caused them to be resurrected as flesh-craving zombies. A giant wall was erected to contain both the zombies and the gas.

Briar Wilkes lives with her son in the Outskirts, a dreary, poisoned place on the fringes of what used to be the...more

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Oct 30, 2009 Woodge rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: steampunk fans; pulp fiction fans

Shelves: fantasy, horror

This adventure tale falls into the growing steampunk genre (a genre that's hard to pin down). Boneshaker is set in an alternate history. In this tale, the American Civil War has dragged on into the late 1880s, the Klondike Goldrush has happened earlier and to a larger degree, and Seattle (Washington Territory) is home to tens of thousands of settlers. Due to an experimental earth-drilling invention that went awry, a vein of gas (known as the Blight) has infected downtown Seattle so that it had t...more

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Mar 15, 2010 Sandi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, 2010, hugo-nominees-2010

Cherie Priest has done a wonderful job with this novel. It's fun, exciting, and fun. The pacing is perfect, the dialog is good, and the exposition is well done. Priest is very good at letting the background story unfold via the characters' dialog, the action, and the setting. Even though this story has zombies, I chose to call this steampunk masterpiece science fiction rather than fantasy or horror because it is about the use and misuse of science and technology. I really had a lot of fun readin...more

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Oct 10, 2009 Erika rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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...more 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.(less)

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Mar 05, 2012 Jacob Proffitt rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who don't mind zombie stories.

Shelves: audible, urban-fantasy, steampunk

This book really deserves a four and maybe five stars. I'm just not interested in zombie stories, though, so it didn't really reach me on the level it probably earned.

At heart, this is a rather fine story about a mother and her son. That eternal, binding relationship that ties two people together through hardships that would otherwise have destroyed them both. Zeke is a boy struggling with ostracism brought on through no fault of his own. As the son of the man who destroyed Seattle through greed...more This book really deserves a four and maybe five stars. I'm just not interested in zombie stories, though, so it didn't really reach me on the level it probably earned.

At heart, this is a rather fine story about a mother and her son. That eternal, binding relationship that ties two people together through hardships that would otherwise have destroyed them both. Zeke is a boy struggling with ostracism brought on through no fault of his own. As the son of the man who destroyed Seattle through greed and brought the "blight" onto an unsuspecting population, Zeke is looking for redemption, though he doesn't seem to know it—for the father he's never known, maybe, but for himself, certainly.

This yearning for better prompts him to enter the walled-off city center where the blight has been contained—along with the "rotters" whom the blight has transformed into masses of hungry, relentless undead. He doesn't expect to be long because he has prepared. He has his gas mask, a loaded pistol of unknown functionality, and a map that should lead him to his family's one-time home. What he doesn't expect is that his mother, upon learning where he has gone, ends up following him into the abyss in the hope of rescuing him from his folly.

Both mother and son have issues to work through in their journey—both external and internal. They fall in with people still living in the blight, both friends and foes, and have to work their way towards each other and some resolution of their shared inheritance.

This may be the best book I've read with a mother/son relationship at its core. Their relationship is a tenuous one due to the long hours Briar has had to work in the only crap job she can hold (due to her marriage to the madman who destroyed their hometown). She has obviously done her best, and Zeke acknowledges as much—he isn't the spoiled, ungrateful child a lesser author might have made him. But he also chafes under the bitter life he is forced to lead and wants to make things better by proving that his father wasn't the black-hearted monster history paints him to be. And since his mother has refused to tell him anything about those days, he figures he'll have to find out the truth for himself.

Needless to say, Zeke finds more than he bargained for and Briar, well, she does as well. They emerge with a stronger relationship and a mutual trust they hadn't known before. While neither could say their journey had been a "good" one, it's hard to imagine either of them regretting it, in the end.(less)

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Apr 19, 2012 Mike Vasich rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My original expectation was that the book would be an epic, sprawling adventure with a huge cast of characters and a complex setting and history. I thought it would take some 'getting into' and so I saved it for a vacation break where I could spend some time focusing. As it turned out, I was wrong on several fronts, but happily so.

Boneshaker is actually a pretty small story. Boy disobeys mother and gets into trouble. Mother has to bail him out. Adventures are had along the way. I was amazed at h...more My original expectation was that the book would be an epic, sprawling adventure with a huge cast of characters and a complex setting and history. I thought it would take some 'getting into' and so I saved it for a vacation break where I could spend some time focusing. As it turned out, I was wrong on several fronts, but happily so.

Boneshaker is actually a pretty small story. Boy disobeys mother and gets into trouble. Mother has to bail him out. Adventures are had along the way. I was amazed at how simple the plot really was. I think I had mentally compared it to "The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson, which is sprawling and epic.

The 'smallness' of the plot made the story eminently readable and addictive. Because there were only two main characters--Briar and her son, Zeke--we got to know them really well. They were both very realistically portrayed and likable despite their flaws. I found myself actually worrying about what was going to happen to both of them towards the end, which is always a good sign for a novel's characters.

The setting is not merely just backdrop for the story. Like any good speculative fiction, it is intricate to the plot. You couldn't just plop the characters into some other novel and have the story work, despite it's relatively simple structure. Ms Priest portrays the steampunk version of Seattle vividly, but does not overdo the descriptions. We are given a swath here and a swath there and expected to full in the rest ourselves, which is quite easy since she has chosen just the right bits to show us.

**Spoiler alert**

My only minor issue is that the villain, Dr Minnericht, has so little a role to play in the story. I would have preferred him to be more prominent. When he finally shows up, he's a great villain, but he doesn't last long. And it is not clear whether he really thinks he's Levi Blue or whether he's just assuming his identity. It would have been more satisfying if he really thought he was Blue and kept us guessing, but that piece is sort of left flat. Lastly, his death is too easy and anticlimactic.

**End Spoiler**

Boneshaker is a great story, and I was very happy that it wasn't part 1 of whatever trilogy planned to suck my money away. I wish more fantasy writers would eschew these overlong series and write fun one shot novels like this. Highly recommended for a fun, quick read.(less)

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Mar 09, 2013 Felix Zilich rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: steampunk

Когда в 1860 году на берегах Клондайка началась “золотая лихорадка”, русские передумали продавать Аляску. Вместо этого правительство Александра II объявило конкурс на создание горнодобывающих механизма или машины, способных в поисках золота буравить лёд. Грант в размере ста тысяч рублей выиграл изобретатель из Сиэттла по имени Левитикус Блю. В подвале своего дома он смастерил гигантский шагоход под названием “Невероятный Костотрясный Бурильный Агрегат”.

Во время испытаний чудо-машины в августе 1...more Когда в 1860 году на берегах Клондайка началась “золотая лихорадка”, русские передумали продавать Аляску. Вместо этого правительство Александра II объявило конкурс на создание горнодобывающих механизма или машины, способных в поисках золота буравить лёд. Грант в размере ста тысяч рублей выиграл изобретатель из Сиэттла по имени Левитикус Блю. В подвале своего дома он смастерил гигантский шагоход под названием “Невероятный Костотрясный Бурильный Агрегат”.

Во время испытаний чудо-машины в августе 1863 года происходит ужасная трагедия. Агрегат выходит из под контроля и, уйдя под землю, обрушивает фундаменты нескольких домов в деловом центре Сиэттла. Гибнут десятки людей, но это лишь начало. “Костотряс” случайно вскрывает под землей месторождение неизвестного науке газа. Газ невидим и не имеет запаха, но постепенно убивает человека, в легкие которого он попадает. В течении нескольких дней зараженные теряют человеческий облик и контроль над собой.

Пытаясь остановить распространение смертельной заразы, власти Сиэттла обносят деловой центр города стеной из камня и кирпича высотой до 200 футов.

Спустя 16 лет после трагедии деловой центр Сиэттла площадью около 2 кв.километров продолжает находиться за каменной стеной. По официальным данным там никто не живёт, а попасть на его улицы можно только на борту воздушного судна, но сын Левитикуса Блю – юный Иезекия Уилкс, появившийся на свет уже после предположительной смерти своего родителя – решает отправиться за стену, чтобы узнать всю правду о создателе “Костотряса”.

* * *
Роман Чери Прист - первая большая ласточка в утопившем современный масскульт стимпанковом тренде. Романы про дирижабли и про винтажные противогазы писали задолго до неё, но только после выхода “Костотряса” и его выдвижения на все основные жанровые награды (от “Локуса” до “Хьюго”) старомодные приключения с кружевами, подвязками и медными шестерёнками появились под обложками сотен популярных книжек.

Как это часто бывает с популярными жанровыми трендами, первые пробивные ласточки редко становятся лучшими книгами своей волны (вспомним “Сумерки” и “Гарри Поттера”). Так получилось и с первым романом Чери Прист. Он ладно скроен и хорошо написан, но… лучше бы он остался рассказом или небольшой повестью. Самая удачная часть книги – это её предыстория. Линия про мальчика, который ищет папу, и маму, которая ищет мальчика, смотрелась бы хорошо в young adult’e, но, увы, это не он, а взрослое и стерильное чтиво.

Будь оно менее стерильным, было бы куда проще простить ему условность и непрописанность сеттинга, который не развивается дальше собственной преамбулы.

Тем не менее, книга вышла на русском, и, несмотря на мой недовольный бубнёж в последних строчках, прочитать ее, наверное, все же стоит. Издание модных переводных книг отстаёт в нашей стране на несколько лет, поэтому уверен, что многие из вас еще не избалованы хорошим и годным стимпанком.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Jul 11, 2012 Carol rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, fantasy, awards, nebula, my-library, female-lead, hugo, male-lead, zombies

Started off slow, but I fully realize that was a miscalibration with the story compatibility recognizer. I don't really do the mother-hen story line, and I often get the urge to slap headstrong teenage boys. I started this on vacation in NYC, and we just weren't getting along. Plus, NYC is all busy and distracting and such. Once home, I picked it back up and had a little better luck, but soon got distracted with ~~shinier books~~ life. Finally opened it again today and finished the last 250 or so pa...more

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Jan 18, 2011 Sue rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: steampunk

This book is at its heart a really fun adventure novel, taking place in post-apocalyptic Seattle and full of zombies, crazy steampunk machines, and airships.

It's Seattle during the Civil War, and inventor Leviticus Blue has just released the Boneshaker machine on the city, a drilling monstrosity that frees the Blight--a gas that turns people into zombies. Fast forward to sixteen years later, and Seattle has been walled off to prevent further spread of the gas. But Leviticus Blue's son Zeke wants...more

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Dec 02, 2010 Scott Marlowe rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: infernal-machines

Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest, is my first foray into the steampunk genre and the first book I'd ever read by Priest. While I have a few gripes, I was not disappointed. Boneshaker is a fun adventure, full of zombies (in this alternate history tale they're called 'rotters'), airships, mad scientists, and flawed heroes.

Boneshaker was selected as one of Amazon's Best Books of 2009 as well as a Publisher's Weekly Best Books of 2009. It is also a Barnes & Noble November Feature Book. In addition,...more Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest, is my first foray into the steampunk genre and the first book I'd ever read by Priest. While I have a few gripes, I was not disappointed. Boneshaker is a fun adventure, full of zombies (in this alternate history tale they're called 'rotters'), airships, mad scientists, and flawed heroes.

Boneshaker was selected as one of Amazon's Best Books of 2009 as well as a Publisher's Weekly Best Books of 2009. It is also a Barnes & Noble November Feature Book. In addition, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association awarded Boneshaker a PNBA Book Award for 2010.

The background we are given for the story is this: While the American Civil War rages on, prospectors flock to the Pacific Northwest pursuing rumors of gold discovered in the frozen Klondike. In an effort to reach this gold, an inventor, Dr. Leviticus Blue, is commissioned to create the Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine, or Boneshaker for short. But, on its maiden test run, the Boneshaker goes out of control, devastating downtown Seattle and releasing a noxious vein of Blight gas that turns any who breathe it into mindless flesh-eaters. In the mishap, Dr. Blue goes missing and is presumed dead, leaving his pregnant widow, Briar Blue, to fend for herself. Much of central Seattle is abandoned, left to the rotters as a hundred foot wall is built around the city center in order to contain them.

Briar escapes to the outside, making a home for herself and her soon-to-be born son, Ezekiel. Life is not easy for either of them, and as we enter the story sixteen years after the Boneshaker incident, we find Briar working a difficult industrial job, scorned by most, and with no friends but her own son. Zeke, who has grown up without a father and, worse, grown up listening to the accusations that float along with the mysterious tale of what happened that fateful day, nevertheless maintains faith that the incident was an accident, and that his father had nothing nefarious in mind when he inadvertently released the Blight gas into the city. So begins the story, with Zeke sneaking beneath the wall and into the Blight-infested Seattle, intent on finding evidence his father is innocent of people's many suspicions. Briar, upon learning of her son's dangerous adventure, has no choice but to follow.

Boneshaker is full of goodness: zombies, airships, polarized goggles (whose purpose is to detect Blight gas), gas masks, steampunk weapons (what better way to kick rotter ass?), a particularly mad and devious scientist/inventor, and a strong female lead who doesn't know when to quit. The story is fairly straightforward: boy gets himself into trouble, mom has to bail him out. Along the way, adventure ensues as one tries to find the other. Things get a bit more complicated when they each find that the city has not been abandoned completely, and that there is, in fact, a whole society of sorts who still call Seattle home. Not all of these denizens are friendly, either.

While I did find Boneshaker enjoyable, don't expect a riveting page turner. There's little real suspense, and while the Boneshaker mystery hangs over the story right up until the end, the nicely done twist in those last few pages comes quick. The remainder of the story is basically Briar searching the city for Zeke, while Zeke initially is seeking his parents' old house and clues as to what really happened to his father.

The rotters are always there, and they force certain actions by the characters, but they're never really a huge threat. Yes, our heroes must run from them and, a handful of times, fight them off, but no damage is ever really done. If you're wary of zombie fiction because of the flesh-eating characteristic, fear not: No flesh is eaten in this book.

I do have one gripe in particular about the plot. Zeke uses an old abandoned sewer tunnel to get underneath the wall. No problem there. But when Briar traces his steps and attempts to enter the city the same way… Look out! Earthquake! And, with that, the sewer tunnel is blocked, forcing Briar to seek other options. In my opinion, this was a poorly chosen, ill-timed plot device, and a fairly unbelievable coincidence.

I will say this about Boneshaker, though: It's a fun read. There's enough going on with the gas masks and the inventions and a cast of seedy, not-sure-who's-side-they're-on characters that I didn't put the book down for long. The ending, too, has a bit of a twist, with Zeke's question about his father answered once and for all. Overall, Boneshaker was a good, enjoyable read.

This review also at http://www.scottmarlowe.com/post/Book...(less)

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Dec 03, 2010 Krystle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Wow, this book was cool.

Zombies, steampunk, alternate history all rolled up into one? You can't get any better than that! I loved how instead of taking place Londom or Europe which all steampunk/alternate history novels do, this took place in Seattle! How awesome is that? And the history of how the zombies came about, which is not from some virus or medical experiment gone wrong, but from gas. Heh.

Instead of this being a romance, it focuses more on the relationship between a mother and her son,...more

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Oct 25, 2010 Nikki rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: speculative-fiction, historical-fiction-alternatehistory, zombies, steampunk

I'm vacillating between giving Boneshaker three and four stars. It mostly fell down for me for very, very subjective reasons -- liberal use of a trope I'm not fond of -- although there's also a bit of a problem with the pacing. In places it worked very well: beautifully tense and exciting. But after a while, the sneaking and hiding wears on you. It's like watching a movie consisting of nothing but scenes in which the characters crawl through tunnels. No matter how well-shot those scenes are, it...more I'm vacillating between giving Boneshaker three and four stars. It mostly fell down for me for very, very subjective reasons -- liberal use of a trope I'm not fond of -- although there's also a bit of a problem with the pacing. In places it worked very well: beautifully tense and exciting. But after a while, the sneaking and hiding wears on you. It's like watching a movie consisting of nothing but scenes in which the characters crawl through tunnels. No matter how well-shot those scenes are, it gets boring.

The trope that irritated me was the trope of 'they just missed each other'. Briar and Zeke could have met several times before they actually do, and while that might have shortened the book if they hadn't missed each other, I'm not sure that would have been a bad thing. Still, that's one of my pet peeves. It always reminds me of romantic comedies, which invariably make me want to beat my head against whatever's convenient (and I got dragged to a fair number as a teenager).

I also wasn't terribly pleased with Zeke. He ran when he should have stayed still, and stayed still when he should've been running. I know that he wasn't psychic and doesn't know what the reader knows, but even early on, Rudy is obviously not the kind of guy he should be running with. You take what you can get, I guess, but...

I was much more impressed with Briar. An older, working class single mother, kicking so much ass. She doesn't make the same stupid decisions as Zeke, so she's a lot easier to sympathise with. She's not perfect, no, but she does what she thinks is right.

The setting is well done -- quite vivid, and oddly realistic despite the fact that, yeah, it's full of zombies. It's not the most convincing explanation, I guess -- gas that creates the living dead? -- but it's not too necessary, either. The whole thing with Minnericht... I called it, to some extent: I guessed why Briar was so sure about who he was (or, rather, wasn't). I liked it, though.

I enjoyed Boneshaker, yeah, but I'm not in a tearing hurry to read the other two books set in the same world.(less)

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Mar 05, 2011 Mary Beth rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This tale of an alternate Seattle, besieged by zombies(called Rotters), a mad scientist, and survivors(Doornails, as in "dead as a....") of a catastrophe orchestrated by the eponymous machine, is a fun read for the most part. I see that it is the first of a series(what is up with all of these dang series?), so maybe that explains why a lot of my questions went unanswered. It might also explain the rather quick ending, which felt sorta lazy; a bit more tidying up of loose ends would have been nic...more

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Dec 12, 2011 Vicky rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: steampunk, top-10-of-2011, series-in-progress, zz-american-author, own-audiobook, favorites, setting-united-states-w

Note: This is a review of the audiobook, my notes on the narrators are at the end.

Boneshaker is one of the more creative novels I've read recently - tying together zombies, dirigibles, mad scientists, steampunk weaponry and an overall western feel takes skill to do right, and Priest definitely delivered in her world building.

The story kept me on my toes. I was never entirely sure what Dr. Blue's fate was. I thought I knew and then something would change my mind - something that happened many tim...more

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Jul 17, 2010 Dav rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-quit-reading

I almost stopped reading this book 20 pages in when I realized there was going to be zombies. It was bad enough that it was a steam punk novel, but OMG zombies? Um, the Bandwagon came by, and it wants its memes back. Steam punk (which is "what happens when goths discover brown") has been strangely annoying to me since it exploded a couple of years ago. Strange because I should be into it as I do dig the aesthetic, but I just can't enjoy it because it turned into such a mindless hipster thing so...more

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Nov 16, 2009 Jason Pettus rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, weird, sci-fi, hipster, smart-nerdy, personal-favorite, alt-history

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

Ah, steampunk! The very definition of a literary subgenre, steampunk tales fit not only within the general category of science-fiction (in that the storylines usually hinge on technology that has not yet been invented), but then bury this uninvented technology within a past that never was, usually th...more

16 likes · like · see review

Sep 26, 2010 Jared Millet rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: alternate-history, science-fiction, steampunk, dystopian

You have to stand in awe of the way Cherie Priest managed to tap into the pop culture zeitgeist with her steampunk zombie pulp-fest. Anyone who thinks she was simply following these trends doesn't appreciate exactly how long it takes to get a book from idea to the shelf. It feels as if Priest was trying to write the definitive steampunk novel, with solid, logical reasons for all of the standard trappings: goggles, airships, advanced weaponry, and mad science. It will be interesting to see where...more

1 like · like · see review

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About Cherie Priest

CHERIE PRIEST is the author of twelve novels, including the steampunk pulp adventures Dreadnought 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), and her novellas Clementine, Dreadful Skin and Those...more

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Four and Twenty Blackbirds (Eden Moore, #1)

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“She was thirty-five, and she did not look a minute younger.” — 7 people liked it

“In California there were nuggets the size of walnuts lying on the ground—or so it was said, and truth travels slowly when rumors have wings of gold.” — 5 people liked it

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Boneshaker (The Clockwork Century #1)

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