[Book Review] Boneshaker

Steampunk an’ Zombies in an alt. Seattle?
What could go possibly wrong?

Boneshaker written by Cherie Priest and published by TOR takes place in alternate version of Seattle circa 1879 where The Civil War hasn’t ended and a deathly plague has fallen and part of the town has been walled up. The lucky Seattleites were either eaten or escaped, the stupid ones come back into town to mine the noxious blight gas since it makes a lovely drug.
Our heroine, Briar Wilkes and her son, Ezekiel are the focus of the overall story. Their family history helped shape Seattle, first Briar’s husband Leviticus Blue, the creator of the machine that book is named after started up his drilling machine and destroyed several blocks and unleashed the blight gas to Briar’s father, Maynard Wilkes, a police man who set free several convicts before the blight reached that part of the city.
It seems someone within Seattle is pulling strings and rumor is he may be her dead husband. Briar knows better and dismisses it but Ezekiel wants to clear his father’s name so off he goes into the walled part Seattle with an old breather mask to find out if his father is indeed still alive. Briar with the help of a Zeppelin Captain follows her son into the depths of Seattle and the two are split up, the son falling into Dr. Minnericht’s clutches and his mother falls into a group of rag tag fighters who decide it’s high time to pay the good doctor a visit.
And, along the way they fight Zombies.
A lot.
A cast of interesting characters help the two through out their journey. The cast really makes this book since they were effected by the blight just like everyone else and their stories help fill in the backstory without derailing the main plot. After three Eden Moore books, Cherie does not over burden the novel with boring plots. She does keep the tension building with the fact the blight can easily take anyone if their breather filter gets clogged. Much of Seattle’s post-blight reminded me of Bioshock’s bubbled city of Rapture with no Big Daddies or Sisters around the Zombies fill in quite well along with the creepy Dr. Minnericht.
I mentioned in the Feed review, the sudden rise in Zombie novels, Boneshaker represents part of the Steampunk Wave that is currently making it’s way through the stacks. And, the good news is Boneshaker is book one of what is being called A Clockwork Century.
Currently, the next Clockwork Century novel, Clementine is available through Amazon and will be reviewed, shortly.