{"id":2603,"date":"2011-10-30T18:48:29","date_gmt":"2011-10-30T23:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=2603"},"modified":"2025-05-05T21:10:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T01:10:18","slug":"boneshaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2603","title":{"rendered":"Boneshaker"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boneshaker<\/a><\/em> (2009) Cherie Priest<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I started this book the week Grandmom went into the hospital.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, it took me a bit to get back to it, as I remembered almost nothing of what I read–not because of the story, but because I was distracted.<\/p>\n

Briar Wilkes had been married to a man claimed to have been not just a mad inventory, but a greedy mad inventor, who was reputed to have stolen millions when he destroyed Seattle and released “blight gas” which turns all those who breathe it into rotters (aka zombies [I hate zombies]).<\/p>\n

Briar’s father was a lawman who stayed and released the prisoners who had been left behind to die when the blight gas reached them. <\/p>\n

Briar’s son Zeke was born after the evacuation of Seattle and the building of the wall that kept the blight gas from reaching the rest of the population. He wants to rehabilitate the images of his grandfather and his father, even though he never knew either man. Briar agrees with him that his grandfather was–in fact–a hero. But as for Leviticus Blue–Briar is convinced that he was fully deserving of his reputation, even though that reputation has made her and Zeke’s lives miserable.<\/p>\n

Steamships! The Civil War! A female heroine who risks death and danger to attempt to save her son!<\/p>\n

And yeah. Zombies.<\/p>\n

Cherie Priest fully admits that she made changes to the historical timeline to make events fit better with her story. Even yet, she gets more history right (even with her alternate history) than many past presidential candidates.<\/p>\n

Briar was a wonderful heroine. She wasn’t very much a woman of her times, however, being the widow of a monster–and a single mother to boot–pretty much forces you to do what you have to do. But she was a very strong woman, doing what she had to. I always like that in a main character.<\/p>\n

I can’t say I liked the zombies, but I wasn’t as freaked out by them as I thought I would be.<\/p>\n

The other thing I particularly liked was the science. Sure, there are zombies, but they weren’t created by magic, and the mechanical flying ships (as with all things Steampunk) are theoretically functional. Oh. And the idea of flying steam ships as part of the Civil War? Wow.<\/p>\n

So, I liked it. And I recommend it. Yeah, I have problems starting it, but those were external to me rather than internal to the story.
\nRating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boneshaker (2009) Cherie Priest I started this book the week Grandmom went into the hospital. Unsurprisingly, it took me a bit to get back to it, as I remembered almost nothing of what I read–not because of the story, but because I was distracted. Briar Wilkes had been married to a man claimed to have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27,2,291,16,20],"tags":[858],"class_list":["post-2603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alternate-history","category-fantasy","category-paper","category-supernatural","category-young-adult","tag-cherie-priest"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-FZ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3345,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3345","url_meta":{"origin":2603,"position":0},"title":"Clementine","author":"Michelle","date":"December 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Clementine (2010) Cherie Priest Captain Croggon Beauregard Hainey is mad as hell: someone has stolen his ship, the \"Free Crow,\" and he'll stop at nothing to get it back, even if that means going back into Confederate territory, where he'll be (at best) hung as a runaway slave. Maria Isabella\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Alternate History"","block_context":{"text":"Alternate History","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy\/alternate-history"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Clementine.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3906,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3906","url_meta":{"origin":2603,"position":1},"title":"A Plague of Zombies","author":"Michelle","date":"July 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A Plague of Zombies (2012) Diana Gabaldon This was originally published in the anthology Down These Strange Streets, and is the story that made me look for other Lord John stories. Lord John (now Lieutenant-Colonel Grey) is sent to Jamaica to look into the unrest there. The governor had requested\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Plague_Zombies","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Plague_Zombies-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1254,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1254","url_meta":{"origin":2603,"position":2},"title":"Runaways: Rock Zombies","author":"Michelle","date":"July 14, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Runaways: Rock Zombies (2009) Terry Moore, Takeshi Miyazawa, Christiana Strain First things first: Wha? The last two stories? Wha? This volume starts at the radio station where Chase has been working. Val has decided he wants to money and power and all that, so attempts to turn all of LA\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/Runaways-Rock-Zombies.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2477,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2477","url_meta":{"origin":2603,"position":3},"title":"Kill the Dead","author":"Michelle","date":"August 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Kill the Dead (2010) Richard Kadrey If you read Sandman Slim, you're familiar with James Stark, who escaped from Hell to seek revenge for his imprisonment there and the murder of his girlfriend. Now he's at loose ends, drinking himself into oblivion, living with a disembodied head for a roommate,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Kill-the-Dead.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":237,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/237","url_meta":{"origin":2603,"position":4},"title":"Blood Pact","author":"Michelle","date":"April 30, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Blood Pact (1993) Tanya Huff Surprisingly, I like Blood Pact a lot more than Blood Lines, the last book, although it was quite different than the previous four. In this book they battle not magic, but science: a group of researchers are reanimating the dead. I say surprisingly because the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/04\/Blood-Pact.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11770,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11770","url_meta":{"origin":2603,"position":5},"title":"All the World’s an Undead Stage","author":"Michelle","date":"March 15, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"All the World's an Undead Stage (2018) Angel Martinez The conclusion to the Offbeat Crimes series (or at least the story arc of who has been targeting Precinct 77) concludes with us going back to Carrington and Erasmus, who are happy enough together, although neither has said the \"L\" word\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/All-the-Worlds-an-Undead-Stage.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2603\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}