loading 
register   login

Boneshaker (Sci Fi Essential Books)

by: Cherie Priest
en

0765318415  9780765318411 

Boneshaker (Sci Fi Essential Books)
By Cherie Priest




Product Description:

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.




Summary: Suspenseful Weird Western
Rating: 5

This alternate history/steampunk/dark science fantasy follows single mother Briar Wilkes and her son amidst the ruins of a walled in Seattle (circa 1880s). Zeke Wilkes is searching for a way to clear the legacy of his father, Leviticus Blue: the man responsible for building a tunneling machine called Boneshaker, which pretty much demolished the city and released a toxic gas from the earth (called The Blight) with the awful property of turning the living into the walking ravenous. Briar is searching for her wayward son before he gets himself killed. Though most of the locals dwell outside the walls of Seattle, the protagonists soon discover a strange subculture of gas masked danger seekers, drunks, Chinese machinists, steamtech low lives, and a peculiar mad scientist making homes amidst the Blight fogged ruins.

The deliciously original setting is a delight here combining some of the better parts of weird westerns (ala the Deadlands RPG and the work of Joe R. Lansdale), wild zeppelin adventures, and zombpocalyptic fiction. However, all of these disparate elements work in a relatively seamless whole, with a character motivated, suspense-filled plot that zips along. Priest is a wonderful storyteller, and I hope she will tell more tales in this intriguing world.



Summary: ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I'VE READ IN YEARS
Rating: 5

I haven't read any of Cherie M. Priest's books prior to this one, but now I'm going to read them all. Ms. Priest possesses the ability to draw you into her world completely, introducing you to three-dimensional characters and vividly imagined adventures.

Boneshaker takes place in Seattle in the 1800's, after huge drilling contraption unleashes a toxic gas that turns people into the walking dead. A huge wall has been constructed around the area affected by the gas, but the secret of what really led to the catastrophe remains alive. Blair Wilkes, who was married to the man who unleashed the Blight, is leading a hard-knock life outside the walls, but is never allowed to forget who her husband was. Her teenage son, Zeke, determined to clear his father's name, sneaks under the wall into the city to find the evidence he believes proves his father's innocence. He meets up with survivors who still live inside the walls, but while trying to navigate the city and avoid the shuffling mobs of zombies, an earthquake closes off the drainage pipes he used to get in, trapping him. When Blair finds out her son is inside the walls, it's up to her to go back to the scene of her husband's crime and get her son out.

The story seamlessly blends Steampunk, zombies, pirates, drug dealers, thieves, and heroics into one, big, rollicking roller coaster ride.

Definitely a must read!



Summary: What a great storyteller Cherie is
Rating: 5

I love the way she puts a story together. A fresh voice. Able to keep me on the edge of my seat and never fully knowing what will come next. Doesn't just write a fill in the blank book. Very thoughtfully put together. But not so difficult that you have to take a course in ancient history to be able to understand the story. A good balance between amaeteurish and overly intellectual writers.

She's the author I trust most to deliver and buy her without hearing any word of mouth.

This novel had the type of elements that I seek out. Steampunk. The undead. Artifacts of power. Mysterious characters.

I expected this to be Cherie's attempt at a zombie novel (which I love), but it wasn't. The zombies are just one of the minor characters. The denizens of ruined Seattle are what make this story captivating. Along with the legends of Levi Blue.

I love it and as always, can't wait for the next Cherie book! I've read them all.



Summary: Good but not really great
Rating: 4

As a fan of Steampunk I was really looking forward to this one. It is not bad by any means but it felt lacking in some areas. The microcosm was really well done. I could really see Seattle in the way the author described but I would have wanted more from a worldwide standpoint. Also the characters had some real tragic flavor that made me empathize with them more. There are all kinds of references about other events in the world (the civil war, the east coast) and I would have liked to hear what the author had to share on those as well. Overall, a very fair rating from me.



Summary: Well done
Rating: 3

I picked up two steampunk books recently, THOMAS RILEY and BONESHAKER. Both make me love the genre more and more. Thomas Riley was a tad more to my liking but Boneshaker was excellent. Easy read and fun. I could have done with more of the steampunk aesthetic and science I found more in TR, but this was still a never put down novel.