Review: Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

Boneshaker (The Clockwork Century #1)

By Cherie Priest

Steampunk

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It's 1880 in Seattle and things have gone a little differently then history proposed, the Boneshaker happened. Leviticus Blue invented the Boneshaker a huge drill that was supposed to dig down and find gold, but all it found was the Blight, a greenish gas that turns the people who inhale it into Rotters, the walking dead. Sixteen years later, Leviticus Blue's widow Briar Blue now Wilkes and her son Zeke are living in the Outskirts the are outside the walled in Seattle the evidence of her husbands catastrophe on their doorstep. Zeke determined that his father wasn't responsible for the Blight goes behind the wall and tries to find the Boneshaker machine, Briar soon follows knowing that he will not find the answer he is looking for.
I have had this on my bookshelf for ages, so long I actually forgot I had it. Big mistake. This book was just what I was in the mood for, it was a big steampunk adventure story with a great some mystery and zombies thrown in.

The first impression I got of this book was it's fabulous cover, it just screams steampunk and it is one of my favourite covers on my bookshelf. Then you open the page and instead of having black and white it is sepia, the writing is brown, like aged ink and although it is only a small detail I though it was a brilliant idea.

You see this book through Zeke and Briar's point of view and each POV and what was great is that you can tell who's POV it is when you reading, each character has a distinct narrative voice. Although it took me about 50 pages or so to get into this it is well worth the effort once both Zeke and Briar aer inside the wall the action really get interesting and intriguing as you see a motley cast of characters, from the Lucy the woman with one mechanical arm, Captain Cly the 7 and half foot tall air ship captain and the most mysterious character of all Dr Minnericht who seems eerily familiar to Briar...

Although this was a little predictable, it still had me turning the pages to try and find out how it ends and if the main characters aren't perhaps the most original ones I have read they are still likable and I was behind them all the way. This was a good solid book, entertaining, fun and a little sinister it had me eating up the pages.