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Ganymede
(The Clockwork Century #3)
by
The air pirate Andan Cly is going straight. Well, straighter. Although he’s happy to run alcohol guns wherever the money’s good, he doesn’t think the world needs more sap, or its increasingly ugly side-effects. But becoming legit is easier said than done, and Cly’s first legal gig—a supply run for the Seattle Underground—will be paid for by sap money.
New Orleans is not Cly ...more
New Orleans is not Cly ...more
Paperback, Original Edition, 349 pages
Published
November 14th 2011
by Tom Doherty Associates
(first published January 1st 2011)
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There is no way for me to do a sensible, scholarly review of this book or any of the books in the Clockwork Century series. All I can say is that I loved this, and that Ms. Priest had me before Marie Laveau but I squealed in delight when she appeared. I'm thrilled with the gentle, low-key touch of romance as well as the breathless action, and just delighted to pieces with the whole book.
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The gist of the story is that there's a submarine that the confederate supporters need to get out of New Orleans - this is an alternate universe story. Josephine, owner of a bordello, recruits an old flame to pilot it out. There's Texans, Voodoo Queens, Zombies and Pirates.
With all that going on, why did I get so bored? It wasn't the writing, Ms. Priest is descriptive and her writing flows easily. It was mostly the characters.
I couldn't bring myself to care about Josephine. I wanted to, she's a ...more
With all that going on, why did I get so bored? It wasn't the writing, Ms. Priest is descriptive and her writing flows easily. It was mostly the characters.
I couldn't bring myself to care about Josephine. I wanted to, she's a ...more
Oct 26, 2011
T.M. White
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
lovers of steampunk and adventures
Ganymede is the fourth addition to the Clockwork Century universe, coming after Boneshaker, Clementine, and Dreadnought (in that order)**–-all of which are centered around a steampunk alternate history in which the American Civil War has carried on for nearly decades longer than in real life. The story follows two main characters: former lovers Andan Cly, the air pirate fans got to meet first in Boneshaker, and Josephine Early, a biracial prostitute and Union spy who is new to the series.
I'd do ...more
I'd do ...more
I think Cherie Priest has some great ideas but needs a little help with execution.
I like the speculative aspect (20 years into the Civil War, Texas is still its own republic, Seattle is a blighted waste). I like the way she writes action scenes: her zombie battles are fun and when her characters are actually in the middle of a fight, it's exciting.
The biggest flaw I find in Priest's writing is her tendency to over-explain everything. There's a lot of telling about what happened instead of showin ...more
I like the speculative aspect (20 years into the Civil War, Texas is still its own republic, Seattle is a blighted waste). I like the way she writes action scenes: her zombie battles are fun and when her characters are actually in the middle of a fight, it's exciting.
The biggest flaw I find in Priest's writing is her tendency to over-explain everything. There's a lot of telling about what happened instead of showin ...more
The stories keep getting better and better.
My head hurts too badly to think of something to write. But I like this series, and really like all the characters too.
Not my favorite in the series - that would be the first or third - but not the weakest either. I love the world that Cherie Priest is creating, and the way she is building it slowly, weaving in new characters and new locations while reminding us what the others are up to. (view spoiler)
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(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 illegally.)
Regular readers will of course already be familiar with Cherie Priest's remarkable steampunk series known as "The Clockwork Century;" back in 2009 I reviewed the first volume Boneshaker (best described as Victorian zombies meet Doom-style videogame in the bowels of subterranean Seattle), while last year I ...more
Regular readers will of course already be familiar with Cherie Priest's remarkable steampunk series known as "The Clockwork Century;" back in 2009 I reviewed the first volume Boneshaker (best described as Victorian zombies meet Doom-style videogame in the bowels of subterranean Seattle), while last year I ...more
Wonderful new book in The Clockwork Century series.
To me, there's something odd with the way Priest writes: I find myself waiting for things to start happening, you know, really start happening, when all of a sudden I'm 100+ pages into the book and, looking back, lots of things have already happened -but of course! That's how smoothly the action flows in Ganymede as well.
Nevertheless, if nothing else I'm a sucker for good world-building. And all along the book, sometimes quite obviously and som ...more
To me, there's something odd with the way Priest writes: I find myself waiting for things to start happening, you know, really start happening, when all of a sudden I'm 100+ pages into the book and, looking back, lots of things have already happened -but of course! That's how smoothly the action flows in Ganymede as well.
Nevertheless, if nothing else I'm a sucker for good world-building. And all along the book, sometimes quite obviously and som ...more
The third book in the fantastic Clockwork Century series does not disappoint. There are so many things to love about it. We get to see more of minor characters from the earlier books, in particular airship Captain Andan Cly. I love the way the overall story of the series (the part with zombies) happens mostly in the background of the books, as a B story to whatever is most important in the major character's life. I wish we saw more of Texas Ranger Korman, but I have hope for the future. (Argh, t
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First, full disclosure: I won a copy of this book through Goodreads. And I was very excited, first, because I've been waiting forever to get my paws on this fourth book in Cherie Priest's Clockwork Century series, and second, because I hardly ever win anything.
I'm a big fan of Priest's American steampunk, which is less about corsets and manners, and more about riveting adventure and female heroines who defy the conventions of the Victorian age. I really liked Boneshaker, but I was just crazy abo ...more
I'm a big fan of Priest's American steampunk, which is less about corsets and manners, and more about riveting adventure and female heroines who defy the conventions of the Victorian age. I really liked Boneshaker, but I was just crazy abo ...more
3 Stars
I would have given this book a lesser rating if it wasn't so fun to read. Cherie Priest has created a wonderfully fun and imaginative alt history USA and done it in an awesome steampunk fashion. This was my least favorite of the four novels so far and to me it had the smallest scope. It was even smaller than Clementine which is a Novella.
This book works on the foundation that the first three books have built. Without the wonderful world building in them, this one would not have worked. O ...more
I would have given this book a lesser rating if it wasn't so fun to read. Cherie Priest has created a wonderfully fun and imaginative alt history USA and done it in an awesome steampunk fashion. This was my least favorite of the four novels so far and to me it had the smallest scope. It was even smaller than Clementine which is a Novella.
This book works on the foundation that the first three books have built. Without the wonderful world building in them, this one would not have worked. O ...more
Cherie Priest has good ideas but struggles to string them together. This book about a reforming air pirate and a madam secreting an experimental sub out of New Orleans is poorly edited so I'd give it a miss. She makes a stylistic choice for a lot of things to happen "offscreen" which I don't get. Words are free. It's not as if she needs to spend her special effects budget wisely. Example: when the crew members are getting to know each other and working out the unlabelled controls of the dangerou
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I really wish I was connecting with this series better. I like the setting a lot, and the alternate history is very well thought out. But even though the characters are well-rounded, I have trouble caring about them, and I feel like I should. It's like I enjoy the concept of these characters--brothel madam, her former lover-slash-air pilot, the Texas Ranger who showed up in the previous book...actually, I think I like him a lot. In general, this seems like a mismatch with the reader rather than
...more
This is really two stories and I found the one about Josephine to be far more interesting. Most likely because she was a more compelling character. While it was nice touching place with people in Seattle, the story only really flowed when Josephine was on stage. She is an interesting character, and Priest does a good job of capturing conflicting loyalties. What makes Josephine cool is that she is a lady who can shot though her skirts.
If only all steampunk was this good!! While not as strong as the first 2 books in this series, Ganymede expands the world begun in Boneshaker and Dreadnought. The alternative US is still caught up in a Civil War, and the free blacks of Louisiana are determined to undermine both the Confederacy and the Republic of Texas by delivering a functional submarine to a Union ship anchored in the Gulf of Mexico. It's a wonderful adventure, well read by Edoardo Ballerini.
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17 November 2015: $5.99 on Kindle
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What is certain is this: On the afternoon of January 2, 1863, something appalling burst out from the basement and tore a trail of havoc from the house on Denny Hill to the central business district, and then back home again.
Few witnesses agree, and fewer still were granted a glimpse of the Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine. Its course took it under the earth and down the hills, gouging up the land beneath the luxurious homes of wealthy mariners and shipping magnates, under the muddy flats whe ...more
Few witnesses agree, and fewer still were granted a glimpse of the Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine. Its course took it under the earth and down the hills, gouging up the land beneath the luxurious homes of wealthy mariners and shipping magnates, under the muddy flats whe ...more
This one pretty much went in one ear and out the other. No where near as entertaining as Boneshaker but not completely horrible, either. I don't know what it is about this world but it's terrible on audio. I have to get the next two books from the library since they were never recorded to audio (or else audible just isn't buying them). I'm hoping they're better on paper.
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The fourth installment in Cherie Priest's Clockwork Century series, Ganymede is now finally getting into actual sequel territory. Like Clementine and Dreadnought, it's a standalone story--but this time, one of the spotlight characters in fact someone who previously showed up in Boneshaker, and we've got clear followup to the events in that book. So if you want to jump in on this series--and if you like steampunk, zombies, and/or the Civil War era, you should--this is not the place to start.
New O ...more
New O ...more
I don't know if it's fair or not to say that Priest's Clockwork Century series follows a formula (I have not read Clementine yet.), but if it is a formula, it's an awesome one. Serious pioneer mentality characters+ZOMG ZOMBIES!!ONE!1+Badass Steampunk contraption=Your money's worth and then some. While being a quicker, sparser story than Boneshaker or Dreadnought, this is not to say that the story was lacking in any way. Indeed, the story has zero percent body fat. Everything is there for a reaso
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This was another book that I "stumbled over" when looking for something else. There is nothing at all wrong with the book but it is one of those times where I may be undervaluing it because I have not read the prior entries in this series. On occasion I'll stop and wait to get the first novel if I think the premise is interesting, but I grabbed this one just because I wanted something to read.
The author has done a nice job of imagining this parallel past. The technology bits are both firmly root ...more
The author has done a nice job of imagining this parallel past. The technology bits are both firmly root ...more
The Clockwork Century books are among my favorite steampunk series. This book was very slow to get going for me, and it took a long time for the two main characters to come together. The book did irk me with the annoying 19th century cliche of "the harlot with a heart of gold"; too many books in that time period either use women as a doting mother or as a prostitute. Mind you, Priest is an excellent writer, and Josephine's character slowly grew on me. I really liked the male viewpoint, Cly, with
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This is the most recent instalment in Cherie Priest’s Clockwork Century sequence, and like the prevoius ones it has a one-word title that refers to a big piece of advanced machinery – this time round it is a submarine, which has to be smuggled through the Confederate lines and handed over to the Union to give them an edge in the Civil War and hopefully end it (the American Civil War has been going on for decades in Priest’s alternative history universe). The Ganymede does not appear quite as cen
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Loved this one- maybe the best one in the series, or maybe my favorite because it's the most recent - not sure that it matters. Priest's penchant for writing strong but believable female characters is unequaled in anything I've read recently, with the possible exception of Connie Willis' Blackout/All Clear novels.
This time around, airship captain/slightly reforming air pirate Andan Cly has to fly across the country from Seattle to New Orleans to help an old friend who's sent a cable asking for ...more
This time around, airship captain/slightly reforming air pirate Andan Cly has to fly across the country from Seattle to New Orleans to help an old friend who's sent a cable asking for ...more
I only have one more Cherie Priest title to read (listen to), and then I have read everything she now has in print. She is good! This book was printed in brown ink on a creamy white paper, which is a nice touch for which the publisher should be thanked. Priest has set up a follow-up story about 'rotters'/zombis in New Orleans that is already interesting for the conflict between the two partnered characters: one, a free person-of-color bordello madam and the other a Texian, which means he support
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Well being the book reader that I am I do not always read series in order. The first book in this series that I read was Boneshaker, wonderful book, So when I found this one I failed to see that there was intervening books between the two of them I just sat down and devoured it.
Now reading it as a stand alone book it was wonderful, taking it in context I was happy to see that she was using some of her same characters in another book. Now as I went to post a review I find more, it is like Christm ...more
Now reading it as a stand alone book it was wonderful, taking it in context I was happy to see that she was using some of her same characters in another book. Now as I went to post a review I find more, it is like Christm ...more
This is not really my kind of book. I only read it because my book club derives its name from a bastardization of the title due to a weird misreading and inside joke.
That being said, I really enjoyed it for what it was. The cast of characters is unique, POC and gender & sexual minorities are represented with class, the setting is interesting, and I LOVE voodoo. I wish there was more voodoo in the book.
However, as a stand alone novel it is lacking. I did a disservice to this series by reading t ...more
That being said, I really enjoyed it for what it was. The cast of characters is unique, POC and gender & sexual minorities are represented with class, the setting is interesting, and I LOVE voodoo. I wish there was more voodoo in the book.
However, as a stand alone novel it is lacking. I did a disservice to this series by reading t ...more
Jan 11, 2012
Colleen S Harris
rated it
liked it
Recommends it for:
alternate history fans, steampunk fans, zombie lovers,
Shelves:
fiction-fun-reading
Another fun steampunk romp from Priest - this time she takes her fans to New Orleans in search of another awe-inspiring invention that might help in the war. (Read Boneshaker and Dreadnought first, things will make more sense.) A simple enough adventure is wonderfully embellished with details of the city and its outskirts and some great historical detail (even with the alternate history worldmaking going on). I'm again struck by the nagging feeling that the characters aren't particularly complex
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When Hollywood makes a movie of Ganymede — and they have to — I hope they subtitle it “The Battle of Barataria Bay.” That sequence comes near the end of Cherie Priest’s latest CLOCKWORK CENTURY novel, and is fasten-your-seatbelt, grip-the-arms-of-your-chair exciting.
Priest’s books always feature strong women, and in Ganymede, the main character is Josephine Early. Josephine lives in New Orleans, running an upscale bordello. Nearly twenty years into the American civil war, the Confederacy is havi ...more
Priest’s books always feature strong women, and in Ganymede, the main character is Josephine Early. Josephine lives in New Orleans, running an upscale bordello. Nearly twenty years into the American civil war, the Confederacy is havi ...more
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Cherie Priest is the author of two dozen books and novellas, most recently The Toll, The Family Plot, The Agony House, and the Philip K. Dick Award nominee Maplecroft; but she is perhaps best known for the steampunk pulp adventures of the Clockwork Century, beginning with Boneshaker. Her works have been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula awards for science fiction, and have won the Locus Award (amo
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The Clockwork Century
(6 books)
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“It’s not meant to be comfortable,” Cly told him. He pushed at the captain’s chair, which had been furnished with a leather pad in the shape of a cushion. It looked approximately as soft as an old book. Fang”
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“Sometimes the advantage of being young and bright is not knowing what's impossible.”
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