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)