Cherie Priest’s Boneshaker is a hard novel to sum up in a single word or even a phrase. Boneshaker is a blending of at least three sub-genre’s those being; alternative history, steampunk, and zombie. On the surface this fusion of styles seems like a train wreck waiting to happen. Indeed in less capable hands, Boneshaker would likely have been a muddled mess.
Not only does Priest blend three sub-genres, this is also a classic coming of age tale. The reader enters a world where the American Civil War has raged for almost two decades and shows no signs of ending. The location is Seattle, and a Seattle that became a boomtown many years earlier than Seattle did in reality. Priest’s Seattle was wrecked by the machinations of a greedy scientist.
This scientist created the Boneshaker, a massive mining drill, to aid the Russians in mining gold in Alaska. He then proceeded to take the Boneshaker on a test drive through his home town, wreaking havoc and releasing a toxic gas. This gas either kills people, or more likely, turns them into zombies. Thus the majority of Seattle was evacuated and a massive wall built around it to contain both the gas and the zombies.
The events of the novel take place some fifteen years later, when the scientist’s son Zeke goes haring off into the land behind the walls. Zeke does this in the hope of finding some scrap of evidence that will vindicate his father’s actions. Zeke’s mother, who has told him next to nothing about his father or life before the incident, feels she is to blame. Thus she too enters downtown Seattle hoping to find Zeke before he gets hurt or killed.
Priest combines vivid characterizations and frequent action to keep the reader engaged. Boneshaker alternates the perspectives of Zeke and his mother, Briar, thus enabling the reader to come into contact with a much larger cast of secondary characters. Not only does the reader encounter more characters, but the characters that overlap the perspectives are often perceived differently by Zeke and Briar.
All of these things taken together lead to a new and very fun to read novel. As I stated earlier a lesser author probably would have stumbled often trying to juggle all the angles and styles employed in Boneshaker. I tend to not care much for zombie novels as I have said in earlier reviews. Thankfully in this setting the zombies were not a major plot device. Rather the zombies in Boneshaker function as just one of many dangers and trials.
Boneshaker has gotten quite a lot of good press in the past few months. Having, finally, read Boneshaker I would have to say I whole heartedly agree. Priest has crafted a new and exciting blend of genres, and in the process built a very interesting setting to play with. I very much look forward to the next entry in Priest’s Clockwork Century setting, Dreadnought. I give Boneshaker a 4/5.
