Thursday, February 18, 2010

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest


In Boneshaker, the former city of Seattle has been walled off because of a deadly blight gas that now fills the city. The blight gas came after a huge drill called the Boneshaker went horribly out of control and destroyed downtown Seattle. Briar Wilkes dealt with all of this firsthand as it was her husband Leviticus Blue that created the Boneshaker and caused all of the destruction. Briar lives with her son outside of the city's walls but deals with the stigma of being Blue's widow every day. Until her son, Zeke, decides to go into the city looking for proof that will clear his father's name.

I'm going to start this review off by saying that I just loved this book. So be warned that their may be gushing. Boneshaker was such an original read and like nothing that I've read before. There are zombies (from the blight gas), air pirates, plus just the gas itself. The gas almost took on its own character as it is such an important factor in the story. When Briar goes into the walls of the city looking for her son, she has to deal with all of these things on a constant basis. For instance, there are only certain places where people can breathe without masks safely within the city. The gas is a constant presence and enemy that the people living inside the city are up against. It made the story so much more suspenseful with all of these factors mixed in. I was flying through the pages trying to see what would happen next. Briar, herself, is a great main character. She is strong but feels that she has made mistakes in regards to her son. Who can't relate to that a bit? And what it comes down to is that this is a story about a mother and son and their relationship which just makes the book that much better. Briar is not only trying to save her son, but she is also trying to do better by him. I loved the other characters in this book...heck, I just really loved this book. There isn't much more to say than that.

Obviously, I highly recommend this one to anyone who enjoys a good story. I'm pretty sure that I didn't do this book justice but if it sounds at all interesting go check it out. According to Goodreads this is book 1 so I'm assuming (hoping) that there are going to be more books. Because the author does leave a few things open with the ending. All in all, a great read and one of my favorites this year so far.


Disclosure: Another wonderful find from my library!
*I read this book for the following challenges:
Speculative Fiction Challenge
New Author Challenge
Support Your Library Challenge
100+ Reading Challenge
"B" Title for the A-Z Challenge (personal)

12 comments:

  1. I don't think that I've ever read speculative fiction before. This one sounds pretty interesting, not sure if it's something that I would read or not but I truly loved how much enthusiasm you had for this one!!

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  2. This one just keeps popping up on my radar! One of these days I'll have to read it for myself. :)

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  3. Your enthusiasm is contagious! I may need to read this soon. :)

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  4. I read this one and like you I loved it!

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  5. Gushing is ok when it is genuine!

    Bill ;-)

    Hope you'll check out my book giveaway:
    http://drbillsbookbazaar.blogspot.com/2010/02/book-giveaway-emmys-equal.html

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  6. Looks like an interesting read!! I gotto check this one out!

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  7. Staci- This is one book that you should definitely check out. I can't recommend it enough :)

    Eva- I'm so glad that I picked this one up and I just heard that it was listed for the Nebula award.

    Suko- I hope you enjoy it if you do read it.

    Sharon- I'm glad to hear that you loved it too! I'll definitely be reading more by this author.

    Dr. Bill- That is true.

    Naida and Aths- You should both check this one out IMO!

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  8. This looks like a really interesting book! I'll have to add it to The Pile.

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  9. Hi Sam,

    I love when people gush about books! The review and the book got me in straight away. Seriously, I hope this book is available in Australia as after reading your review, I really want to read it.

    P.s. Thanks for dropping by my Library Loot post!

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  10. Melissa- I hope you enjoy it if you get to read it at some point!

    Desertbookchick- I'm not sure if it is available in Australia but I hope it is. Definitely a great read!

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  11. I'll check this one out. It looks good!

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