Boneshaker

By: Cherie Priest

Narrated by: Wil Wheaton, Kate Reading

Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

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 16 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.

©2009 Cherie Priest (P)2010 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Intelligent, exceptionally well written and showcasing a phenomenal strong female protagonist who embodies the complexities inherent in motherhood, this yarn is a must-read for the discerning steampunk fan." ( Publishers Weekly)

Pleasant Listen

I've had this book on my shelf for over a year; picked up as a must -read, eventually, when I could find the time. I saw it in Audible and chose it as my first book purchase, since I had shown myself I would not find the time in the near future to get around to reading it. Good back and forth betwren the 2 narrators. The story itself was solid. Tropes and all. I found it a little heavy handed on the heroine being all capable. But didn't distract too much as a mother figure looking for her son. Surprises and pacing picked up in the 3rd act. Good read. Will pick up the next in the series and see how the author flushes out this fictional world.

WHOA.

What a book! Priest does a bang-up job creating the perfect alternate universe for her characters. You can smell the oil coming off of the airships and the zombies are so real that you can hear them shuffling along the next block. Reading and Wheaton made miracles taking the book off of paper and into your computer. Great to listen to while travelling. All of Priest's books are well worth the read!

Good Listen

I really like the historical aspect of this book. it's nice to see something set in Seattle too.

1860 Zombie Book - not quite what I expected

The book is an okay read. The context of a gas resulting from a drilling machine punching a whole in an inactive volcano allowing a gas to come up that either kills those affected or turns them into zombie types is sort of hard to believe. If you suspend your believe, the story is interesting. The characters are pretty well developed. The story is a little weak in its development. The main protagonist could be the husband of the lead character or an impostor - but the problem here is that after ten years, what difference did it make.

The reader is great. Does a good job acting out the various parts and makes an okay book a good listen.

well done!

What did you like about this audiobook?

I have not read the print version.

How has the book increased your interest in the subject matter?

I loved all of them really, very interesting and diverse.

Does the author present information in a way that is interesting and insightful, and if so, how does he achieve this?

there are many scenes that I enjoyed including the one where Blue's widow slides down the air shaft into the city after meeting the crew. I also enjoyed the scene with the princess throwing knives as well as blue's son climbing the buildings to get away from the rotters. I loved the ending, the biographer coming to interview maynard's daughter and not finding her left it up in the air as to what she decided to do other than not return home, kept the interest in reading the next book.

What did you find wrong about the narrator's performance?

I loved the whole book!

Do you have any additional comments?

the book was well read and I really liked the change in readers, the change from male to female kept the two story lines separate and clear to the listener.

Great story. 1 Monotone voice.

Great story. I just found Kate Readings voice to be little boring and monotone. Wil Weaton did great and is once of the reasons I bought the book. Other than that great story.

Excellent book

A little slow at first, but after that it keeps you going till it's end.

YA all the way

After reading great books like the Hunger Games and The Knife of Never Letting Go, I wondered what makes a book, Ya. I thought It meant no sex, but after reading this book, I now know it means, it reads like it was written by a youth.

The concept of the story was pretty good, reminding me of Sanderson's "Elantris" and the movie," Escape From New York". Unfortunately, CP failed to capitalize on a great story Idea.

Briar Wilkes the main character has no character. She is a boring droll individual. I could easily understand why her husband was bored with her.

I have never heard so many cliches in one book in my life.

Even the Zombies are boring in this book. The mad scientist is pretty tame and lame.

I will admit that I did listen to all of it, because I did want to find out what was going to happen and there was a small twist at the end.

Cherie is not going to break out of the YA category with this type of effort.

I enjoyed Wil Wheaton's performance and Kate Reading was good in all, but her interpretation of Briar Wilkes. She did not help make her real, using the same voice she used for Aes Sedai. While it worked for Aes Sedai it does not work for a Mom with a son in danger.

Outstanding in Every Way

Having read Priest's Clockwork Century series, I decided to hear Boneshaker read. I was not disappointed. This unique, vivid, steampunk yarn is unforgettable, and the narrator's tag-team to bring Priest's characters even more alive -- even the undead.

By far, the best narration I have yet experienced.

Steampunk Zombies

Loved it. Loved the writing and the characters and the world. It was all great.