Second Steampunk novel for my challenge. Hosted over at
BA Reading Challenges!
Review:
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
Goodreads blurb:
Cherie Priest's much-anticipated steampunk debut has finally arrived in the form of a paperback original. Its plot features the sort of calibrated suspense that readers of her Four and Twenty Blackbirds would expect. Boneshaker derives its title from the Bone-Shaking Drill Engine, a device designed to give Russian prospectors a leg up in the race for Klondike gold. Unfortunately, there was one hitch: On its trial run, the Boneshaker went haywire and, long story short, turned much of Seattle into a city of the dead. Now, 16 years later, a teenage boy decides to find out what is behind that mysterious wall. Can his mother save him in time? Zombie lit of the first order.
Crazy inventions, Civil War era, a mad scientist, zombies, airships, and a devastated city in ruin what more could you ask for? If you are looking for action/adventure Steampunk-style I'd say this is a book you will want to read. If you are looking for beautiful scenery and in depth characters and story this will probably not be for you.
I will say I scratched my head a few times with the thought of, 'Huh?' running through it while reading this book. Overall it was a good read and I don't feel I wasted my time in the least. The long and short of it is teenage boy goes searching for more info about long lost and/or dead father in a less than friendly environment. Mom has to go and fish him out whilst berating herself for not sharing more information with him while she had the chance. Madness ensues.
So, story-wise it was a tad shallow. Or perhaps it would be better to say there seems to be too much world and surroundings for Ms Priest to go into too much detail. Action happens too fast to expand on some things as a reader I would have liked to learn about. Something's occur just to move the story along in the right direction even though they seem too convenient or even unnecessary at times. I get the sense this would be well adapted to a tv miniseries or full length movie the way it is written.
Put this book on your to-read list for sure, but don't shell out full price. Buy it used or borrow it for a quick and fun read.
