Sign in with Facebook
Clouds's Reviews > Boneshaker
Boneshaker (The Clockwork Century, #1)
by
Christmas 2010: I realised that I had got stuck in a rut. I was re-reading old favourites again and again, waiting for a few trusted authors to release new works. Something had to be done.
On the spur of the moment I set myself a challenge, to read every book to have won the Locus Sci-Fi award. That’s 35 books, 6 of which I’d previously read, leaving 29 titles by 14 authors who were new to me.
While working through this reading list I got married, went on my honeymoon, switched career and became a father. As such these stories became imprinted on my memory as the soundtrack to the happiest period in my life (so far).
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I save the best part of my dinner until last � savouring the anticipation as much as the taste. Boneshaker (the 2010 winner of the Locus Sci-Fi Award) had the look, to me, of a tasty little treat, so I kept putting it off for as long as I could resist.
Steampunk, zombies and air-pirates. Sounds perfect, doesn’t it?
When I saw that the text inside is printed in sepia-brown, I thought it was a delightful touch of icing on the cake!
Gushing reviews like this one, from the usually more reserved Jason, didn’t dampen my growing expectations.
We all read a lot of books, hoping to find 'A BOOK'.
Sadly, for me, Boneshaker is just ‘a book�.
Before I start my grumbling, I’d like to acknowledge the many things that Priest does well here:
- The original concept is brilliant
- The book tumbles along at a good pace
- Much of the imagery is strong and memorable
- Several of the supporting characters stand out brightly
(I'm thinking of Swakhammer, Lucy O'Gunning and Fang)
So far, so good?
My first big issue comes with the Mother/Son protagonists (Briar & Zeke). I can’t think of many (view spoiler). As for Briar, she’s got a touch more (view spoiler).
My second issue is the (view spoiler)!
My final gripe made me so mad that when I saw my cats had knocked the book into a bathtub full of water shortly after I’d finished it, I didn’t think “Oh no, my treasured novel has been soaked!� � I thought “Hah! You deserved that!�
There are two major hooks and two minor hooks to pull us towards the climax.(view spoiler)
Frankly, by the end I didn’t care.
I enjoyed the ride � it was a kind of 2.5 for me, and I’m a generous soul so I rounded it up to a 3 � but as I was hoping for a 4, I left Boneshaker sorely disappointed.
ps - I just remembered that (view spoiler) and also that we never get a good (any?) explanation for why (view spoiler) - gah!
After this I read: Elantris
by
Clouds's review
bookshelves: locus-sci-fi, science-fiction, reviewed, science-fiction-stand-alone, read-in-2012, pub-2000s
May 08, 2012
bookshelves: locus-sci-fi, science-fiction, reviewed, science-fiction-stand-alone, read-in-2012, pub-2000s
Christmas 2010: I realised that I had got stuck in a rut. I was re-reading old favourites again and again, waiting for a few trusted authors to release new works. Something had to be done.
On the spur of the moment I set myself a challenge, to read every book to have won the Locus Sci-Fi award. That’s 35 books, 6 of which I’d previously read, leaving 29 titles by 14 authors who were new to me.
While working through this reading list I got married, went on my honeymoon, switched career and became a father. As such these stories became imprinted on my memory as the soundtrack to the happiest period in my life (so far).
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I save the best part of my dinner until last � savouring the anticipation as much as the taste. Boneshaker (the 2010 winner of the Locus Sci-Fi Award) had the look, to me, of a tasty little treat, so I kept putting it off for as long as I could resist.
Steampunk, zombies and air-pirates. Sounds perfect, doesn’t it?
When I saw that the text inside is printed in sepia-brown, I thought it was a delightful touch of icing on the cake!
Gushing reviews like this one, from the usually more reserved Jason, didn’t dampen my growing expectations.
We all read a lot of books, hoping to find 'A BOOK'.
Sadly, for me, Boneshaker is just ‘a book�.
Before I start my grumbling, I’d like to acknowledge the many things that Priest does well here:
- The original concept is brilliant
- The book tumbles along at a good pace
- Much of the imagery is strong and memorable
- Several of the supporting characters stand out brightly
(I'm thinking of Swakhammer, Lucy O'Gunning and Fang)
So far, so good?
My first big issue comes with the Mother/Son protagonists (Briar & Zeke). I can’t think of many (view spoiler). As for Briar, she’s got a touch more (view spoiler).
My second issue is the (view spoiler)!
My final gripe made me so mad that when I saw my cats had knocked the book into a bathtub full of water shortly after I’d finished it, I didn’t think “Oh no, my treasured novel has been soaked!� � I thought “Hah! You deserved that!�
There are two major hooks and two minor hooks to pull us towards the climax.(view spoiler)
Frankly, by the end I didn’t care.
I enjoyed the ride � it was a kind of 2.5 for me, and I’m a generous soul so I rounded it up to a 3 � but as I was hoping for a 4, I left Boneshaker sorely disappointed.
ps - I just remembered that (view spoiler) and also that we never get a good (any?) explanation for why (view spoiler) - gah!
After this I read: Elantris
Sign into Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ to see if any of your friends have read
Boneshaker.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
May 8, 2012
– Shelved
May 14, 2012
– Shelved as:
locus-sci-fi
June 23, 2012
– Shelved as:
science-fiction
July 12, 2012
–
Started Reading
July 17, 2012
–
61.54%
"I'm still a touch meh - it's an easy read and it's a fun, quick paced story - but I'm a long way from in love with it."
page
256
July 18, 2012
–
Finished Reading
August 23, 2012
– Shelved as:
reviewed
March 7, 2013
– Shelved as:
science-fiction-stand-alone
March 27, 2013
– Shelved as:
read-in-2012
February 8, 2014
– Shelved as:
pub-2000s
Comments Showing 1-5 of 5 (5 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Catie
(new)
Jul 29, 2012 10:23AM
Great review. I love the concept of steampunk but so far have been disappointed by all the new wave of Steampunk books that I've tried. Any you can wholeheartedly recommend?
reply
|
flag
Sadly, no. Steampunk is still a genre with unfulfilled potential for me. His Dark Materials is still my fave representative.Best Steampunk experience I've had was actually a science museum .
If I'd had money to burn this would have pride of place in my house now:
I've heard good things about Anubis Gate as one of the books that coined the term steampunk - but as you said, not been wowed by the new-wave yet :-)
Ugh, I was not a fan of Anubis Gate. I think I might have genre incompatibility. Nebula nominatedThe Death of the Necromancer isn't super-steampunky but is the one I've liked the best.Clouds~lol at the cat action. Oops!
If the steampunk book I want to read isn't out there... I may just have to write it myself :-)
Clouds wrote: "If the steampunk book I want to read isn't out there... I may just have to write it myself :-)"Looking at historical engineering exhibits makes me want to write steampunk more than reading steampunk does.
