Boneshaker (The Clockwork Century, #1) in The Alternative Worlds

Apr 24, 2010 Brad rated it liked it

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

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

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Sep 05, 2010 mark monday rated it it was ok

Shelves: fog-and-gears

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 an eveni ...more

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Sep 29, 2009 Kara Babcock rated it really liked it

Shelves: alternate-history, historical-fiction, nebula-nominee, 2010-read, owned, hugo-nominee, science-fiction, steampunk

Cherie Priest comes highly recommended to me from many people whom I respect; Boneshaker has been lauded most of all of her books. I couldn't fathom Fathom, and that made me apprehensive about my next Priest experience. Boneshaker had two difficult tasks: it had to live up to the expectations heaped upon it by so many others, and it had to be better than Fathom. In both respects, it succeeded, and I have no reservations about declaring Boneshaker a fine novel.

There's a certain fullness to the st ...more

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Mar 03, 2010 Nicky rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction-alternatehistory, speculative-fiction, 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 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. ...more

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Jun 19, 2015 Wealhtheow rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: didn-t_finish, steampunk

A generation after a terrible tragedy destroys a town, the descendants of the mad scientist who catalyzed the problem venture back into the town. One is desperate to prove his family's innocence; the other just wants to bring her son home. The world building is cool but I didn't care about either character and was impatient for plot to happen, so I gave up on it. ...more

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Dec 31, 2009 Sandi rated it really liked it

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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Dec 04, 2010 bsc rated it did not like it

Shelves: read-2010, fiction, science-fiction, horrible

Sorry, I just didn't get it. This was really bad. Probably the worst thing I've read since Wizard's First Rule. ...more

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May 17, 2012 Nils rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

Der Erfinder Leviticus Blue hat im Seattle des Jahres 1863 eine Maschine entwickelt, mit der er dem russischen Zar ermöglichen will, riesige Goldadern unter dem Boden Alaskas abzubauen. Doch der erste Test der Maschine geht schrecklich schief und zerstört die halbe Stadt. Darüber hinaus sickert nun ein Gas aus dem Boden, dass Menschen in "Fresser" verwandelt, also nichts anderes als Zombies, die jeden, den sie berühren ebenfalls in einen "Fresser" verwandeln. Als Reaktion darauf wird einee große Der Erfinder Leviticus Blue hat im Seattle des Jahres 1863 eine Maschine entwickelt, mit der er dem russischen Zar ermöglichen will, riesige Goldadern unter dem Boden Alaskas abzubauen. Doch der erste Test der Maschine geht schrecklich schief und zerstört die halbe Stadt. Darüber hinaus sickert nun ein Gas aus dem Boden, dass Menschen in "Fresser" verwandelt, also nichts anderes als Zombies, die jeden, den sie berühren ebenfalls in einen "Fresser" verwandeln. Als Reaktion darauf wird einee große Mauer um den zerstörten Stadtkern errichtet.

16 Jahre später: Die Ehefrau Leviticus Blues hat sich außerhalb der Mauer niedergelassen und lebt mit ihrem Sohn Zeke mehr schlecht als recht von ihrem Gehalt als Arbeiterin in einer Wasseraufbereitungsanlage. Da entschließt sich Zeke, seinem Vater nachzuspüren und schleicht sich durch einen Abwasserkanal in die Stadt voller "Fraß" und "Fresser", in der sich die wenigen Überlebenden wortwörtlich in den Untergrund zurückgezogen haben.

Wie es diese Einführung schon vermute lässt, folgen nun 300 Seiten rassiger Action, in der sich Zeke, seine Mutter und die Einwohner Seattles durch die verwüstete Stadt schleichen, sich durch Horden von Zombies kämpfen und dabei auch dem obligatorischen "wahnsinnigen Genie" in Gestalt von Dr. Minnericht begegnen. Priest beschreibt dabei die zerstörte Oberfläche benso plastisch, wie die verwinkelten und engen Gänge unterhalb der Stadt und den prunkvollen Palast Minnerichts. Sie lässt uns dabei zeppelin-ähnlichen Luftschiffen ebenso begegnen, wie mysteriösen Schallwaffen und mechanischen Körperteilen, also all dem, was man in einem zünftigen Steampunk-Roman erwarten würde.

Dabei sprüht sie nur so vor Ideen, vergisst aber im Hauptteil des Buchs in meinen Augen zu oft, einen tatsächlichen Spannungsbogen zu entwickeln, der über die akute Gefahrensituation hinausgeht. Auch wenn sie mit der Familiengeschichte der Blues ein übergeordnetes Thema hat, das sie immer wieder aufgreift, trägt diese nur punktuell zur Spannung bei. Die pure Action ist zwar mitreißend geschrieben, sorgt im Mittelteil des Buchs für einige Längen. Im letzten Teil, in dem sie die vorab angelegten Geheimnisse nach und nach aufgreift, läuft Cherie Priest jedoch wieder zu Höchstform auf: das Familiengeheimnis und die Beziehung zwischen Leviticus Blue und seiner Frau, Dr. Minnerichts Rolle innerhalb der Stadt und auch die Idee des Boneshakers und seiner Folgen an sich bieten viel Potential für spannende Gedanken und Diskussionen.

Vordergründig reiner Action-Steampunk, der jedoch auf den zweiten Blick viele Denkanstöße bietet. Wäre nur schön gewesen, wenn die Autorin selbst diese stärker aufgegriffen hätte.
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Jul 08, 2012 John Montagne rated it really liked it

A really good steampunk read... the iconic goggles/gasmasks that seem representative of the subculture are appropriately present (as opposed to so many steampunk novels which merely throw them in as if to 'assure' that the story is steampunk). Cherie has woven an exciting tale about what a mother would do for the safety of her son. It's set in a steampunk world where the American Civil War has raged far longer (this is actually nothing new, in fact, this setting is quite used in alternative hist ...more

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May 07, 2010 Taueret rated it did not like it

Shelves: have, hours-i-will-never-get-back, speculative-fiction

I'll finish it, probably... halfway through, really surprised by the reviews and prize nominations this book received. It's... well it's okay. But that's all. It reads like a livejournal fic- would make a better graphic novel or screenplay treatment than it does a novel. It should be fun but it's just kind of, well, boring.

14/May 2010
I must be a few pages from the end now... ugh.

I hate saying this (mainly because I will never get used to saying unkind things about books when the author is sitti I'll finish it, probably... halfway through, really surprised by the reviews and prize nominations this book received. It's... well it's okay. But that's all. It reads like a livejournal fic- would make a better graphic novel or screenplay treatment than it does a novel. It should be fun but it's just kind of, well, boring.

14/May 2010
I must be a few pages from the end now... ugh.

I hate saying this (mainly because I will never get used to saying unkind things about books when the author is sitting *right there* (at Goodreads, I mean)... but my main thought as I force myself to finish the last bit of this is the question: what does this book say about publishing right now? If a friend showed me this as a manuscript, I would try suggesting she shop it around to a few agents, hoping that one of them would do the dirty work and tell her the bad news- or that better yet she would get a contract and a good editor would show her how to turn her over-embellished but promising outline into a possibly sellable form. So, if you write a novel, kids, DO NOT SHOW IT TO ME for an opinion as I obviously have no clue.

When people are discussing the future of publishing and the internet, and electronic books being the death of us all and the end of traditional publishing houses- I think to myself that regardless of format, paper, e- or otherwise, traditional publishing houses' main function (to me) is that of a giant kidney. Every kind of dreck comes to their submissions department- and only, hopefully, the best eventually comes out in print (or other medium). Most of what they see bounces right back to its source with a form letter attached, and we are spared.

While I LOVE the fact that we can *all* self publish everything now, whether books, blogs, podcasts or ???, and I value the wisdom of the crowd in helping me find the relevant and excellent amongst the sea of 'meh'- and I LOVE that the excellent, but overlooked, out of fashion, not-right-for-next-year manuscript can now find its audience. I LOVE this. John Kennedy Toole would probably still be alive and writing today, if his mom had made him start a blog, if he had self-published "Confederacy of Dunces".

But even I appreciate the filter a "real" publisher can provide. If I want to read livejournal fics, I'll go read them on LJ. This isn't a horrible book- I don't hate it! I will probably even try another by Cherie Priest to be fair...but this just didn't feel like a "real" book to me. Maybe it was just the genre (but I'm sure "Diamond Age" would be classed as "Steampunk" and it's one of my favourite books?)- but I'm just left thinking... I paid for this experience? Interesting in its own way! ...more

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Apr 10, 2010 This Is Not The Michael You're Looking For rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, fantasy, science-fiction, steampunk, locus-award, zombies

I'm not a particular fan of either steampunk or zombies, but Boneshaker delivers a fun tale of both. A reimagined 19th century Seattle, booming decades earlier due to an earlier Alaskan goldrush suffers a disaster when the Boneshaker Arctic drilling device is tested for the first time. Among the outcomes: a poisonous gas that resurrects some of its victims as zombies. The city is walled in to contain the fumes and those left scrape out a meager existence in the outskirts of the city. A decade la ...more

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Oct 22, 2009 Sarah rated it really liked it

Shelves: alternate-history, speculative-fiction

I have a rule that I avoid zombies at all costs. No zombie movies, no zombie books. Every time I break that rule somebody else has to do the laundry for a while until I'm willing to go in the basement again. That said, I'm glad I didn't know there were zombies (or "rotters") in this book, since I would have avoided it and missed a great read. I really, really enjoyed it. Four and a half stars. I loved the premise, even if she did destroy my beloved Seattle before it even got a chance. I loved th ...more

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Sep 29, 2009 Brooke rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, 2010

Probably more of a 3.5 than a 4, but I'm rounding up because I liked Priest's Eden Moore trilogy so damn much. What makes me hesitate to give this a full 4 stars is that I felt like so much time was spent running and hiding and running and sneaking that there were big gaps between where the plot moved forward. The running and hiding that Briar does when she first enters the walled city is great - it's a very tense, very exhilarating scene that I could see playing out in my head quite vividly. Bu ...more

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Dec 16, 2009 Lee rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2010, speculative-fiction, alternate-history, steampunk

Great secondary characters, lots of action in a bleak, scary world. If you're into steampunk, I think you'll like it. ...more

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Sep 19, 2009 Danielle The Book Huntress marked it as to-read

Shelves: favorite-or-autobuy-author, owned-copy, steampunk

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Jan 06, 2010 H. R. marked it as to-read

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Feb 11, 2010 Michelle rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, historical-fantasy, book_club

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Mar 16, 2010 Eric marked it as to-read

Shelves: stalled

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Mar 16, 2010 Jed rated it it was ok

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Jul 14, 2010 Julie S. marked it as to-read

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Jul 19, 2010 Thermopyle marked it as to-read

Shelves: did-not-finish

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Feb 23, 2011 Tamara rated it really liked it

Shelves: female-protagonist, author-female, north-america, male-protagonist, historical, steampunk, alt-history, usa, urbanist, you-cant-choose-your-family

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