From the Bookshelf of Oly Reads

Boneshaker
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recommended by Kelsey & Jon

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What Members Thought

Emmett
Oct 10, 2010 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
The epilogue captured what I really liked about this book. At the end, Priest warned against writing her to explain how she'd gotten Seattle history all wrong. She knew she's done it all wrong.

I was impressed how well she actually knew Seattle history, to the point of using a Sanborn map (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanborn_...) to help develop her plot. She actually took Seattle history, dumped it out on the floor and remixed it. That's wonderful.

The plot/characters/action is good too. Very f
...more
Whitney
Feb 22, 2013 rated it it was ok
I read Boneshaker because I haven’t read much Steampunk, and this one makes a lot of ‘best of” lists. It was fun, but ultimately lacking in depth. It was also fairly lazy writing, with a focus on providing a lot of pretty window dressing without putting much effort into building a solid foundation. The author acknowledges as much in the afterword, saying that much of the book is a stretch, but “isn’t that what Steampunk is for?” So in 1863 there are lots of airships, and factories full of people ...more
Leonardo Etcheto
Feb 19, 2015 rated it liked it
I really enjoyed the story and the world depicted is quite curious, but my main issue is that the book seems unfinished. Just realizes this is the first in a series and that is probably why so many story lines are left open. I like the whole Blue/Maynard name/history storyline, the decaying city and Seattle mismatch. The choices made by many of the characters were pretty suboptimal, to the point that I wondered how they survived in such a harsh environment. Loved the zeppelins however, those wer ...more
Agathafrye
Nov 27, 2009 rated it it was amazing
Seattle in the 1800's: the Civil war rages on, promises of gold in the Klondike bring new commerce and people to the city, and a machine is being built in an inventor's basement that promises to dig through ice and extract gold. Something goes horribly wrong with the boneshaker machine, causing it to rip through Pioneer Square leaving mayhem and wreckage in its path. A mysterious gas comes up through the churned earth, turning everybody that breathes enough of it into zombies known as rotters. T ...more
Ahniwa Ferrari
Mar 26, 2010 rated it really liked it
The best steampunk/zombie book I've ever read! I found it a pretty surface-level read (i.e. there's some social commentary, but not much), which is fine but may disappoint some readers looking for more. ...more
Leanna Hammond
Sep 22, 2010 rated it really liked it
Great science fiction read. It starts a little slow (at least for my taste) but definitely picks up after the first couple of chapters. Love the Seattle location, even if the author did take quite a few liberties with the details.
Judy
Apr 02, 2010 marked it as to-read
David Raffin
Apr 04, 2010 marked it as to-read
Atlas
Apr 19, 2010 marked it as to-read
Sara
Feb 03, 2011 marked it as to-read
Ryan
Aug 02, 2011 rated it it was ok
Gary
Oct 03, 2011 rated it liked it
Cassandra
Oct 06, 2012 rated it it was ok
Kit
Mar 13, 2013 marked it as to-read
Sierra
Sep 28, 2013 marked it as to-read
Shelves: on-bookshelf
Christopher Clark
Mar 19, 2014 rated it really liked it