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)

Steampunk Zombies!

Very interesting addition to the Steampunk fandom, but in a good way. Loved it! 😊

Never finished

The book started out okay, and the switch from male to female narrator was fine with me. The only problem is that as the book moved along, I just lost interest. The characters and their struggle were too generic, and the situation they were in was not explained adequately enough for suspension of disbelief. I'm a big fan of steampunk, so I probably held on longer than someone who might not be into the genre. I figure the last third of a book should keep you hooked, and this one most definitely did not.

Not a bad book by any means, but there are other books out there that better deserve your time.

this is a great audiobook!

Great! I loved this story. It's very atmospheric & such a trip. I loved the characters. So sad to see the end of the story & have to leave them.

Great plot, less than stellar execution.

I took a chance on this book, because it was on sale, and for the sale price I'm very satisfied! The performances were great, though a bit confusing at the end when the two performances meet. I assumed that a bit of post-production would be in order, but no.

This was my first taste of Cherie Priest, and while I loved her characters and dialogue - I felt the plot was not filled to its potential. The "journey" was too redundant and when a pivotal point occurred I wasn't aware of it until after it passed. It seemed a bit young adult and anti-climatic.

I thought the ending was well done - as contradictory as that may sound considering I just claimed it was anti-climatic. I supposed, given the direction the plot HAD been going, I was expecting a poor ending. But it was satisfying!

Narration better then the story

What did you love best about Boneshaker?

I also loved the Narration of the book.

What did you like best about this story?

I loved the mix of Steampunk & Zombies.

What does Wil Wheaton and Kate Reading bring to the story that you wouldn???t experience if you just read the book?

I've never read the printed book, but I find many of the modern Audio books better then the printed book. Older audio books were dry reads but today we have more voice acting done. They are almost to the quality of a radio drama. I wouldn't say this one goes that far but the narrator does well with the accents and subtle voice changes for different characters. Wil Wheaton and Kate Reading brings the characters to life. If you don't have a mind that will give them 3D from reading a audiobook may and in this case Wil Wheaton and Kate Reading did just that.

Any additional comments?

I think this book was very good for the first in a series. I can't wait to get to the second book. I've always found the weakest book in a series is the first book. From the fact the writer becomes better at writing to the fact that we already know much of the back ground story. Sadly this isn't true of Movies.

Like cotton-candy. Tasty, but no nutritional value

This did not change my life, open me up to new philosophies, or expand my literary taste.

Having said that... It does have Zombies, Air Pirates, Fascinating Characters, and is mostly unpredictable. I very much enjoyed, and would highly recommend this book to someone looking to take a break from more strenuous readings.

A zombie story in an interesting setting

Zombies aren’t my favorite thing, but I did enjoy the story and the non-zombie characters in Boneshaker. Interesting setting — a mist-filled walled-off portion of Seattle.

One of my favorites revisited

Boneshaker is one of my all-time favorite novels and when I recently thought about re-reading it, I looked up the audiobook. Dang! I loved the performance and the dichotomy of the male (Wil Wheaton!) and female narrators, depending on the POV for the chapter.

Now I just need to get Mr. Wheaton to narrate one of my titles...

great book

it was a bit slow but the story isn't to bad an it pulls you right in non the less.

Solid Performance but Lacking Story

It took forever to finish, as I just couldn't bring myself to care about the meandering plot. Even the phenomenal performances by Reading and Wheaton (especially the former) couldn't salvage a boring, predictable story. There was only one place this could go from the beginning and it walked right up to it. I had hoped for so much and left very disappointed.