Book Review: Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

Back in the 1860s with the prospect of Gold in Northern California firmly established, rumors of an untapped source of more gold in the Klondike region lured people even farther into the Pacific Northwest. However, the frozen ground made reaching the hidden gold almost a pipe dream until the Russians held a contest to see who could come up with a way to reach the gold. Leviticus Blue was just such a person, an inventor of fantastic machines, and his idea for a huge, earth-boring drill known as the Boneshaker caught the Russians' attention. They contracted him to create the Boneshaker, but during one of its early test beneath Seattle, something went wrong, the machine burrowed beneath the buildings, sinking them, creating tunnels that weakened the ground's integrity, and unleashing a pocket of natural gas, known as the Blight, that killed whoever came in contact with it. Sometimes, it even brought them back from the dead, faster and hungrier than anyone thought possible. The government erected a wall around Seattle to contain both the gas and the undead Rotters, and blame was laid on Leviticus' doorstep.

15 years later, Blue's widow Briar Wilkes remains the sole scapegoat for the townsfolk to persecute. She takes it in stride, doing whatever she can to make some kind of living for her and her son Zeke. To protect him, she doesn't talk much about his father, but rumors that Leviticus actually saved lives before the Blight could consume everything, trigger a desire inside Zeke that pushes him to find a way beneath the Wall in search of anything to exonerate his father.

When Briar discovers her son missing, she knows of only one place he would go and sets off to find him. From the tunnels of underground Seattle and with the help of an odd assortment of folks still living behind the Wall, she fights her way through Rotters and a mysterious overlord named Dr. Minnericht -- who seems to have a knack for building fantastic machines -- to save her son.

I never questioned any of it -- the lure of gold, a huge drill run amok, underground tunnels, a community of refugees living beneath Seattle, the Blight gas and the government's reaction, an array of Jules Vernian gadgets. There's always a risk involved when re-inventing bits of history to fit a fictional premise, but Cherie Priest did a fine job of immediately setting up the back story of what happened to Seattle so that it became believable. And using the nation's fascination with gold, especially around that time, was the perfect catalyst. Also, the descriptions of Seattle itself were amazing: the poorly lit underground maze of tunnels and pockets of fresh air matched the conditions above ground, where crumbling streets and buildings were almost indistinguishable in the thick brownish-yellow gas and a wrong turn could lead you into a pack of ravenous Rotters.

I liked the characters, from the strong-willed and protective Briar Wilkes and her rebellious and questioning son Zeke to Lucy the barkeep at Maynard's (one of the underground hangouts) with a mechanical arm and the mysterious Dr. Minnericht. I was never quite sure about who Minnericht was, and Priest kept me guessing until the very end.

My only gripe had to do with something very, very minor -- the birds. Much is made about them at the beginning of Briar's adventure, about how they seem to be watching and the question of how they survive living in the Blight. I expected something to happen with them, such as them not being real but creations of Dr. Minnericht or them actually having succumbed to the Blight and attempting to swoop down on Briar while she was above ground. The story never mentions them after those first few instances.

But what it comes down to is the story, and Priest's tale of a mother trying to protect her son, doing whatever it takes without a second thought, really keeps the tale going. Boneshaker's a true roller-coaster ride, an adventure story filled with zombies, air pirates, an underground city, and fantastic machines. We need more books like this! Highly recommended!!


Bonsehaker
by Cherie Priest
Tor Books/Tom Doherty Associates Books
ISBN: 978-0-7653-1841-1
softcover, 414p.

purchased copy

Image from Jeff the Zombie.