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Boneshaker (Sci Fi Essential Books) |  | Author: Cherie Priest
Publisher: Tor Books
Category: Book
List Price: $15.99
Buy New: $8.41
as of 3/14/2010 01:26 MST details
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Seller: First Base Books
Rating:  75 reviews
Sales Rank: 1871
Media: Paperback
Edition: Original
Pages: 416
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.4 x 1.3
ISBN: 0765318415
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780765318411
ASIN: 0765318415
Publication Date: September 29, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | ISBN13: 9780765318411 | | • | Condition: NEW | | • | Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark. |
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Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 75
 Pure Amateur March 5, 2010
M. Ellinger
1 out of 21 found this review helpful
Boneshaker was the most disjointed read I have had the displeasure of undertaking. Cherie Priest is a joke, the woman cannot write, the only reason she has a publishing contract is because she is a woman. Need proof then read this,
"Briar crept up and out of her hole on leather-soled feet that didn't make a sound to disturb the disturbing silence."
Come on, what a steaming pile of dung. The whole book is loaded with lines like this and even worse. Entire paragraphs become impassable do to the disruptive flow of the writing. That is all I have to say, the story is meaningless if the writer cannot convey thoughts through the use of proper English.
Exciting, stand alone novel that never get boring. March 3, 2010
SRB (Texas)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Firstly, what a versatile author! I read her "four & 20 blackbirds" novel some time ago which is a sort of modern day gothic ghost story and talk about night & day! These 2 books could not be more different in theme and genre! I had to check to see if it was really the same author.
What can I say, amazingly fun book - perfect for a rainy weekend. I want to applaud the author for making this a single, stand alone novel. The fact that the author resisted the temptation to turn this into a 3-5 part series deserves merit! You can read it cover to cover and be entirely satisfied with how the story resolves. That is getting to be very rare today and I really am trying to avoid starting yet another never ending books series or one that ends in an abrupt cliffhanger.
I won't go into the plot, suffice to say its very creative. Part alternative history, part horror, part steampunk - pure fun! This isn't a deep book, there are no life illuminating messages. Its about a single mother and her teen son overcoming the harsh realties life as thrown at them both. I respect that a lot. The setting is Seattle, but a Seattle in the 1860s that has been shattered by an amazing event. It reads a little like 'escape from new york' set in a steampunk world filled with zombies! I know, crazy fun!
I would gladly welcome more books in this setting / world. I'd love to see a prequel frankly as there is a lot to explore. But keep them as single books please.
 Boneshaker March 1, 2010
MelHay (Adamsburg, PA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The story starts right out with a bit of history, written by Hale Qaurter, of what happened to the city of Seattle in 1863. Hale then tries to talk with Briar Wilkes, who will NOT share any part of her story with anyone - not even her own son. Briar not only lost her husband, but her father as well when the city was evacuated from the blight gas spreading. Both of these men play important parts in history and in the current. The blight gas is gas released from in the earth, thanks to the Boneshakers test run, which caused the living to turn into the undead. This story takes place sixteen years after ward, when the East coast is in a civil war and Washington wasn't even a state yet.
I loved the writting style in this book, because the story was constantly moving and you where always learning. There are many things for now and the history of the city learned in the book, and they were very easily noticed as seperate times. The current story along with the history was almost like two stories for me in one book. I loved the creativeness in the story line and idea.
I have to admit I am not a person who really wants to read of zombies. I don't know what it is about the decaying gray skinned dead humans trying to eat live human skin, but I just find them to turn my stomach. But the undead in this book are not the main characters or problems. And yes I said problem with an "s". There are a few troubles to get through as the book goes on.
I loved the characters from the start of the story. They are struggling to get by, and as many parents may experience no matter what year it is - the growing space between parent and child as they go through the teen years to become independant adults they are yet not quite ready for. The relationship between Briar and her son is a great tie in the book and accented very nicely with the story.
 Mediocre adventure story, promises more than it gives March 1, 2010
L. Pieroni (Elko, NV USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is an adventure story told from the varying point of views of a mother and son. The son, Zeke, goes into a walled in city of toxic gas, zombies, and dangerous people to learn more about his scientist father. The mother, Briar, goes in after him to save him. Both wander through the city (a post-apocalyptic 1800's Seattle) encountering the many dangers while making some new friends.
At a thick 414 pages, you would think the story would be pretty complex. It isn't. It's really a pretty basic story about a mother and son trying to survive a dangerous world and make it out alive. Any questions the reader has are answered in a couple pages at the very end, a quick wrap up, and then it's over.
This is the first "steampunk" novel I have read, and it's not as out there as I anticipated. Priest alters history for her own purposes, moving events like the civil war and the invention of electricty around to suit her purposes, which is no problem in my opinion. Fiction is fiction, do what you need to.
Generally this novel was just alright. A warning to zombie novel lovers: it's not really a zombie novel. Zombies play a role but they function as background scenery more than anything else.
Rocking Good Time February 26, 2010
Jesse Soleil (Brooklyn, NY United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Cherie Priest does an amazing job of intertwining alternate history, steampunk, and horror in this fabulously fun read. The plot maintains a sense of urgency and drama, while delivering a claustrophobic, ultra-stylized and occasionally horrific (but not stomach churning) vision. The writing is very accessible; slightly more complex than a YA title. Don't expect Neil Stephenson - it's more like Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games). Also, while there ARE zombies, it's not like it's WWZ or anything, they are used to further the plot and add that urgency, more like icing on the cake than the core of the story.
Spectacularly imaginative and fun. I've already given it to several of my Sci-Fi loving friends with excellent results!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 75
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