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.
Review:
I'd heard a lot of buzz about Cherie Priest's Boneshaker and when I finally read it, I realized why it got all the attention.
Set in a gritty alternative history, the story hooks the reader quickly but slowly draws you in to the world of Briar Wilkes. Briar married Levi Blue, a man who would eventually become the most hated man in Seattle. She and her son, Zeke, have a rough life and Briar -- much as her name suggests -- isn't the most pleasant person to be around at times. Regardless, Zeke is determined to know the truth behind the mystery of the Boneshaker and his father. When he sneaks into the ruined city of Seattle to search for answers, Briar is forced to go after him and confront a past she'd rather forget.
The view points alternate between Briar's and Zeke's, and makes for an easy read. Both characters have strong personalities, although I had a harder time identifying with Briar because of her justifiable prickly nature. I also had a little trouble picturing some of the details of the tunnels below Seattle, but it wasn't enough to distract me from the action or the characters' story.
I will admit I'm not a fan of zombies, and the "rotters" created by Cherie Priest are truly terrifying because the cause behind the change from human to living dead is somewhat believable. Also her descriptions of them -- I get chills just thinking of them.
My biggest issue with Boneshaker is that once Briar and Zeke are reunited the tension and suspense the author maintained throughout the book died. The final few chapters were flat and filled with family history. Yes, it answered all the questions raised earlier but I would've liked to see more answers sprinkled throughout the book with the tension maintained until the last few pages rather than having them all dumped at the very end.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading Boneshaker and will definitely read Priest's next installment of the Clockwork Century Series, Dreadnought.
Reading Format: B&N NookColor
Rating: 4 out of 5
