Boneshaker (The Clockwork Century, #1) in The Clockwork Salon

Nov 26, 2010 David Major rated it did not like it

Shelves: steampunk

OK, so I know that Cherie Priest is a highly regarded author in the steampunk world. Her novels are eagerly anticipated, and her ratings on Amazon, of which there are many, are high and enthusiastic. She certainly has her fans.

I can't say that I'm one. I started Boneshaker happily enough, entering a dark world of zombies, ramshackle airships and tough broken down urban environments. It took a while for the action to start, but once it did, it was a roller coaster ride of hacking and slashing, cr OK, so I know that Cherie Priest is a highly regarded author in the steampunk world. Her novels are eagerly anticipated, and her ratings on Amazon, of which there are many, are high and enthusiastic. She certainly has her fans.

I can't say that I'm one. I started Boneshaker happily enough, entering a dark world of zombies, ramshackle airships and tough broken down urban environments. It took a while for the action to start, but once it did, it was a roller coaster ride of hacking and slashing, creepy noises, and dark and threatening shadows. OK, so far so good.

And then gradually, I started to notice elements in the writing style that irked me more and more as the story proceeded.

For a start, all the characters seemed to speak with the same voice. And worse, they insisted on having in-depth conversations during action scenes, when their vocabularies should reasonably have been reduced to monosyllabic grunts, squeals of terror, or something equally brief. Not so. There was one scene when two characters were battling a group of zombies. During the fight, they find time to engage in a conversation that sounded like it should be happening over a pint in the pub. And this happened over and over again.

What's that maxim that is supposed to be one of the novelist's golden rules? "Show, don't tell", I think it is. Well, Ms Priest forces her characters to tell, and tell, and tell. After a while, I was just waiting for the next improbable piece of verbosity from a character, rather than actually following the story.

Another irritating habit, but not so prevalent: characters kept giving each other meaningful glances and looks, as though there was "more going on", or some sort of subtext being developed. There never was, though.

I got about 4/5 of the way through the book, and just gave up. By that time, I didn't really care whether the mad doctor was Zeke's father or not, or whether the zombies would end up taking over his lair. I just couldn't cope with the near-certainty of some character breaking into an explanation of how a gas-powered door worked, and how long it had been place, and where it lead, and who put it there, and why -- all while a pack of Rotters were bashing it down.

I can see why it's a popular book. It's got goggles, airships and zombies, and the world that the story exists in is a well-crafted one, but the people in it -- I just wanted to throttle them. ...more

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Jan 05, 2010 Kay rated it it was amazing

Shelves: finished-in-2010, top-10-favorites-of-all-time

This book is now on my top 10 favorites. This is gonna jostle a book or two off the list. Cherie Priest really writes with style! I love it. I finished it in two days, in between housework, kids, dogs, and other things. I took some notes, so I'll share them here.

It's an alternate reality historical fiction, a Steampunk novel that really hits hard. It all begins around the time of the Civil War in the 1850s when Dr. Blue creates the Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine. Instead of the Engine help This book is now on my top 10 favorites. This is gonna jostle a book or two off the list. Cherie Priest really writes with style! I love it. I finished it in two days, in between housework, kids, dogs, and other things. I took some notes, so I'll share them here.

It's an alternate reality historical fiction, a Steampunk novel that really hits hard. It all begins around the time of the Civil War in the 1850s when Dr. Blue creates the Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine. Instead of the Engine helping to drill for gold in Alaska as it was built for, Dr. Blue drills a vein in Seattle as a test run which causes things to go seriously awry. This accident not only caused the earth to shake and buildings to collapse, it released a gaseous substance that either kills or causes a walking dead. The novel starts off 16 years after that event - a wall has been built to enclose the city, and people live in poverty just beyond it, including Dr. Blue's widow and her son. Their reputation shattered, her son goes back in to find more information on his father and rewrite history.

That's the gist of it, especially if you just look at the synopsis. The first chapter in, I felt immediately sucked into the story. The dialogues are well-crafted and there is not a total abuse of verbs. That's always a big issue with me. You feel like you're there and having those conversations with the characters, it's pretty incredible. The descriptions she uses for her characters, the environments, and the events that occurs in perfect speed one after the other are very in depth. They're not too lengthy, they're not too brief - it's just enough to believe what's being written, be able to see for yourself what's going on, and to let the plot manipulate your imaginations to such a great degree. I adore so many characters in this book for that reason. There are several amazing twists one after the other right at the end. Everything was seriously done in style, with surprising beauty amidst a lot of gore. After I finished the book, the story lingered.

This book also holds some of my new favorite quotes:

"...and truth travels slowly when rumors have wings of gold."

"Across the Pacific Northwest, big machines and small machines were tinkered into existence." (I really just loved how that was phrased).

And in the mind of the protoganist, the 15-year-old, after he meets one of the very old characters inside the wall,

"No one gets to be that old without being smart and strong."
ETA -- I just had to add that the pictures in this book are awesome. First, the cover is pretty nifty itself. Second, each chapter have their own icon. They're cute little images that fit each chapter really well. My favorite one is the single wagon wheel with angel wings affixed to them. ...more

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May 03, 2010 Aaron rated it really liked it

Shelves: steampunk

A very good steampunk novel. Dystopic society, characters railing against the system, goggles and zeppelins w/out the author constantly pointing out the fact that the story has them...
And zombies. A nice combo that worked well together, even if the mechanism for achieving the zombies is ambiguous at best (mysterious volcanic gases from deep within the Earth...).
A very good read w/ a strong female protagonist. I liked it.

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Jun 21, 2011 Bianca rated it liked it

Steampunk and zombies. In Seattle. Do I need to say more? There are a few places in the story that kind of lag in comparison to the pure action and excitement of the rest of the story. Highly recommend.

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