Boneshaker ~Cherie Priest
–published 2009
–Tor Books, 416 pages
–4.5/5 stars
“A steampunk-zombie-airship adventure of rollicking pace and sweeping proportions, full of wonderfully gnarly details. This book is made of irresistable.”
~Scott Westerfield
“Boneshaker is without a doubt Cherie Priest’s breakthrough work: This hollering, stamping, crackling thing is the best fun you’ll have with a book all year.”
~Warren Ellis
“If Jules Verne and George Romero got together to rewrite American history, it might go something like this. I loved it. I want more.”
~Mike Mignola
Three quotes from three authors with incredible geek cred who are also at the top of their game. Combine that with the eye-catching Jon Foster cover, the fact that steampunk is one of my favorite sub-genres of science fiction, and the fact that I have heard nothing but high praise for Cherie Priest in the past and had yet to read her fiction and you have a recipe that made it a foregone conclusion that I would be picking this book up as soon as it was released.
The risk of showcasing the above quotes and of tossing out the “steampunk” label is that it could potentially scare away readers who would:
a) Profess that a book like this is “not their kind of thing”.
b) Erroneously presume that this book is some sort of Night of the Living Dead zombie-fest.
and/or
c) Fear that any book categorized as science fiction would contain technical details that they just would not understand.
If you will allow me a few minutes of your time, dear readers, I will attempt to dispel those concerns and explain to you why this book should not only go immediately on your to-read lists, but should be a book that you read soon. Very soon.
