Boneshaker (novel)
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| Author | Cherie Priest |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The clockwork century |
| Genre | Science fiction novel, alternate history |
| Publisher | Tor Books |
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Publication date
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2009 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 416 pp |
| Awards | Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (2010) |
| ISBN | |
| Followed by | Clementine |
Boneshaker is a science fiction novel by Cherie Priest which combines the steampunk genre with zombies in an alternate history version of Seattle, Washington. It was nominated for the 2009 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 2010 Hugo Award for Best Novel. It won the 2010 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.
Early in the American Civil War, rumors of gold in the Klondike have brought would-be prospectors to North America's Pacific Northwest. Anxious Russian investors commission American inventor Leviticus Blue to create a machine which can mine through the ice of Russian-owned Alaska. Blue's "Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine" (or "Boneshaker" for short, named after boneshaker bicycles of the era), instead destroys several blocks of downtown Seattle and releases a subterranean vein of "blight gas" that kills anyone who breathes it and turns some of the corpses into rotters (non-supernatural zombies). A wall is erected to contain the gas within the affected part of the city. Leviticus Blue is nowhere to be found.
Sixteen years later, Leviticus's wife and son, Briar and Zeke (Ezekiel) Wilkes, live in the impoverished outskirts of the former metropolis. Life is difficult, but Briar manages to support herself and Zeke by working a physically demanding blue collar job cleaning water. One day, Zeke enters the toxic city in search of evidence proving his father is innocent of the intentional destruction. Briar intends on following, but the drainage hole collapses in an earthquake. She then hitches a ride over the wall by a captain of an airship, the unnaturally tall Captain Cly. Meanwhile, Zeke meets Rudy, a man who claims to be a highly decorated lieutenant. Rudy tells Zeke that he can lead him to his parent's former house. The pair of them encounter a Native American woman named Princess Angeline who lightly wounds Rudy, but they manage to elude her.
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