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

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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Nov 07, 2009 DDog rated it it was amazing

Shelves: aa-in-home, zombies, aa-from-constellation-books, genre-steampunk, genre-alt-hist

I've described this book to several people as "alternate history Civil War-era steampunk in Seattle with zombies" and they all say "hey, yeah, that does sound good."

It was a real treat to read and I finished it quickly. The first sentence, although not actually the first sentence of the story, is gorgeous. Plenty of air pirates and devices and battles and interesting characters with distinct voices.

Looking closer under the hood, I want to know more about the universe that this quite tiny microc ...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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Oct 05, 2009 Kathryn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: steampunk

I finished this book about a week ago, and it continues to stick with me--always a good sign! And it's not because of the airship pirates or the zombies or the goggles and gas masks, although all of that is way cool. It's really because of the characters and the choices they have to make (or have made in the past) and the consequences they have to live with--especially the protagonist, Briar. I also love that the story hinges on Briar's relationship with her teenage son; I don't think there are ...more

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Sep 30, 2009 Alex Jahnke rated it it was amazing

Shelves: steampunk

Oliver Twist meets Zombies, meets huge machines.

Priests story is not new or very creative, but it is very suspenseful and the overall setting is just brilliant. A very dark world with influences of Charles Dickens stands in a total contrast to the classical known "Steampunk World". No high society gentleman, but a hard working (and poorly paid) mother in search of her son is the main charakter of the story. ...more

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Jan 20, 2010 Manek rated it really liked it

This is a fun and fast romp through an alternate history in which the civil war lasted for decades, and downtown Seattle was destroyed by the "Boneshaker," an invention intended to facilitate drilling for gold.

I stayed up all night, and finished it in (basically) one sitting.

Great book! ...more

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Sep 29, 2009 Alicia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-i-own

I loved this book. It's been 3 weeks since I finished it and I want to read it again already. I was enthralled by the time and place that Cherie Priest created. The characters were solid and well-formed and fantastically named. The adventure was daring and so exciting that I didn't want to put it down. The only part of this book I didn't like was the epilogue which felt anti-climactic and almost anachronistic after the adventure of the book. ...more

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Sep 24, 2009 Schnaucl rated it liked it

Shelves: library, fiction, april, series, zombies, read_2010, steampunk

An interesting book about an alternate version of Seattle. A giant drill ruptured something in the earth's crust which released a deadly gas that turned people into rotters (zombies).

I liked the world that Priest created. It was well developed and an interesting place to visit. I did find my attention wandering occasionally though. ...more

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Dec 07, 2009 Chompa rated it really liked it

Fun book, good story and engaging characters. I loved the setting and think this is a great book for introducing "Steampunk" to readers that aren't familiar with it. ...more

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